State Rep. Rick Rehm’s bill to make Juneteenth a state holiday is headed to Gov. Kay Ivey’s desk for signature after the Alabama Senate approved it on Wednesday.

Juneteenth, or June 19, commemorates the day upon which Black slaves learned of their emancipation in 1865.

Former President Joe Biden signed a bill in 2021 recognizing the day as a federal holiday.

And Gov. Kay Ivey has declared it a state holiday each year since.

Democratic lawmakers have attempted to pass similar bills in the Alabama legislature but have been unsuccessful.

Rehm, R-Dothan, previously said he understood where some of these lawmakers frustrations were coming from and added that he had largely been driven by his constituents to file this legislation in his first term.

“To me this is a very important holiday that’s recognized,” he said.

Under the initial version of HB165 state employees would have also been given the option to observe either Jefferson Davis’ birthday or Juneteenth.

But it was amended early on to delete this provision.

Jefferson Davis was the former president of the Confederate States which fought to preserve slavery during the Civil War.