COLUMBIA, S.C. — A new bill in South Carolina is proposing to replace Confederate Memorial Day as a state holiday by giving employees a floating holiday instead.
The bill started as a proposal to add Juneteenth as a new state holiday but instead of adding a 14th holiday, a Senate committee voted Wednesday to create a floating holiday that state workers could take any time they want. It would remove Confederate Memorial Day on May 10 from the holiday list.
If employees want that day or Juneteenth off, they would have to use the floating holiday. Right now, South Carolina is one of three states that have Confederate Memorial Day as an official state holiday. Alabama and Mississippi are the other two.
South Carolina chose May 10 because it is the day when Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson died in 1863 after he was wounded by his own troops and the day Union soldiers captured fleeing Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Georgia in 1865.
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