Nevada committee hears bill to designate Jan. 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day

A Nevada Senate Government Affairs Committee hearing focused on Senate Bill 96, a measure that would designate Jan. 27 of each year as International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Nevada and require the governor to issue an annual proclamation encouraging observance.

Senator Lisa Krasner presented the bill to the committee, saying it “designates January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day in the state of Nevada.” Elliott Malan, chair of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Education Relating to the Holocaust, told the committee that a 2024 survey the council commissioned showed substantial gaps in Nevadans’ knowledge about the Holocaust and other genocides. Malan said, “54% give the wrong definition” of antisemitism and that only about 37% of Nevadans could identify that roughly 6,000,000 Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

Supporters told the committee the bill carries no fiscal note and would raise awareness as survivors age and public memory fades. Alejandro Rodriguez of the Nevada System of Higher Education said NSHE “supports Senate Bill 96” and that the measure aligns with the system’s educational mission. Students and educators from UNLV, UNR and several high schools testified in support, including Ethan Cohen, a Meadow School sophomore who described his work teaching peers about the Holocaust. Alexander Marks and other community members also urged passage, describing contemporary incidents of antisemitism they said underline the bill’s urgency.

SB 96 would require the governor to issue an annual proclamation calling on state and local officers, media, schools and other public and private entities to bring information about the Holocaust and other genocides to the people of Nevada. Presenters referenced Assembly Bill 231 (2021), which directed age-appropriate genocide curriculum in Nevada schools, and noted the United Nations General Assembly’s 2005 designation of Jan. 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Committee members offered brief remarks in support and asked questions about the bill’s educational impact. Senator Rogich thanked the sponsor for “continu[ing] to raise awareness” of antisemitism; Vice Chair Orangehaw and others said the proclamation could bolster classroom and campus attention. No committee vote on SB 96 was taken during the hearing; the committee closed the hearing after public testimony.

The hearing record includes multiple survivor testimonials and student presentations; sponsors and witnesses emphasized both declining numbers of survivors and the council’s finding that many Nevadans cannot identify a concentration camp or define genocide. The committee did not take action to advance or reject the bill on the day of the hearing.