BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
                             Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
                                2015 - 2016  Regular 

          Bill No:    SJR 20        Hearing Date:    April 5, 2016    
          
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          |Author:    |Hall                                                 |
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          |Version:   |March 28, 2016                                       |
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          |Urgency:   |No                     |Fiscal:    |No               |
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          |Consultant:|JRD                                                  |
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                          Subject:  Gun Violence: Research



          HISTORY

          Source:   Author

          Prior Legislation:None known

          Support:  Americans for Responsible Solutions; Bend the Arc;  
                    Brotherhood Crusade; California Black Health Network;  
                    California School Boards Association; California  
                    Chapter of the American College of Emergency  
                    Physicians; California Chapters of the Brady Campaign  
                    to Prevent Gun Violence; California Children's  
                    Hospital Association; California Communities United  
                    Institute; California State Conference of the National  
                    Association for the Advancement of Colored People;  
                    Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science;  
                    City of Long Beach; Coalition Against Gun Violence;  
                    Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County;  
                    Courage Campaign; Doctors for America - California;  
                    Eric Garcetti, Mayor of the City of Los Angeles; Law  
                    Center to Prevent Gun Violence; Health Officers  
                    Association of California; Nevada County Democrats;  
                    Rainbow Services, Ltd.; Peace Over Violence;  
                    Physicians for Social Responsibility, San Francisco  
                    Bay Area Chapter; Violence Prevention Coalition of  







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                    Greater Los Angeles; Youth Alive!; two individuals

          Opposition:Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership; National Rifle  
                    Association

           
          PURPOSE

          The purpose of this resolution is to urge the Congress of the  
          United States to promptly lift the prohibition against publicly  
          funded scientific research on the causes of gun violence and its  
          effects on public health, and to appropriate funds to the  
          Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other relevant  
          agencies under the Department of Health and Human Services to  
          conduct that research.
          
          Existing law generally regulates the use, possession and sale of  
          deadly weapons in California.   (Penal Code § 16000, et. seq.)

          This resolution states:

                 Every day, gun violence destroys lives, families, and  
               communities; 

                 From 2002 to 2013, inclusive, California lost 38,576  
               individuals to gun violence, of which 2,258 were children; 

                 In 2013 alone, guns were used to kill 2,900  
               Californians, including 251 children and teenagers, and  
               hospitalized another 6,035 Californians for nonfatal  
               gunshot wounds, including 1,275 children and teenagers; 

                 There were over 350 recorded mass shootings in the  
               United States in 2015; 

                 Since 1996, Congress has adopted annual policy riders,  
               known as the "Dickey Amendment" and "Rehberg Amendment,"  
               that effectively prohibit the federal Centers for Disease  
               Control and Prevention (CDC) and other agencies under the  
               federal Department of Health and Human Services from  
               conducting publicly funded scientific research on the  
               causes of gun violence or its effects on public health; 

                 The author of the original Dickey Amendment, former  








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               Representative Jay Dickey (R-AR), has stated repeatedly  
               that he regrets offering the amendment and thinks it should  
               be repealed; 

                 Despite Representative Dickey's comments and President  
               Obama's executive action in 2013 directing the CDC to  
               resume gun violence research, Congress has provided no  
               funding, and the restrictive language remains in place; 

                 Since 1996, the federal government has spent $240  
               million per year on traffic safety research, which has  
               saved 360,000 lives since 1970; 

                 During the same period there has been almost no publicly  
               funded research on gun violence, which kills the same  
               number of people every year; 

                 Recently, 110 Members of the Congress of the United  
               States signed a letter urging the leadership of the House  
               of Representatives to end the longstanding ban on federal  
               funding for gun violence research, and over 2,000 doctors  
               in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia did the  
               same; 

                 Although Members of Congress may disagree about how best  
               to respond to the problem of gun violence, we should be  
               able to agree that a response should be informed by sound  
               scientific evidence; and,

                 Whether it is horrific headline-generating massacres or  
               unseen violence that occurs every day - the innocent child  
               gunned down in crossfire, the mother murdered during a  
               domestic dispute, or the young life cut tragically short  
               during the heat of a petty argument - the call to action is  
               now clear.

          This resolution resolves by the Senate and Assembly of the State  
          of California jointly:

                 That a comprehensive evidence-based federal approach to  
               reducing and preventing gun violence is needed to ensure  
               that our communities are safe from gun violence; 

                 That federal research is crucial to saving lives, having  








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               driven policy to save lives from motor vehicle accidents,  
               sudden infant death syndrome, lead poisoning, and countless  
               other public health crises; 

                 That the Legislature urges the Congress of the United  
               States to promptly lift the prohibition against publicly  
               funded scientific research on the causes of gun violence  
               and its effects on public health, and to appropriate funds  
               to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other  
               relevant agencies under the Department of Health and Human  
               Services to conduct that research; and, 

                 That the Secretary of the Senate 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.

                    RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION

          For the past several years this Committee has scrutinized  
          legislation referred to its jurisdiction for any potential  
          impact on prison overcrowding.  Mindful of the United States  
          Supreme Court ruling and federal court orders relating to the  
          state's ability to provide a constitutional level of health care  
          to its inmate population and the related issue of prison  
          overcrowding, this Committee has applied its "ROCA" policy as a  
          content-neutral, provisional measure necessary to ensure that  
          the Legislature does not erode progress in reducing prison  
          overcrowding.   

          On February 10, 2014, the federal court ordered California to  
          reduce its in-state adult institution population to 137.5% of  
          design capacity by February 28, 2016, as follows:   

                 143% of design bed capacity by June 30, 2014;
                 141.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2015; and,
                 137.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2016. 

