Muslim Day at the Capitol in Sacramento
On Monday, May 22nd, the Chairman of the Shura Council Dr Ahmed Soboh and Vice Chair Dr Azeem Syed took part in the Muslim Day at the Capitol (MDAC) in Sacramento at the state’s official legislative facilities. The event was organized under the auspices of CAIR which helped coordinate this annual event for the 12th time Alhamdulillah.
The largest Muslim civic engagement event in the country was attended by over a hundred people from various state CAIR chapters. Also, many esteemed Imams, community leaders, and Islamic institutions such as schools were in attendance.
They all helped contribute to MDAC playing a pivotal role in demonstrating the Muslim community’s political presence in California to our elected officials while also serving as an educational opportunity for our leaders and youth. The purpose is to unite, inform, and civically engage our citizens’ potential to bring about meaningful change for all communities of color.
Community leaders, including the two Shura board members, had exclusive meetings with the Speaker of the House and the State Attorney General among other officials.
A summary of the top-tier bills written by CAIR-CA and lobbied for at this round are:
- SB 309 Correctional facilities: Religious accommodations: This bill would include the right to exercise religious freedom, including accommodation, for grooming and prescribed religious clothing and headwear, as specified.
- SB 461 Days and hours of work: religious or cultural observance: This bill would allow state employees to utilize their allocated 8 hours of holiday credit towards time off for religious or cultural observance. Currently, the time may only be used for predetermined holidays.
- AB 1503 Pupil attendance: excused absences, religious retreats: This bill would expand the excused absence time from 4 to 8 hours per semester. The existing law allows 4 hours per semester of excused absences for religious retreats in K-12.
More information and follow-up inquiries can be made at https://ca.cair.com/mdac/
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