During 1942, pursuant to Presidential Executive Orders 9066
and 9102, subordinate Public Proclamations and Civilian Exclusion
Orders issued by military commanders, and confirming Congressional
enactment, Americans of Japanese ancestry were swept from the West
Coast, including the Sacramento Area, and confined in inland camps.
This action was encouraged and supported by the County through the
adoption by the Board of Supervisors on March 2, 1942 of Resolution
No. 5623, urging the evacuation and concentration of all Japanese
and their descendents in a concentration camp under the supervision
of the Federal Government.
The removal and confinement was undertaken without regard to
loss of liberty, property or employment. Personal hardship was ignored.
An industrious, loyal and vibrant segment of American society was
dislocated, imprisoned and detained during the War without any indicia
of the due process and equal protections guarantees which our Constitution
affords to all citizens, and with attendant loss and suffering which
cannot be adequately described in words.
Recognition, memorialization and improved understanding of this
act by today's and future generations is important to ongoing vigilance
in the protection of liberty. Patriotism, loyalty, respect for and
devotion to the institutions and principles for which our republic
stands is best promoted by a thorough understanding of the American
heritage in relation to its past injustices and mistakes, as well
as its great and numerous achievements. Such recognition will also
promote the healing of wounds which for decades since have plagued
Japanese Americans and improve community relations, understanding
and cooperation.
To these ends, this Board of Supervisors, by this chapter, establishes
a memorial in recognition of the injustices which United States citizens
of Japanese descent suffered to ensure that in Sacramento there will
be an ongoing understanding of those injustices and increased vigilance
to protect against the future reoccurrence thereof in relation to
any segment of American society.
This Board hereby finds that the payment of compensation to
persons of Japanese ancestry who lost their employment by the County
as a result of the above injustices is a particularly appropriate
and fitting means of establishing and implementing the memorial, and
symbolizing recognition of the hardship suffered. This Board further
funds that it is fair and just that consideration be given to reparation
for those employees who were forced to leave County service as a result
of such relocation, and that fairness and equity will be promoted
by the terms and conditions of this chapter.
(SCC 541 § 1, 1983)
The Board of Supervisors hereby declares its intention to appropriate
within the Final Budget for the 1983-84 Fiscal Year a sum, the amount
of which is presently uncertain and will be fixed during deliberation
of the Budget, to be maintained by the Auditor in a separate account
to be known as the "Japanese American Evacuation Memorial Fund". Disbursements
from the fund shall be made pursuant to the terms and conditions of
this chapter, and any uncommitted balance of the Fund remaining on
June 30, 1984, shall revert to the General Fund.
(SCC 541 § 1, 1983)
The following persons may file, between October 1, 1983 and
April 1, 1984, claims for reparation:
a.
Any
person who between March 2, 1942 and June 30, 1946, was dismissed
from County employment, terminated from a temporary County position,
rejected as a County employee during a probationary period, forced
to take a leave of absence from County service, or voluntarily resigned
from County employment in lieu of dismissal by reason of relocation
required pursuant to Presidential Executive Order 9066 and subsequent
orders and enactments; and
b.
Who
at the time of such relocation was a County employee and incurred
salary losses as a result thereof.
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No claim may be filed by the survivor or representative of the
estate of any such person, and the death of a potential claimant prior
to the filing of a claim shall terminate any eligibility. In the event
of a death of a claimant whose claim has already been filed and who
is determined to have been eligible to receive reparations authorized
by this chapter, reimbursement shall be made to the claimant's estate.
No claimant may file more than one claim pursuant to this chapter.
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(SCC 541 § 1, 1983)
Notice of the opportunity to file claims pursuant to the provisions
of this chapter shall be published by the clerk of the Board of Supervisors
in a newspaper of general circulation published and circulated within
the County on or about October 1, November 1, December 1, 1983, and
January 1, February 1 and March 1, 1984.
All claims shall be in writing, on such forms as are prescribed
and accompanied by such documentation as may be required by the County
Executive, and shall be received in the Office of the Clerk of the
Board of Supervisors on or before March 31, 1984. Any claim not received
on or before that date shall be ineffective, and denied consideration.
(SCC 543 § 1, 1983)
The County Executive shall formulate and promulgate procedures
for the review of claims, which may include standards for proof of
eligibility, and shall identify the administrative authority charged
with the responsibility of determining eligibility. Any such procedure
shall be in writing, shall be filed with the Clerk of the Board of
Supervisors not later than September 30, 1983, and shall provide for
final determination by the Board of Supervisors of any disputes relating
to eligibility.
(SCC 543 § 1, 1983)
No claimant may be reimbursed for any losses other than those
equivalent to losses of the monthly salary which the claimant would
otherwise have been entitled to earn during the period between the
date of termination of employment or service and the date on which
the claimant was entitled to return to the Sacramento Area. No claimant
may be reimbursed for any collateral benefit or loss such as retirement
benefits or other forms of in lieu compensation such as sick leave,
vacation allowance, or other fringe benefits; nor shall any claimant
be reimbursed for the County's contribution towards the claimant's
retirement benefits, or any other County contribution relating to
employment. Reimbursement authorized pursuant to this chapter shall
not be deemed to constitute the payment of salary.
The actual amount of reimbursement which each claimant shall receive shall be determined by the Board of Supervisors pursuant to such standards as it may adopt after March 31, 1984, in apportioning the amount of the Fund described by Section 7.01.010; provided that no claimant shall be entitled to receive more than the equivalent of One thousand two hundred fifty dollars of salary loss incurred by the claimant during any twelve month period between March 2, 1942 and June 30, 1946, nor a total reimbursement which exceeds Five thousand dollars, representing forty-eight calendar months of salary losses. The total amount of reimbursement shall be payable, at the election of the recipient, either in lump sum not later than June 30, 1984, or in four equal annual installments without interest payable on June 30, 1984, and on the same day of the next succeeding three years.
(SCC 543 § 1, 1983)
Presentation of reparations, subsequent to determination of
all claims filed by March 31, 1984, shall be officially made during
an appropriate public ceremony to be scheduled and arranged by the
Chairperson of the Board of Supervisors. At the time of or following
the ceremony there shall be displayed within or in proximity to the
Chambers of the Board where its meetings are conducted, an appropriate
plaque which memorializes the purposes and effects of this chapter.
(SCC 543 § 1, 1983)
This chapter shall be deemed repealed and shall have no further force or effect on October 1, 1983, if the Final Budget for the 1983-84 Fiscal Year does not contain an appropriation to the Fund described by Section 7.01.010.
The primary purpose of this chapter is to memorialize the events during World War II described herein. The provisions of this chapter shall not be deemed to create any right, benefit, privilege or other entitlement on the part of any individual or entity to any reimbursement whatsoever. All costs incurred in payments provided for herein shall be chargeable to and limited by the amount of the Fund described by Section 7.01.010.
(SCC 543 § 1, 1983)
