Senate Bill 1277 would require a 'statewide teacher professional development program on genocide, including the Holocaust, for school districts, county offices of education, and charter school teachers.' The California Teachers Collaborative for Holocaust and Genocide Education, a group coordinated by the Jewish Family and Children's Services Holocaust Center in the Bay Area, would be responsible for creating the program. In addition to the Holocaust, the collaborative would focus on education about 'other genocides, including, but not limited to, those of the Armenian, Bosnian, Cambodian, Guatemalan, Indigenous American, Rwandan, and Uyghur peoples.'
The proposed laws have the support of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, whose members are authors and co-authors. They say the legislation would protect California Jewish students at a time of rising antisemitism after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the retaliatory war in Gaza. The caucus legislators also describe their bills as a way of protecting other minority groups that face discrimination.
The actions came during the legislature's twice-annual culling of hundreds of bills during fast-paced votes in each chamber to decide which will advance to the Senate and Assembly for a vote before their Aug. 31 end-of-session deadline.
The bills have faced strong opposition from pro-Palestinian groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace and the Council on American-Islamic Relations as well as civil rights organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union.
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