Question: What Texas governor signed the bill establishing Juneteenth as an official state holiday?
Answer: Bill Clements. In 1978, he became the first Republican to be elected governor since Reconstruction. The following year, State Rep. Al Edwards, a Democrat from Houston, introduced a bill to designate “Emancipation Day in Texas” as a state holiday. The law became effective in 1980, and in 2021, Juneteenth became a federal holiday.
