Amended in Assembly September 4, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 5

Introduced by Assembly Member Gomez

January 17, 2013

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 5—Relative to begin delete firearms end delete begin insert the Los Angeles River end insert .

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AJR 5, as amended, Gomez. begin delete Firearms: assault weapons. end delete begin insert Los Angeles River: ARBOR study alternative 20. end insert

This measure would urge the begin delete President and Congress of the United States to support and pass Senator Dianne Feinstein’s proposed legislation prohibiting the sale, transfer, importation, and manufacturing of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines end delete begin insert United States Army Corps of Engineers to select ARBOR study alternative 20, which would serve to revitalize communities and create a more functional and interconnected watershed that will provide a more diverse regional ecological system and restore the functionality of the Los Angeles River as a critical natural and cultural heritage and community resource end insert .

Fiscal committee: no.

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WHEREAS, The Los Angeles River flows roughly 51 miles from
its origin in the San Fernando Valley to the Long Beach Harbor
and is 32 miles long within the City of Los Angeles; and

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WHEREAS, Within the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles
River flows through three United States congressional districts,
eight city council districts for the City of Los Angeles,
approximately 20 neighborhood councils, 12 community plan
areas, the second largest urban region in the United States, and
one of the world’s busiest port regions, and flows into the Pacific
Ocean, the world’s largest body of water; and

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WHEREAS, The Los Angeles River corridor is home to more
than one million people, more than 390,000 housing units, more
than 480,000 workers, more than 35,000 businesses, and more
than 80 schools; and

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WHEREAS, The Los Angeles River flows through historically
disadvantaged communities and underserved neighborhoods of
Los Angeles that lack open-space resources and have high
unemployment rates; and

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WHEREAS, The County of Los Angeles, the State of California,
the federal government, and an incredible number of nonprofit
groups and organizations have been invaluable partners in the
process of developing and now implementing the Los Angeles River
Revitalization Master Plan; and

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WHEREAS, The goals of the Los Angeles River Revitalization
Master Plan include improving environmental quality, improving
public access to the Los Angeles River, increasing recreation and
open spaces, enhancing flood control, encouraging community
reinvestment, and increasing awareness and pride in the Los
Angeles River; and

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WHEREAS, In 2006, recognizing the environmental degradation
occurring in and along the Los Angeles River within the boundaries
of the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles City Council authorized
the Board of Public Works of the City of Los Angeles to execute
an agreement with the United States Army Corps of Engineers for
the Los Angeles River Ecosystem Restoration Feasibility Study,
also known as the ARBOR study, committing the City of Los
Angeles to a 50 percent share of the cost as local sponsor. In 2009,
the cost increased when the total ARBOR study cost was raised to
$9,710,000; and

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WHEREAS, The ARBOR study is consistent with the goals of
President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative, which
includes direction to reconnect Americans, especially children, to
America’s rivers and waterways and to build upon state, local,
private, and tribal priorities for the conservation of land, water,
wildlife, and historic and cultural resources, creating corridors
and connectivity across these outdoor spaces, and for enhancing
neighborhood parks. In the President’s America’s Great Outdoors
Initiative, federal agencies are asked to determine how the federal
government can best advance these priorities through
public-private partnerships and locally supported conservation
strategies; and

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WHEREAS, The Los Angeles River watershed was selected as
one of only seven nationwide first-phase pilots of the Urban Waters
Federal Partnership, an implementation piece of President
Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative, which aims to
stimulate regional and local economies, create local jobs, improve
quality of life, and protect American’s health by revitalizing urban
waterways in underserved communities across the country and
the ARBOR study was selected as the top priority of the Urban
Waters Federal Partnership in Los Angeles; and

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WHEREAS, In 2013, the United States Army Corps of Engineers
developed a final array of the four best buy alternatives for the
ARBOR study and only one of those alternatives includes both
significant restoration at the Los Angeles River’s confluence with
the Verdugo Wash near the City of Los Angeles’s border with the
City of Glendale and the only substantial western bank connection,
providing a profound hydrological link between the Los Angeles
State Historic Park (Cornfields site) and the Los Angeles River,
leveraging a significant investment made by the State of California
toward restoration of the Los Angeles River; and

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WHEREAS, The City of Los Angeles endorses the ARBOR study
alternative 20 that results in the most expansive ecosystem
restoration, specifically that which includes the following priorities
for the City of Los Angeles:

(a) Verdugo Wash Confluence.

