page_title: Passage of Martin Luther King Jr. Day
section_title: Connecticut
hierarchical_section_title: Passage of Martin Luther King Jr. Day / History / State / Connecticut
caption_attribution_description: English: former congressman and Governor of Connecticut Thomas Joseph Meskill.
context_page_description: A United States federal statute honoring Martin Luther King Jr. and his work in the civil rights movement with a federal holiday was enacted by the 98th United States Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on November 2, 1983, creating Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The final vote in the House of Representatives on August 2, 1983 was 338–90 with 5 members voting present or abstaining, while the final vote in the Senate on October 19, 1983 was 78–22, both veto-proof margins.
  Prior to 1983 there had been multiple attempts following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. to have a holiday created in his honor with Representative John Conyers introducing legislation in every legislative session from 1968 to 1983. In 1979 a vote was held on legislation that would have created a holiday on the third Monday in January, but it failed to receive two-thirds support and was later rescinded following an amendment changing its date.
  While attempts were made to have a federally recognized holiday, numerous U.S. states recognized holidays in honor of King. Connecticut did so in 1973.
context_section_description: In 1971 a bill to recognized King's birthday as a holiday was passed by both the Connecticut House of Representatives and Connecticut Senate, but was vetoed by Governor Thomas Meskill, who had initially supported the bill, citing the cost of having another paid holiday with it being around $1.3 million. The bill was reintroduced by Representative Irving J. Stolberg in 1972 and it passed in the senate again, but was defeated in the House. In 1973 Governor Meskill issued a proclamation recognizing King's birthday and Representative Maragaret Morton, the first black women in the state's assembly, later introduced a bill to create a holiday in honor of King, but it was shelved by the General Law Committee as they felt that Meskill would veto it again.
  Supporters of the King holiday created a petition and in February 1973 it had received enough signatures from legislators to force public hearings on a bill for the holiday. Although the law initially put forward by the petition failed, an amended version passed the house 124 to 17 in favor and the senate with unanimity, and Governor Meskill signed it into law on June 14, 1973, making Connecticut the first state to recognize a holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.
  On March 4, 1976, Governor Ella Grasso stated that she would support moving the holiday from the second Sunday to January 15. The house and senate both passed a bill to change the holiday's date and make it a paid holiday, and on May 4, 1976, Grasso signed the bill making Martin Luther King Jr. Day fall on January 15 and as a paid holiday for Connecticut's 40,000 state employees.
  Legislative votes
caption: Governor Thomas Meskill
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