California may end ban on communists in government jobs | The Sacramento Bee
Being a communist would no longer be a fireable offense for California government employees under a bill passed Monday by the state Assembly. Lawmakers narrowly approved the bill to repeal part of a law enacted during the Red Scare of the 1940s and '50s when fear that communists were trying to infiltrate and overthrow the U.S. government was rampant. The bill now goes to the Senate. It would eliminate part of the law that allows public employees to be fired for being a member of the Communist Party.
Assemblyman Randy Voepel, a Southern California Republican who fought in the Vietnam War, said communists in North Korea and China are "still a threat." "This bill is blatantly offensive to all Californians," said Assemblyman Travis Allen, a Republican who represents a coastal district in Southern California. "Communism stands for everything that the United States stands against."
