BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  SCR 32
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 5, 2013

                             ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON RULES
                              Richard S. Gordon, Chair
                    SCR 32 (Corbett) - As Amended:  June 10, 2013

           SENATE VOTE  :   31-0
           
          SUBJECT  :   Hindu American Awareness and Appreciation Month.

           SUMMARY  :   This resolution designates the month of October 2013  
          as California Hindu American Awareness and Appreciation Month to  
          recognize and acknowledge the significant contributions made by  
          Californians of Hindu heritage to the state.  Specifically,  this  
          resolution  makes the following legislative findings:   

          1)Of the over 1 billion Hindus worldwide, more than 2 million  
            Hindu Americans live across the nation and the State of  
            California is home to the largest Hindu American population in  
            the United States. Hindu Americans in California represent  
            diverse ethnic backgrounds, including individuals of Indian,  
            Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Malaysian, Indonesian, Afghani,  
            Nepali, Bhutanese, Sri Lankan, Fijian, Caribbean, and European  
            descent.

          2)Swami Vivekananda is credited with officially introducing  
            Hinduism to the United States in 1893 at the World's  
            Parliament of Religions in Chicago, and in 1900 he arrived in  
            San Francisco and founded the Vedanta Society; Hindu Americans  
            and the Vedanta philosophy have significantly influenced  
            notable American intellectuals such as Henry David Thoreau,  
            Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, J.D. Salinger, Christopher  
            Isherwood, Aldous Huxley, Houston Smith, and Joseph Campbell.

          3)Hindu Americans believe in promoting knowledge and education  
            for all and as a group have the highest education rate in the  
            nation; almost three-quarters of Hindu Americans are college  
            graduates and nearly one-half of Hindu Americans have  
            postgraduate degrees; Hindu Americans share the  
            entrepreneurial spirit of America, have been pioneers and  
            leaders in the Silicon Valley, and have particularly excelled  
            in the fields of information technology, science, medicine,  
            law, and business.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   None








                                                                  SCR 32
                                                                  Page  2


           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :

           Support 
           
          BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha
          Chinmaya Mission San Jose
          Hindu American Foundation
          Hindu American Seva Communities
          Hindu Community and Cultural Center (Livermore, CA)
          International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)
          Malaysian American Foundation
          Sunnyvale Hindu Temple
          Silicon Valley Interreligious Council
          Vedanta Society of Sacramento
           
            Opposition 
           
          None on file.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Mukhtar Ali / RLS. / (916) 319-2800