Assemblymember Lowenthal presented House Resolution 32 on March 6, designating a week in April as Cambodian Genocide Memorial Week and marking the 50th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge takeover. Members across the floor offered remarks in support before the resolution was adopted by voice vote.

“April seventeenth marked the 50 year anniversary of the start of the Khmer Rouge,” Assemblymember Lowenthal said, noting an estimated “over 1,700,000 Cambodians” were killed between April 1975 and January 1979. Members from multiple caucuses spoke in support, including remarks on the Cambodian American community in Long Beach, which Lowenthal said is the largest Cambodian population outside Southeast Asia in the world.

Assemblymember Gibson and Assemblymember Kalra, speaking for the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus, urged the chamber to remember survivors and to use the observance to educate about the dangers of hatred and discrimination. Several members shared personal reflections: Assemblymember Flora described visiting killing fields and seeing human remains years after the events; Assemblymember Marcucci noted a constituent survivor who still bears memories of the atrocities; Assemblymember Bower Kahan compared the experience to that of Holocaust survivors and urged collective remembrance.

After floor debate, the clerk opened the roll for coauthors; the clerk later reported 70 coauthors. A voice vote followed and the Speaker announced, “The ayes have it. The resolution is adopted.” The transcript records the ceremonial distribution of traditional Cambodian scarves to members and names of community guests from Long Beach who attended the session to be recognized on the Assembly floor.

The resolution is commemorative; the transcript does not indicate any funding or regulatory action attached to HR 32.