Security guards enter the lobby outside the Fresno County Board of Supervisors chamber in the Hall of Records in Fresno on Monday, March 23, 2026.
THADDEUS MILLER
tmiller@fresnobee.com
Fresno County public employees will now get Fresno County Farmworker and Agriculture Appreciation Day off on March 31 after the board of supervisors voted to remove Cesar Chavez’s name from the state holiday.
The supervisors voted 4-0 with Supervisor Luis Chavez absent from the special meeting on Monday.
Supervisor Brain Pacheco, who is a farmer, said he supported a day that he hoped could promote unity between farmers and farmworkers.
“Today, you see a partnership together, and I think the farmers do a better job taking care of the people, and we definitely appreciate those that help us do the work that’s so vital. And, again, it’s very, very hard work,” he said.
The board called a special meeting in light of the news last week that the long-revered civil rights leader was accused by multiple women of rape and other sexual violence. Several of the victims who spoke out were children when they said they were molested or raped by Chavez, who was also accused of rape by civil rights icon Dolores Huerta.
The supervisors noted the holiday is a state holiday, but the Fresno County vote would mean the holiday would no longer use the Chavez name on county paperwork.
State leaders have started the effort to potentially change the holiday after Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, took to the floor of his chamber Thursday to announce he would work with Senate President pro Tem Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara, to change the name of the holiday honoring Chavez to Farmworkers Day.
California became the first state in 2000 to honor the civil rights leader with a holiday on his birthday, March 31. Schools were required to teach about the labor movement, which heavily featured Chavez, who died at 66 in 1993.
While the Fresno County effort on Monday was largely semantical until the state makes a change, Supervisor Nathan Magsig said it was important to try to reduce harm.
“There’s a lot of people who are experiencing pain, and so anything that we can do to stop re-victimizing the victims out there,” he said. “We’re changing our salary resolution, and what we’re going to call this holiday is no longer Cesar Chavez holiday.”
Last week, the Fresno City Council approved a plan to strip the name and signs from the 10-mile Cesar Chavez Boulevard. It would revert to the three names that preceded it before 2024.
This story was originally published March 23, 2026 at 1:37 PM.
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Reporter Thaddeus Miller has covered cities in the central San Joaquin Valley since 2010, writing about everything from breaking news to government and police accountability. A native of Fresno, he joined The Fresno Bee in 2019 after time in Merced and Los Banos.