Amended in Assembly May 2, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

House Resolution No. 28

Introduced by Assembly Members Dababneh and Calderon

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(Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hadley, Harper, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Quirk, Rendon, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, and Wood)

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July 15, 2015

House Resolution No. 28—Relative to humane education.

WHEREAS, Sections 233.5 (part of the Hate Violence
Prevention Act) and 60042 of the Education Code require
instruction in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to promote
and encourage kindness to pets and humane treatment of animals;
and

WHEREAS, The States of Florida, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey,
Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin have adopted
humane education laws similar to California’s; and

WHEREAS, Numerous academic studies have established a
correlation between animal cruelty during childhood and
interpersonal violence in adulthood; and

WHEREAS, Law enforcement agencies in major cities such as
Houston, Chicago, and Los Angeles have acknowledged this
correlation and formed special enforcement units to combat animal
cruelty; and

WHEREAS, Humane education, such as that involving wildlife,
the animals’ place in the overall environment, and the negative
impacts humans can have on them, including death and extinction,
can disrupt the cycle of animal and human abuse by decreasing a
child’s potential to be abusive or neglectful toward animals and,
consequently, to promote prosocial behavior toward humans; and

WHEREAS, Humane education programs seek to prevent
violence by teaching empathy, compassion, and respect for all
living beings and help children develop into caring, responsible
citizens; and

WHEREAS, Reputable nonprofit organizations are working to
implement humane education programs through in-classroom
presentations, teacher training, and the provision of relevant
resources, and these organizations could assist California schools
in complying with the Education Code’s humane education
provisions without burdening school budgets; and

WHEREAS, The experiences of these nonprofit organizations,
as well as other teachers or organizations that have conducted pilot
humane education efforts, provide evidence that student knowledge
and positive perceptions of animals is not as commonplace as it
should be; and

WHEREAS, Deficiencies in children’s understanding of the
role animals have in the economy of nature and in people’s lives
contribute to a proliferation in the number of wild and domestic
animals that are suffering from cruelty, abandonment, high animal
shelter euthanasia rates, and, in extreme circumstances, extinction;
and

WHEREAS, Schools and school districts are undertaking steps
to rectify these deficiencies by promoting humane education and
implementing it in classrooms; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That
compliance with Education Code provisions should include
educating students on the principles of kindness and respect for
animals and observance of laws, regulations, and policies pertaining
to the humane treatment of animals, including wildlife and its
environment; and be it further

Resolved, That actions such as implementing statewide or
districtwide “humane education days” and involving nonprofit
organizations in humane education activities with local faculty
and school administrators be considered for inclusion in compliance
efforts; and be it further

Resolved, That the Superintendent of Public Instruction be
encouraged to ensure the incorporation of humane education in
the core curriculum; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the State Senate, the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, the State Board of Education, the State Department of
Education, and the author for appropriate distribution.