Representative Filler was gracious enough to allow me to include an amendment to this bill in honor of Ensign Francis Flaherty, who was from Charlotte, Michigan and died and received the Medal of Honor during the attacks at Pearl Harbor where he helped members of his unit on the battleship that he was assigned to—the USS Oklahoma —to escape after the order to evacuate had been put out. He decided to stay on board the ship and help colleagues of his and other sailors that were on board to navigate them and light the path out of the ship that was rapidly sinking. His remains were never truly identified after that horrific event. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor and his remains have been unidentified for the last 80 years. And just recently the Department of Defense was able to identify his remains and he has currently a headstone with an empty grave in Charlotte, and they are going to rebury his remains in Charlotte this summer .
I spoke to Representative Filler and asked him for the ability to amend this bill to include the memorial for the Marine that died in Vietnam that was the original purpose behind this bill as well as accomplish the highway memorial in Charlotte in time to have this done and ready for his burial later this year.
The following bill was read a third time:
Senate Bill No. 529, entitled
A bill to make, supplement, and adjust appropriations for various state departments and agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2021; and to provide for the expenditure of the appropriations.
The question being on the passage of the bill,
Senator Chang offered the following amendment:
1. Amend page 9, following line 7, by inserting:
“Enacting section 1. The appropriations in this act are conditional upon the allowability of the use of the coronavirus state fiscal recovery fund as determined by federal law, regulations, and guidance.”.
Senator Chang requested the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered, 1/5 of the members present voting therefor.
The amendment was not adopted, a majority of the members serving not voting therefor, as follows: