California Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation on Friday that extends the deadline in California for victims of the Armenian genocide and their descendents to file claims on unpaid policies from European and Asian insurers.

The deadline will be extended through Dec. 31, 2016, Glendale News-Press reports. The bill was introduced by Assemblyman Mike Gatto.

“This is the culmination of a lot of hard work by me and my staff. It’s nice to see this come to fruition,” the newspaper quotes Gatto.

It was necessary to extend the deadline as Armenian Genocide descendents have been able to file suit in California courts for only 10 years, Gatto said.