HR 121
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Date of Hearing: August 15, 2024
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON RULES
Blanca Pacheco, Chair
HR 121 (Ta) – As Introduced August 13, 2024
SUBJECT: Boat people awareness.
SUMMARY: Designates July 23, 2024, to July 30, 2024, inclusive, as Boat People Awareness
Week, and designates September 2024 as Boat People Awareness Month, in support of the
Vietnamese boat people refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and on ships following the end of
the Vietnam War. Specifically, this resolution makes the following legislative findings:
1) The term “boat people” is used to refer to the Vietnamese people who fled the oppressive
communist regime between 1975 and 1995, in which almost 800,000 people left Vietnam by
boat to arrive safely in another country.
2) Vietnamese citizens employed many methods to leave the country. Most were secret and
done at night. Many of the refugees failed to survive the passage, facing danger from pirates,
overcrowded boats, and storms.
3) Although a few thousand people fled Vietnam by boat between 1975 and 1978, the exodus of
the boat people began in September 1978. The fall of Saigon to the People’s Army of
Vietnam, and the subsequent evacuation of more than 130,000 Vietnamese closely associated
with the United States in Operation New Life and Operation New Arrivals, led to a major
influx of Vietnamese into the United States.
4) In 1979, the plight of the boat people made international news when the United Nations
called a conference to address the situation. The UN persuaded the United States, Canada,
the United Kingdom, Australia, and France to allow more Vietnamese refugees into their
countries.
5) In the United States, Congress passed the Refugee Act of 1980 (Public Law 96-212),
allowing Vietnamese refugees to come directly to America. About 725,000 Vietnamese
settled in the United States after the Vietnam War. By 2000, more than 1 million people of
Vietnamese ancestry lived in the United States.
6) Many refugees settled in the County of Orange, and settled in an area of the City of
Westminster that then went on to become Little Saigon, as well as other locations throughout
the state, including large communities in the Cities of San Jose and San Diego.
7) The plight of the Vietnamese boat people and the ensuing humanitarian crisis speaks to the
resolve and spirit of the Vietnamese refugee community.
FISCAL EFFECT: This resolution is keyed non-fiscal by Legislative Counsel.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
None on file
 HR 121
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Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by: Michael Erke / RLS. / (916) 319-2800