California in August 2000 became the first state to honor Cesar Chavez with an official paid holiday. The California Legislature approved SB 984 making March 31 a paid holiday for state employees by a vote of 49-11 in the Assembly and 25-0 in the Senate. On August 18, 2000, Governor Gray Davis signed the bill in a Los Angeles ceremony, saying: "Cesar Chavez brought hope and inspiration to tens of thousands of farmworkers --some of the hardest-working people on the planet Earth… His dream for farmworkers spoke to the heart and conscience of America."

Under the Chavez holiday law, courts will function as usual, as will California schools- they can choose to hold a half-day of instruction on Chavez's life, followed by an age-appropriate form of community service in the afternoon.

Most state employees now receive 13 paid holidays, including one personal holiday; the new law adds one more paid holiday, and assumes that unions representing state employees will agree to the new holiday in bargaining.

It is not clear what private businesses will do: about 25 percent of US businesses treat January 17, Martin Luther King Day, as a paid holiday; it was established in 1983. The cost of the new state holiday is estimated at $51 million a year, including $34 million to pay 210,000 state employees for one day, $12 million for overtime pay and $5 million for a grant program to fund community service activities.

Texas in 1999 made March 31 an optional state holiday in honor of Chavez and Arizona celebrated its first Cesar Chavez Day in 2000, although it is considered a recognition day rather than a paid state holiday. The cities of Sacramento and San Fernando have made March 31 a paid holiday for city employees.

Commenting on Cesar Chavez while on a campaign tour in California in August 2000, Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush said: "He broke new ground when it came to fighting for individual rights. He fought for what was right, and that's the greatness of America."

A chronology of Cesar Estrada Chavez follows:

March 31, 1927: Chavez born near Yuma, Ariz.

March 31, 1962: National Farm Workers' Association, precursor to the UFW, is founded in Fresno, Calif.

September 16, 1965: Great Delano Grape Strike begins.

March 17-April 10, 1966: 340-mile march from Delano to Sacramento.

February 14-March 10, 1968: Fast to strengthen farmworkers' commitment to nonviolence.

July 29, 1970: Grape strike ends; growers sign UFW's first contracts.

September 17, 1970: Chavez declares lettuce boycott.

May 11-June 5, 1972: Fast to protest grower-sponsored no harvest-time strike law.

September 1, 1973: Second grape boycott begins as growers sign deals with Teamsters union.

July 1, 1975: Chavez begins 58-day, 1,000-mile walk from San Ysidro to Salinas to lobby for law guaranteeing fair union elections in agriculture.

June 12, 1984: Chavez calls a third grape boycott, targeting growers spraying with dangerous pesticides.

July 17-August 21, 1988: Fast to call attention to farmworker children dying of cancer.

April 23,1993: Chavez dies in sleep in San Luis, Ariz.

August 8, 1994: President Clinton posthumously awards Cesar Chavez the highest civilian honor, U.S. Medal of Freedom.

Delores Huerta, was awarded an Hispanic Heritage Awards for her leadership with the United Farmworkers Union. Also honored, was Cruz Reynoso, vice chair of the US Commission on Civil Rights and a professor at the UCLA School of Law.

Edwin Garcia, "Governor signs law honoring Latino labor leader," San Jose Mercury News, August 19, 2000.

Emily Bazar, "Chavez holiday bill goes to Davis," Sacramento Bee, August 11, 2000.