BILL NUMBER: SB 424	CHAPTERED  04/21/05

	CHAPTER  9
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  APRIL 21, 2005
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  APRIL 21, 2005
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  APRIL 21, 2005
	PASSED THE SENATE  APRIL 7, 2005
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 4, 2005

INTRODUCED BY   Senators Poochigian and Speier
   (Principal coauthor: Senator Scott)
   (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Aghazarian)
   (Coauthors: Senators Battin, Cox, Dutton, Kuehl, and Torlakson)
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Bogh, Canciamilla, Chan, Daucher,
DeVore, Frommer, Huff, Laird, Nakanishi, Sharon Runner, and Villines)


                        FEBRUARY 17, 2005

   An act to add Section 6720 to the Government Code, relating to
Armenia.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 424, Poochigian.  Armenian Genocide.
    Existing law requires the Governor to proclaim certain days every
year for specified reasons.
   This bill would establish April 24 of each year as the "California
Day of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide" and the period
beginning on the Sunday before that day through the following Sunday
as the days of remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.
   (a) Upon the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide, the Legislature recognizes that 1,500,000 Armenians living
in their 3,000-year historic homeland were subjected to torture,
starvation, and murder, including death marches into the Syrian
desert, by the rulers of the Ottoman Turkish Empire and the exile of
more than 500,000 innocent people during the period from 1915-23. The
Armenian Genocide, also known as the "First Genocide of the
Twentieth Century," represented a deliberate attempt to eliminate all
traces of a thriving noble civilization.
   (b) In recognition of the anniversary of this Genocide and an open
condemnation of these crimes against humanity, it is crucial to
publicly acknowledge the occurrence of the Armenian Genocide, as it
is denied to this day by the Republic of Turkey, and to prevent the
repetition of similar future atrocities committed against any people.

   (c) Armenian communities all over the world commemorate this great
tragedy on April 24, because it was on that day in 1915 when
hundreds of Armenian intellectual, political, religious, and business
leaders were arrested and taken from their homes in Constantinople
before dawn and brutally murdered.
  SEC. 2.  Section 6720 is added to the Government Code, to read:
   6720.
   April 24 of each year shall be the "California Day of Remembrance
of the Armenian Genocide," and the period beginning on the Sunday
before that day through the following Sunday shall be the days of
remembrance in this state, and shall annually be so proclaimed by the
Governor, in memory of the 1,500,000 victims who were subjected to
torture, starvation, and murder, including death marches into the
Syrian desert, by the rulers of the Ottoman Turkish Empire and the
exile of more than 500,000 innocent people during the period from
1915 to 1923, inclusive, and in honor of the survivors of those
crimes against humanity.