PHOENIX (CN) - Arizona will no longer celebrate the birthday of late civil rights leader and labor activist Cesar Chavez. 

The day after his birthday, March 31, came and went without fanfare, as Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs signed a bill to repeal the ceremonial holiday from the state register in light of recent accusations of sexual assault and rape. 

"Like so many others, I'm deeply troubled by the recent revelations about Cesar Chavez," Hobbs said in a Wednesday press release. "While I know signing this bill won't erase the pain, my thoughts are with the victims and everyone affected. I'm working with community leaders to find meaningful ways to honor and celebrate our farmworker community and their continued contributions to the state of Arizona." 

Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers union with Chavez, revealed on March 18 that he raped her twice, both times conceiving children. Huerta said she was forced to hide those children from the public to not tarnish the legacy of the union she dedicated her life to. The same day, the New York Times published an investigation documenting regular sexual abuse Chavez perpetrated against two underage girls from 1972 to 1977.

The next day, United Farm Workers canceled all of its Cesar Chavez Day activities.

On March 19, Republican state Senator Shawna Bolick of Phoenix introduced a strike-everything amendment to previously unrelated House Bill 2072 to repeal the holiday. 

"As someone who has worked to strengthen protections for victims and vulnerable populations, I take this seriously," Bolick said in a press release. "We have to be consistent. We cannot say we stand with victims and then maintain laws that send a conflicting message. This is about ensuring Arizona law reflects a clear commitment to protecting victims and upholding accountability."

Bolick declined to comment further after Hobbs signed the legislation.

The amended bill passed through the Senate Regulatory Affairs and Government Efficiency Committee with flying colors, and later received near unanimous support on the Senate floor.

Only one state senator, Sally Ann Gonzales, a Democrat from Tucson, voted against it. 

While she agrees that the state should no longer honor Chavez, Gonzales said she wishes to still honor the farmworkers who organized and made Chavez's vision possible. She and Democratic state Senator Catherine Miranda introduced an additional amendment that would rename the holiday to Farmworkers Day, following the lead of the city of Phoenix and the state of California.

"This amendment preserves the celebration of the movement, of the struggles, of the sacrifices that farmworkers went through every day that they were fighting for these civil rights," Gonzales said Thursday on the Senate floor. 

In an impassioned speech, Gonzales put on her mothers cotton-picking gloves, explaining that she and her siblings spent their childhoods working alongside their mother in the fields and benefited from the movement that United Farm Workers started. 

"If we really wanted to honor the victims who have come forward, then we would have heard my amendment," she said.

That amendment failed, but the underlying action to repeal the holiday succeeded. 

On Monday, the House voted 48-9 to approve the repeal.

Those who voted against it, all Democrats, stood alongside Gonzales and demanded that the state not allow Chavez's individual actions to diminish the legacy of a movement larger than him. 

"Just completely repealing this and not honoring those farmworkers like my Senator Sally Gonzales and her family is not something that I can stand for," state Representative Alma Hernandez Monday.

Gonzales wrote a letter to Hobbs requesting that she veto the bill. Hobbs signed it, but signals that she still supports what Chavez and United Farm Workers stood for. 

"I am incredibly grateful for our hardworking farmworkers," Hobbs said in the press release. "Their resilience is evident in the lettuce fields of Yuma and the orange-picking farms of Mesa. Arizona's farmworkers are the backbone of our state's economy. I remain committed to supporting them and ensuring their contributions are recognized with dignity and respect."

Founded in 1962, United Farm Workers organized a series of marches, national strikes and fasts to earn higher wages and improved working conditions for laborers across the Southwest. 

From 1966 to 1970, the union carried out a successful international consumer boycott on grapes by picketing outside of grocery stores across the U.S. and Canada. It held boycotts and strikes against lettuce and strawberry growers in the following years. Huerta is credited by the National Library of Congress with negotiating thousands of labor contracts providing farmworkers with improved wages and working conditions.

There are more than a dozen public parks, buildings, streets and schools named for Cesar Chavez across Arizona, including at least seven in Phoenix. Already, Phoenix has removed Chavez's name from its downtown plaza outside the city council building, and has begun the process of removing his name from street signs and other parks. 

The Phoenix Union High School District says it will spend $2.3 million to change the name of Cesar Chavez High School - the endeavor will include changing the language of signage, uniforms, gym floors and more. Like the city of Phoenix, the school district will still celebrate Chavez's birthday, but will rename it to Farmworkers Appreciation Day. 

Cesar Chavez Day is still currently a federal commemorative, non-paid holiday. 

Source: Courthouse News Service