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CALIFORNIA STATE GOVERNMENT AND INCARCERATION OF JAPANESE AMERICANS DURING WORLD WAR II

REPARATIONS AND REDRESS

In 1981, seven years before the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, the federal act for reparations, Assemblyman Patrick Johnston proposed a bill that would compensate State employees for salaries lost due to wrongful termination because they were Japanese.  AB2710 was enacted into law on August 17, 1982, providing monetary compensation to qualifying former state employees.

Letter from Carole Hayashino, National Committee for Redress, regarding background material for Assemblyman Johnston's bill

Support and Opposition

Like the letters sent to Earl Warren prior to the incarceration of Japanese, the public reached out to Assemblyman Johnston to communicate their opinions on the matter of redress.  The bill received both support and opposition from the public and other legislators.