BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1915
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 30, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 1915 (Nazarian) - As Amended: April 22, 2014
Policy Committee: EducationVote:7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill establishes the Armenian Genocide Education Act.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Encourages the California Department of Education (CDE) to
incorporate into its publications examples of curriculum
resources for teachers relating to genocide in Armenia,
Cambodia, Darfur and Rwanda.
2)Encourages the incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator,
and witness testimony into the teaching of genocide, including
but not limited to the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur and
Rwandan.
3)Encourages all state and local professional development
activities to provide teachers with content background and
resources to assist in teaching about the Armenian Genocide
4)Requires the Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) to
consider including the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur and Rwandan
genocides in the history-social science framework when it is
revised pursuant to existing law.
5)Defines the Armenian Genocide as "the torture, starvation, and
murder of 1,500,000 Armenians, which included death marches
into the Syrian Desert, by the rulers of the Ottoman Turkish
Empire and exile of more than 500,000 innocent people during
the period from 1915 to 1923, inclusive."
AB 1915
Page 2
FISCAL EFFECT
1)State-mandated costs to LEAs, potentially in the millions, to
incorporate the Armenian Genocide within the course of study
in social science for grades 7 through 12.
2)Potential GF/98 cost pressure, in the thousands, to the extent
state and local education agencies (LEAs) develop and
incorporate additional content and resources related to the
Armenian Genocide into professional development activities.
3)Estimated costs of $150,000 for CDE to review instructional
resources related to the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and
Rwandan Genocides and for the IQC to consider including these
genocides in the history-social science frameworks. This bill
does not require the CDE or IQC to implement these provisions.
CDE indicates these activities cannot be absorbed within
existing resources.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . SB 424 (Poochigian), Chapter 9, Statutes of 2005,
recognized the Armenian Genocide as a series of events
occurring between 1915 and 1918 in which the rulers of the
Ottoman Turkish Empire systematically exterminated its
Armenian citizens. This bill expands this definition to
include the period from 1918 through 1923, at which time the
Ottoman Empire was defeated and the Republic of Turkey was
established.
According to the author, though the Armenian Genocide is
incorporated in California's model curriculum, not all schools
teach about the genocide. The History/Social Science
frameworks and Content Standards are evolving outlines that
are subject to change. This bill will codify the Armenian
Genocide in statue, so that it will be indefinitely
incorporated into teaching practice.
Recent amendments to the bill make it consistent with a
similar bill, AB 659 (Nazarian), pending in the Senate.
2)Related Legislation
a) AB 659 (Nazarian) of 2013, pending in Senate Rules
AB 1915
Page 3
Committee, requires the CDE to include the Armenian
Genocide in its published curriculum resources and
encourages the incorporation of specific instances of
genocide into existing curriculum, professional development
activities, and in the next revision of the history/social
science curriculum framework.
b) SB 1380 (Wyland) of 2014, pending in the Senate,
requires the IQC to consider including the Armenian
Genocide in the next revision of the history/social science
framework and specifically identifies the Armenian Genocide
when encouraging the incorporation of oral testimony into
the teaching of human rights and genocide.
c) SB 1419 (Wyland) of 2014, pending in the Senate,
commencing with the 2015-16 school year, would prohibit a
pupil from receiving credit for passing a course in world
history, culture, and geography, without exposure in that
course to an oral history component, as defined,
specifically related to genocides, specifically including
the Armenian Genocide.
Analysis Prepared by : Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081