Lunar New Year becomes a state holiday in California authored by Assemblymember Evan Low, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom

(SAN FRANCISCO) Governor Gavin Newsom signed three state holiday bills into law before the deadline of this legislative year. Those three new California state holidays starting 2023 are Lunar New Year, Juneteenth, and Genocide Remembrance Day.

Assembly Bill (AB) 2596, the legislation which designates Lunar New Year as a state holiday, was introduced by Chinese American Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Campbell) during Chinese New Year in February this year. Over 20 Chinese and Asian organizations came together urging Newsom to pass the bill. It was among a number of the bills Newsom signed before the September 30 midnight deadline.

"I am signing Assembly Bill 2596, which authorizes any state employee to utilize eight hours of vacation, annual leave, or compensating time off in lieu of receiving eight hours of personal holiday credit to observe the 'Lunar New Year'," Newsom wrote on September 29 in his signing letter.

Newsom stated, "The Lunar New Year celebrates a chance to leave behind the troubles of the past year and invite prosperity and good luck moving forward . Recognizing this day as a state holiday acknowledges the diversity and cultural significance Asian Americans bring to California and provides an opportunity for all Californians to participate in the significance of the Lunar New Year."

"I am immensely proud of the richness of diversity and backgrounds represented in our state and understand the importance of wanting to see one's own experience reflected in state holidays," Newsom added.

Newsom also signed two bills, AB 1655 and AB 1801, on September 29 to put a total of three additional state holidays on the list for Californians.

AB 1655, authored by African American Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), adds Juneteenth, June 19, to the list of the California state holidays.

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.

In U.S. history, freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2000 Union Troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. The army announced that more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state were freed by the executive decree. This day came to be known as “Juneteenth”.

In 2021, President Joe Biden signed legislation into law that established June 19 as Juneteenth National Independence Day, a federal holiday.

Under AB 1655, all California community colleges and public schools will take the day off, while state employees can choose to take the day off as one of their 11 paid holidays.

Jones-Sawyer introduced the bill in January this year. He believed a state holiday would work as a way to allow Californians to reflect on the institution of slavery and how to better stop racism.

“It’s a day of looking at all that African Americans have gone through. We need to remember Juneteenth so that people understand why we need to continue to fight, to reverse this river of racism that has been permeating through the Black community from 1865 until now," Jones-Sawyer stated.

AB 1801, authored by Armenian American Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian (D- Van Nuys), declares Genocide Remembrance Day, April 24, a state holiday.

The bill also mandates that every year on April 24, all community colleges and public schools throughout California will close. State employees will be given time off with pay.

The text of AB 1801 explains: “The Legislature finds and declares that Genocide Remembrance Day would be a day for all to reflect on past and present genocides, but especially those that have felt the impact of these atrocities and groups that have found refuge in California, including, but not limited to, the Holocaust, Holodomor, and the Genocides of the Armenian, Assyrian, Greek, Cambodian, and Rwandan communities."