California Latino Caucus to Make Affirmative Action, Bilingual Education Top Priorities

California’s Latino caucus has vowed to make bilingual education and the reintroduction of affirmative action top priorities in the legislative year.

According to a report in the Sacramento Bee, Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens), the Chair of the Latino Legislative Caucus, has authored Senate Bill 1174, which would “place an initiative before voters in 2016 to repeal Proposition 227 and allow public schools to teach bilingual education.”

That is one of the bills the Latino Caucus declared this week would be one their top priorities for the year.

After California state senators “passed a measure (SCA 5) that, if approved by voters, would overturn Proposition 209, the landmark initiative that banned affirmative action in 1996,” the author of the bill pulled it two weeks ago after intense backlash, particularly from the state’s Asian-American community.

That did not deter Lara from declaring that he would redouble his efforts to get affirmative action back on the ballot.

“Let there not be any doubt,” Lara told the Los Angeles Times. “The Black caucus and Latino caucus strongly support SCA 5, and we are committed to put something on the ballot in 2016.”