Sec. 1168.

(1) Beginning in the 2016-2017 school year, the board of a school district or board of directors of a public school academy shall ensure that the school district's or public school academy's social studies curriculum for grades 8 to 12 includes age- and grade-appropriate instruction about genocide, including, but not limited to, the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide. The legislature recommends a combined total of 6 hours of this instruction during grades 8 to 12.

(2) Subsection (1) does not preclude a school district or public school academy from including instruction described in subsection (1) in other subject areas.

(3) The governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education is created as a temporary commission described in section 4 of article V of the state constitution of 1963.

(4) The governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education shall consist of 15 members appointed by the governor. Members shall be individuals who have a particular interest or expertise in genocide education or Holocaust education, or both.

(5) If the governor determines that sufficient private funding is available for the operations of the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education, the governor shall appoint the members of the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education within 60 days after the effective date of this section.

(6) If a vacancy occurs on the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education, the governor shall make an appointment for the unexpired term in the same manner as the original appointment.

(7) The governor may remove a member of the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education for incompetence, dereliction of duty, malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance in office, or any other good cause.

(8) The first meeting of the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education shall be called by the governor. At the first meeting, the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education shall elect from among its members a chairperson and other officers as it considers necessary or appropriate. After the first meeting, the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education shall meet at least quarterly, or more frequently at the call of the chairperson or if requested by 8 or more members.

(9) A majority of the members of the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education appointed and serving constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at a meeting of the council. A majority of the members present and serving are required for official action of the council. A member may not vote by proxy.

(10) The business that the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education may perform shall be conducted at a public meeting of the council held in compliance with the open meetings act, 1976 PA 267, MCL 15.261 to 15.275.

(11) A writing prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education in the performance of an official function is subject to the freedom of information act, 1976 PA 442, MCL 15.231 to 15.246.

(12) Members of the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education shall serve without compensation. However, if funding is available for this purpose from private sources, members of the council may be reimbursed for their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their official duties as members of the council.

(13) State funds shall not be used for the operations of the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education.

(14) The governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education shall do all of the following:

(a) Identify, to the extent possible, all sources of strategies and content for providing and enhancing genocide education to students.

(b) Advise the superintendent of public instruction, school districts, public school academies, and nonpublic schools in this state on strategies and content for providing and enhancing genocide education to students.

(c) Identify, to the extent possible, all programs and resources to train teachers in providing genocide education to students and share these programs and resources with the superintendent of public instruction, school districts, public school academies, and nonpublic schools in this state.

(d) Promote, within the schools and general population of this state, implementation of genocide education. This duty includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:

(i) In accordance with 2004 PA 10, engendering and coordinating events, activities, and education that will appropriately memorialize the victims of the Holocaust, such as observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day and the Days of Remembrance.

(ii) In accordance with 2002 PA 558, engendering and coordinating events, activities, and education that will appropriately memorialize the victims of the Armenian Genocide, such as observance of the Michigan Days of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.

(iii) Engendering and coordinating events, activities, and education that will appropriately memorialize the victims of other genocides.

(e) Secure private funding for the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education. The governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education may also apply for and accept grants and receive gifts, donations, and other financial support from private sources, in accordance with state law, for the purpose of carrying out its duties under this section.

(f) Carry out any other tasks that it considers to be advisable to support the ability of this state to meet its goals in providing genocide education.

(g) Submit an annual report to the legislature on the progress and status of the council.

(15) With respect to its duties, the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education is an advisory body only. There is no right or obligation on the part of this state or its subdivisions, officials, or employees to implement the findings or recommendations of the governor's council on genocide and Holocaust education unless further legislation is enacted that specifically authorizes implementation of those findings or recommendations.

(16) As used in this section:

(a) "Armenian Genocide" means the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately 1,500,000 Armenians by the Ottoman Turkish Empire and its collaborators.

(b) "Genocide" means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; or forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

(c) "Holocaust" means the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately 6,000,000 Jews and 5,000,000 other individuals by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.

History: Add. 2016, Act 170, Imd. Eff. June 14, 2016 Popular Name: Act 451