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Arizona's Journey to Honor
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Arizona’s history of honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a holiday has been marked by a series of significant events and legislative actions. Here’s a timeline of the key milestones:

July
1984

Phoenix City Council unanimously votes to honor Dr. King with a paid holiday for city workers.

January
1985

Phoenix is state's first city with official paid King holiday plus prayer breakfast, youth art exhibit, march and festival; other cities soon follow.

Early
1986

Legislative action to establish a paid state holiday passes in the Senate but fails in the House by 1 vote.

Late
1986

Gov. Bruce Babbitt creates a paid state holiday via his power of executive order to be celebrated the third Monday in January.

January
1987

Newly elected Gov. Evan Mecham rescinds the paid state holiday claiming Babbitt's executive order illegal; he declares the third Sunday in January as the state-recognized King holiday because it would be more appropriate since King was a Baptist minister.

September
1989

Arizona Legislature passes a bill that creates a paid King holiday eliminating Columbus Day so as not to create an additional state-paid holiday.

August
1990

A petition to restore Columbus Day and force the King holiday to a public vote was successful; the petition drive garnered 71,055 signatures.

November
1990

Proposition 302, which would establish a state-paid King holiday and retain a paid Columbus Day holiday, was defeated by 1 percent; a related Proposition (301) to create a state-paid King holiday and eliminate a paid Columbus Day holiday also was defeated.

March
1991

Arizona Legislature passes a referendum to put to public vote a bill that would combine Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays into President's Day and establish a King Civil Rights Day to be observed the third Monday in January to go into effect in 1993.

November
1992

61 percent of Arizona voters approve Proposition 300 to establish a paid King holiday; 39 percent voted against the measure.

January
1993

The first paid state holiday honoring Dr. King is celebrated in Arizona.

January
1996

10th anniversary of a paid King holiday is observed.

January
2006

20th anniversary of a paid King holiday is observed.

January
2016

30th anniversary of a paid King holiday is observed.

April
2018

Year marks the 50th anniversary of Dr. King's assassination.