Bill to kill Florida's Confederate holidays can't even get a hearing in the state House
Florida still commemorates the birthdays of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and General Robert E. Lee 鈥� at least on paper.
, don鈥檛 qualify for a day off for state employees, but the Sunshine State still has the recognition on the books.
And, it appears, things will stay that way, for a least a while.
The lawmaker overseeing the committee that would deal with has declined to schedule a hearing for it.
, said the bill died because the House Oversight, Transparency and Administration Subcommittee ran out of time to consider the measure.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think history, even perhaps the parts that I鈥檓 not so proud of, I don鈥檛 think we should try to remove its aspects,鈥� .
House Bill 277, sponsored by , D-Coral Springs, would have left other holidays, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, George Washington鈥檚 and Abraham Lincoln鈥檚 birthdays untouched.
It would have merely done away with official state recognition of the birthdays of Davis and Lee, as well as Confederate Memorial Day on April 26.
Moskowitz told the paper the move is baffling and couldn鈥檛 explain why the state would want to continue to equate Davis and Lee with King, Washington and Lincoln.
鈥淭hese people wanted to secede from the Union,鈥� Moskowitz said of the Confederates. 鈥淵ou know what we would call them today? Traitors.鈥�
The bill comes as cities and states around the country remove monuments to the Confederacy. Cities such as New Orleans, Baltimore and Memphis have taken down statutes to Lee, Davis and others amid protests.
while the city of Jacksonville has looked into taking down several monuments.
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