SECTION 1.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(1) On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which caused the incarceration of approximately 120,000 Americans and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry in camps scattered throughout the United States during World War II.
(2) Executive Order 9066 put the lives of these individuals, who were forcibly relocated from their homes and communities and unjustly detained by the United States government, on hold.
(3) On August 10, 1988, President Ronald Wilson Reagan signed into law the Civil
Liberties Act of 1988, declaring that Executive Order 9066 was not justified by military necessity and hence was caused by racial prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.
(4) The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 apologized on behalf of the people of the United States for the evacuation, relocation, and incarceration of Americans and permanent resident aliens of Japanese ancestry during World War II and provided for the restitution to those individuals of Japanese ancestry who were incarcerated.
(5) The disruption of over 2,500 students’ educational pursuits was among the consequences of the country’s wartime policy, which removed students enrolled in California’s colleges and universities from their studies.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that postsecondary educational institutions confer
an honorary degree upon each individual whose studies at a postsecondary educational institution were disrupted by Executive Order 9066, and to allow a representative to accept an honorary degree on behalf of individuals who are deceased.