Zoe Lofgren: “As with the prior bills, the Office of Law Revision Counsel has drafted this. The chairman has certainly explained what…”

“As with the prior bills, the Office of Law Revision Counsel has drafted this. The chairman has certainly explained what it does. It makes no change to the law, but it does do this. It highlights the value of voting rights laws by creating a title 52. I think that is going to make it easier for the public to understand what the rules are. It is an important measure, even though it doesn't change the existing law, by making the law more accessible. I am going to diverge a little bit from the substance of this because when my plane landed from California this afternoon, I was saddened to find on my email the news that Alan A. Parker, who was general counsel for the Judiciary Committee and general counsel for the Civil Rights Subcommittee when my predecessor, Don Edwards, had chaired the Civil Rights Subcommittee, had passed away last Friday after a very long illness. Alan Parker served in World War II in the South Pacific. He went to Santa Clara University School of Law. He loved the Congress and he loved the Judiciary Committee. He had a distinguished career teaching law. He would be, I think, actually pleased to be remembered on the occasion of reorganizing these civil rights measures that he cared so much about and that he worked for when he was here in the House. I urge my colleagues to vote for this bill today and to join me in mourning the passage of Alan A.…”