          In December of 2015 the administration reported that as "of  
          December 9, 2015, 112,510 inmates were housed in the State's 34  
          adult institutions, which amounts to 136.0% of design bed  








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          capacity, and 5,264 inmates were housed in out-of-state  
          facilities.  The current population is 1,212 inmates below the  
          final court-ordered population benchmark of 137.5% of design bed  
          capacity, and has been under that benchmark since February  
          2015."  (Defendants' December 2015 Status Report in Response to  
          February 10, 2014 Order, 2:90-cv-00520 KJM DAD PC, 3-Judge  
          Court, Coleman v. Brown, Plata v. Brown (fn. omitted).)  One  
          year ago, 115,826 inmates were housed in the State's 34 adult  
          institutions, which amounted to 140.0% of design bed capacity,  
          and 8,864 inmates were housed in out-of-state facilities.   
          (Defendants' December 2014 Status Report in Response to February  
          10, 2014 Order, 2:90-cv-00520 KJM DAD PC, 3-Judge Court, Coleman  
          v. Brown, Plata v. Brown (fn. omitted).)  
           
          While significant gains have been made in reducing the prison  
          population, the state must stabilize these advances and  
          demonstrate to the federal court that California has in place  
          the "durable solution" to prison overcrowding "consistently  
          demanded" by the court.  (Opinion Re: Order Granting in Part and  
          Denying in Part Defendants' Request For Extension of December  
          31, 2013 Deadline, NO. 2:90-cv-0520 LKK DAD (PC), 3-Judge Court,  
          Coleman v. Brown, Plata v. Brown (2-10-14).  The Committee's  
          consideration of bills that may impact the prison population  
          therefore will be informed by the following questions:

              Whether a proposal erodes a measure which has contributed  
               to reducing the prison population;
              Whether a proposal addresses a major area of public safety  
               or criminal activity for which there is no other  
               reasonable, appropriate remedy;
              Whether a proposal addresses a crime which is directly  
               dangerous to the physical safety of others for which there  
               is no other reasonably appropriate sanction; 
              Whether a proposal corrects a constitutional problem or  
               legislative drafting error; and
              Whether a proposal proposes penalties which are  
               proportionate, and cannot be achieved through any other  
               reasonably appropriate remedy.

          COMMENTS
          
          1.Need for This Resolution

          According to the Author: 








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               Every day, gun violence destroys lives, families and  
               communities. From 2002 to 2013, California lost 38,576  
               individuals to gun violence.  In 2013 alone, guns were used  
               to kill 2,900 Californians, including 251 children and  
               teens.  That year, at least 6,035 others were hospitalized  
               or treated in emergency rooms for non-fatal gunshot wounds,  
               including 1,275 children and teens.
           
               Since 1996, and in spite of these staggering numbers, the  
               United States Congress has continually adopted annual  
               policy riders known as the "Dickey Amendment" and "Rehberg  
               Amendment." These riders have effectively prohibited the  
               Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other  
               agencies, from conducting publicly funded scientific  
               research on the causes of gun violence or its effects on  
               public health. 

               During the same period, the federal government has spent  
               $240 million a year on traffic safety research which kills  
               the same number of people as gun violence every year. This  
               lack of research has made it more difficult to objectively  
               assess the public health impacts of gun violence and find  
               ways to reduce the number of innocent lives lost every  
               year. 

               A comprehensive evidence-based federal approach to reducing  
               and preventing gun violence is needed to ensure that our  
               communities are safe.  Federal research is crucial to  
               saving lives from motor vehicle accidents, sudden infant  
               death syndrome, lead poisoning and countless other public  
               crises.  It is time for Congress to lift the prohibition on  
               publicly funded research, and treat gun violence as the  
               public health crisis that it is. 

          2.Effect of This Resolution 
          
          According to the American Psychological Association: 

               In 1993, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM)  
               published an article by Arthur Kellerman and colleagues,  
               "Gun ownership as a risk factor for homicide in the home,"  
               which presented the results of research funded by the  
               Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The study  








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               found that keeping a gun in the home was strongly and  
               independently associated with an increased risk of  
               homicide. The article concluded that rather than confer  
               protection, guns kept in the home are associated with an  
               increase in the risk of homicide by a family member or  
               intimate acquaintance. . .


               The 1993 NEJM article received considerable media  
               attention, and the National Rifle Association (NRA)  
               responded by campaigning for the elimination of the center  
               that had funded the study, the CDC's National Center for  
               Injury Prevention. The center itself survived, but Congress  
               included language in the 1996 Omnibus Consolidated  
               Appropriations Bill . . . for Fiscal Year 1997 that "none  
               of the funds made available for injury prevention and  
               control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  
               may be used to advocate or promote gun control."  Referred  
               to as the Dickey amendment after its author, former U.S.  
               House Representative Jay Dickey (R-AR), this language did  
               not explicitly ban research on gun violence. However,  
               Congress also took $2.6 million from the CDC's budget - the  
               amount the CDC had invested in firearm injury research the  
               previous year - and earmarked the funds for prevention of  
               traumatic brain injury. 


          (Christine Jamieson, Gun violence research: History of the  
          federal funding freeze, American Psychological Association,  
          February 2013,  
          http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2013/02/gun-violence.aspx.)  



          This resolution urges the Congress of the United States to  
          promptly lift the prohibition against publicly funded scientific  
          research on the causes of gun violence and its effects on public  
          health, and to appropriate funds to the Centers for Disease  
          Control and Prevention and other relevant agencies under the  
          Department of Health and Human Services to conduct that  
          research.











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