[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 23 (Tuesday, February 28, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E217]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HONORING CSEA ON ITS 75TH ANNIVERSARY

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                          HON. DORIS O. MATSUI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 28, 2006

  Ms. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the members of 
the California State Employees Association on the 75th anniversary of 
the organization's founding.
  CSEA currently represents over 140,000 California state employees and 
retirees. Members include a wide variety of hardworking state 
employees, from front line service providers to university professors. 
California residents depend on CSEA members for a wide variety of state 
services, members ensure everything from a safe drinking water supply 
to the speedy processing of our tax returns. Without their hard work 
the business of the state would not get done.
  It is a testament to the organization's importance and leadership 
that it continues to thrive 75 years after its formation. Since its 
inception, CSEA has been instrumental in making certain state workers 
have the protections and benefits they deserve. CSEA helped create the 
first retirement system for state workers, advocated for a mandated 
forty hour work-week and helped obtain voter approval of the Merit 
System for state service, all of which has contributed to a well 
qualified and motivated state workforce.
  CSEA has also contributed to the health care of public sector 
employees. Since 1938, they have provided state workers with medical 
insurance, as the state did not provide such benefits until 1962. 
Today, CSEA serves its members by offering California state employees 
access to affordable homeowner's, life and dental insurance.
  As an organization, CSEA has also played a pivotal role in ensuring 
state and university employees are entitled to collective bargaining. 
CSEA successfully lobbied for passage of the Dills Act and the Berman 
Act in the 1970s, both of which extended collective bargaining rights 
to public employees.
  Mr. Speaker, I am honored to congratulate CSEA President J.J. 
Jelincic, as well as the association's thousands of members on CSEA's 
75th anniversary. I ask all my colleagues to join me and honor CSEA, as 
well as the fine work that California state employees do everyday

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