Amended in Assembly April 11, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

House Resolution No. 44

Introduced by Assembly Members Atkins and Irwin

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(Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Alejo, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O’Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, and Wood)

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March 29, 2016

House Resolution No. 44—Relative to organ donation.

WHEREAS, The Legislature has established an official state
organ and tissue donor registry that has become the largest in the
world, with 13 million people signed up to save and heal the lives
of others after death; and

WHEREAS, The 10-year official partnership between Donate
Life California and the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has
resulted in 95 percent of the donors on the registry being added
by the DMV with a simple checkoff box; and

WHEREAS, The Legislature has approved the innovative Living
Donation California information and referral tool to encourage
living kidney donation; and

WHEREAS, Our Superintendent of Public Instruction has
recognized Donate Life California’s high school education
program, which has educated students about organ, eye, and tissue
donation for the past six years and is anticipated to be added to
the science frameworks; and

WHEREAS, The Assembly acknowledges that California has
the greatest need for transplantation in the nation with 22,000
residents waiting for a second chance at life, representing one in
five on the national waiting list; and

WHEREAS, The Assembly acknowledges that in 2015, 918
Californians became organ donors and 3,417 life-saving transplants
were performed in our state. Tragically, 929 people died while
waiting due to the shortage of available organs; and

WHEREAS, The Assembly sadly acknowledges that in 2015,
California had the longest waiting time and most deaths while
waiting, and that only 40 percent of Californians sign up as donors;
now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That in
recognition of the month of April as National Donate Life Month,
the Assembly proclaims the month of April 2016 as Donate Life
California/DMV Month in the State of California; and be it further

Resolved, That in doing so, the Assembly encourages all
Californians to register with the Donate Life California Organ and
Tissue Donor Registry by checking “YES!” for organ and tissue
donation when applying for or renewing a driver’s license or
identification card, or by signing up at
www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org or www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org;
and be it further

Resolved, That the Assembly underscores its renewed efforts
to save more lives through donor registration and calls on all
members of the Assembly to consider how best to share news
about both the need for organ and tissue donation and actions that
can be taken to help their constituents; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.