Governor Schwarzenegger Signs Legislation to Build a Genocide Memorial in Sacramento

STAFF WRITER

Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law AB 1210, which calls for the construction of an International Genocide Monument in Sacramento's State Capitol Park.

The California State Legislature took the first step this year in working to construct an International Genocide Memorial in the State's Capitol. The bill establishes the International Genocide Memorial Commission and authorizes the construction of a memorial to California's genocide survivors in the Capitol Historic Park. However, AB 1210 prohibits the expenditure of state funding for both the Genocide Memorial Commission and the construction of the memorial. Funding for the construction will only be provided through private contributions.

"We should never forget the inhumanity and brutality of genocide," said Governor Schwarzenegger. "The construction of this memorial will help all Californians remember the unimaginable suffering genocide survivors endured."

Just last week, Governor Schwarzenegger signed SB 1524, "Armenian Genocide Bank and Looted Assets Recovery Act". This bill will allow victims and heirs recovery - through California Courts - of assets looted by banks and financial institutions operating in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey during the Armenian Genocide which have been wrongfully withheld since the Genocide.