BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  ACR 44
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          Date of Hearing:   April 11, 2013

                             ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON RULES
                                Nancy Skinner, Chair
                   ACR 44 (Ammiano) - As Introduced:  April 4, 2013
           
          SUBJECT  :   National Day of Silence.

           SUMMARY  :   Declares the third Friday of every April as the  
          National Day of Silence; and, encourages school districts in the  
          state to enforce laws and policies that prohibit name calling,  
          bullying, harassment, and discrimination against all students,  
          teachers, and other school staff regardless of their sexual  
          orientation and gender identity or expression.  Specifically,  
           this resolution  makes the following legislative findings:

          1)The National Day of Silence is a day in which students take a  
            vow of silence to bring attention to the antilesbian, antigay,  
            antibisexual, and antitransgender name calling, bullying, and  
            harassment faced by individuals in schools.

          2)In past years, hundreds of thousands of students at more than  
            8,000 schools have participated in the National Day of  
            Silence; and, nearly 82 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and  
            transgender students reported being verbally harassed by their  
            peers at school for their sexual orientation, and more than 60  
            percent because of their gender expression.

          3)Physical harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender  
            students is more than 38 percent; and, 27 percent because of  
            gender expression. Physical assault by their peers is reported  
            to be over 18 percent for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and  
            transgender and more than 12 percent because of gender  
            expression.

          4)Student academic performance is affected such that lesbian,  
            gay, bisexual, and transgender students who experience high  
            levels of verbal harassment because of their sexual  
            orientation or gender expression report a grade point average  
            nearly one-half grade lower than those who have experienced  
            low levels of harassment.

          5)The presence of supportive staff contributed to a range of  
            positive indicators including fewer reports of missing school,  
            fewer reports of feeling unsafe, greater academic achievement,  








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            higher educational aspirations, and a greater sense of school  
            belonging.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   None.

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          The Gay, Lesbian, & Straight Education Network (GLSEN)

           Opposition 
           
          None on file.
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Nicole Willis / RLS. / (916) 319-2800