HCR 11 - PARENTS' DAY CHAIR WILSON announced that the next order of business would be HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 11, Proclaiming July 24, 2005, as Parents' Day. 3:53:25 PM REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA, speaking as the sponsor, explained that HCR 11 proclaims July 24, 2005, to be Parents' Day. She then spoke of the importance of parents, of the fact that Parents' Day would be a public celebration within Alaskan communities, and of the existence of a group in Alaska that seeks out nominations for Parent of the Year. 3:56:26 PM EUGENE HARNETT, Staff to Representative Tom Anderson, Alaska State Legislature, relayed that he serves [and would be speaking] as chairman of the "Alaska Parents' Day Committee." He went on to say: This is our 11th year. [The] Parents' Day Committee has been sponsoring public celebration of parents in Anchorage, and we have a big outdoor barbeque; the mayor comes, [the] governor comes, public officials come, members of the legislature [come]. Representative Cissna ... has supported it and participated in it for the last several years. ... Each year our committee chooses Alaska Parents of the Year, and we also choose awardees for excellence in parenting, and of course we honor all those parents that are nominated. We give them a congressional certificate signed by ... Congressman Don Young. ... It's becoming bigger and bigger, as a public event, each year which is one reason why I think this resolution is so pertinent. First of all, I want to especially thank Representative Cissna for introducing this resolution, and also ... Representative Anderson for letting me work on it, and those who have signed it as co-sponsors - thank you very much. This really tells that the legislature of Alaska ... recognizes the role parents play in the public life. And ultimately, in developing public policy, I believe parents play a big role because they inculcate the values that we as adults live by. And parents operate behind the scenes, unnoticed, ... and this is an opportunity to say ..., "We recognize parents all the time, fundamentally, and it's important to note that." This is a holiday much like Mother's Day and Father's Day, but it is more, as Representative Cissna alluded to; Parents' Day is not just a time to celebrate, but also to make a statement that underscores the vital role parents play in the lives of our children, and really in the stability of our society. So this holiday, Parents' Day, was originally established by Congress in 1994 as [a] reoccurring holiday. I remember when it was first discussed; I walked into Don Young's office here in Anchorage, and his secretary ... said, "Oh, no, they're not making any more new holidays." MR. HARNETT continued: Well this holiday did get passed unanimously by Congress and signed by the President, and it was bipartisan. I think that's one of the things that has struck me over the years, that honoring parents is not a political issue - this is really refreshing. And I'm so glad that the state of Alaska [is], at this time, officially recognizing this with a resolution. We've had proclamations from the governor every year, but this is really better, from the legislature, and I understand it's only for this year. Maybe in the future, ... we [would] certainly like to see this established as a permanent holiday, but thank you again for doing this to honor Parents' Day in Alaska. I think it's a well-placed effort. REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER sought confirmation that the sponsor only intended to have the resolution apply to this year. REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA confirmed that that is her intention. REPRESENTATIVE ANDERSON surmised that a statutory change would be required in order to have Parents' Day automatically recognized yearly. REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER moved to report HCR 11 out of committee [with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal note]. There being no objection, HCR 11 was reported out of the House Health, Education and Social Services Standing Committee.