(b) Taylor Yard/Bowtie.

(c) Taylor Yard/G-2.

(d) Arroyo Seco Confluence.

(e) Cornfields Los Angeles State Historic Park.

(f) Piggyback Yard (Union Pacific Railroad); and

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WHEREAS, Once complete, the ARBOR study will recommend
a project that will be cost-shared by the United States Army Corps
of Engineers and local sponsors to modify the river’s concrete
channel significantly for the first time since the river was
channelized by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in the
early to mid 1900s. The project will be one of the largest examples
of urban ecosystem restoration; now, therefore, be it

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Resolved, BY THE ASSEMBLY AND THE SENATE OF
THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA JOINTLY, That the Legislature
urges the United States Army Corps of Engineers to select the
ARBOR study alternative 20, which would serve to revitalize
communities and create a more functional and interconnected
watershed that will provide a more diverse regional ecological
system and restore the functionality of the Los Angeles River as a
critical natural and cultural heritage and community resource;
and be it further

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Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit
copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the
United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to
the Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and
Representative from California in the Congress of the United
States, and to the Commanding General and Chief of Engineers
of the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

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WHEREAS, Assault weapons are a class of semiautomatic
firearms designed with military features that allow those weapons
to shoot large amounts of fire quickly and accurately. They are
distinguishable from standard sporting firearms by features such
as pistol grips and the ability to accept a detachable magazine; and

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WHEREAS, Assault weapons have been used in many
shootings, including the December 14, 2012, Newtown,
Connecticut, school shooting where a man used a .223 caliber
Bushmaster semiautomatic assault rifle with a 30-round magazine
resulting in the deaths of 20 children and six adults; and

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WHEREAS, The federal assault weapons ban, passed in 1994
with the strong leadership of Senator Dianne Feinstein, banned
certain models of semiautomatic assault weapons and
large-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of
ammunition. The ban expired on September 13, 2004, and has not
been reauthorized; and

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WHEREAS, A United States Department of Justice study found
that the federal assault weapons ban was responsible for a 6.7
percent decline in total gun murders; and

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WHEREAS, The use of assault weapons in crime declined by
more than two-thirds by about nine years after the 1994 federal
assault weapons ban took place; and

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WHEREAS, Since the expiration of the federal assault weapons
ban, 37 percent of police departments reported seeing a noticeable
increase in criminals’ use of assault weapons; and

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WHEREAS, Since the expiration of the federal assault weapons
ban, assault weapons have been used in at least 459 incidents,
resulting in 385 deaths and 455 injuries; and

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WHEREAS, Senator Feinstein has announced that she will
introduce a bill in January 2013 to ban the sale, transfer,
importation, and manufacturing of military-style assault weapons
and large-capacity magazines; and

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WHEREAS, The proposed legislation will cover 120 specifically
named firearms, certain other firearms that can accept a detachable
magazine and have one or more military characteristics, and
large-capacity magazines capable of accepting more than 10
rounds; and

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WHEREAS, The proposed legislation will strengthen the 1994
federal assault weapons ban by moving from a two characteristic
test to a one characteristic test, adding a ban on the importation of
assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, and eliminating
the 10-year sunset that allowed the original ban to expire; and

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WHEREAS, The proposed legislation will require that
grandfathered weapons be registered under the National Firearms
Act, bans the transfer of grandfathered large capacity magazines,
imposes a safe storage requirement for grandfathered firearms,
and establishes a voluntary buy-back program for grandfathered
assault weapons and large-capacity magazines; and

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WHEREAS, The proposed legislation protects legitimate hunters
and the rights of existing gun owners by grandfathering weapons
legally possessed on the date of enactment, exempting over 900
specifically named weapons used for hunting and sporting
purposes, and exempting antique, manually operated, and
permanently disabled weapons; and

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WHEREAS, Senator Feinstein has been working with her staff
for over a year on this proposed legislation to take the most
dangerous weapons of war off the streets while protecting the
rights of gun owners; and

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WHEREAS, Because our borders are porous and only a small
number of states regulate assault weapons and large-capacity
magazines, without a comprehensive federal law even states that
take steps to protect their communities from these weapons are
vulnerable to criminals who use them; now, therefore, be it

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Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature urges the President and
the Congress of the United States to support and pass Senator
Feinstein’s proposed legislation prohibiting the sale, transfer,
importation, and manufacturing of assault weapons and
large-capacity magazines; and be it further

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Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the
Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative
from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the
author for appropriate distribution.

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