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FEBRUARY 27, 2001

New Mexico Senators last week have proposed making the last Saturday in March a holiday for Cesar Chavez, a Hispanic migrant worker activist who was born in Arizona and lived in California.

But others question the need for the holiday and Governor Gary Johnson vetoed a similar proposal four years ago because he said it would cost $2.4 million since state workers would take the day off.

Even though the holiday is now being proposed on a Saturday, employees who work on weekends, including corrections officers and state police, would get paid 2 1/2 times their normal pay. That would cost $240,000.

Chavez died in 1993.

Get the Story:
Senators OK César Chávez Holiday (AP 2/27)