California's Assembly Votes To Allow Communists To Hold State Jobs

Enlarge this image toggle caption Rich Pedroncelli/AP Rich Pedroncelli/AP

California may end a decades-old ban on members of the Communist Party working in its government, after the state Assembly approved a bill that would delete references to the party from its employment requirements. Lawmakers narrowly approved the bill to repeal part of a law enacted during the Red Scare of the 1940s and '50s when fear that communists were trying to infiltrate and overthrow the U.S. government was rampant. The bill, which was authored by Democratic Assemblyman Rob Bonta, now goes to the Senate. The original statute warns of “a clear and present danger, which the Legislature of the State of California finds is great and imminent, that in order to advance the program, policies and objectives of the world communism movement, communist organizations in the State of California and their members will engage in concerted effort to hamper, restrict, interfere with, impede, or nullify the efforts of the State…and their members will infiltrate and seek employment by the State and its public agencies.”

The law then suggests being a member of the Communist Party is a sufficient reason for dismissal for public employees. After those objections were raised, Bonta told his colleagues that the legislation includes a provision that allows the dismissal of any state employee "if that public employee advocates or is knowingly a member" of an organization that works toward "the overthrow of the government of the United States or any state by force or violence." In his view the bill was “really just a technical fix to remove that reference to a label that could be misused or abused, and frankly, has been in the past, in some of the darker chapters of our history in this country.”

Republican Assemblyman Randy Voepel attacked the bill, urging his colleagues to vote against it, claiming that military veterans fought against communists and a hostile political ideology “is still a threat.”

“The whole concept of communism and Communist Party members working for the state of California is against everything we stand for on this floor,” he said.
The Assembly of California votes in favor of ending a ban which barred members of the Communist Party USA from holding positions in the state government.