BILL NUMBER: SCR 150	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	ADOPTED IN SENATE  AUGUST 24, 2016
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 23, 2016
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 18, 2016

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Gaines
   (Coauthors: Senators Anderson, Bates, Block, Hall, and Wieckowski)


                        JUNE 9, 2016

   Relative to Domestic Violence Awareness Month.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SCR 150, Gaines. Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
   This measure would proclaim the month of October 2016, and each
following October, as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.



   WHEREAS, Domestic violence is a significant public health and
safety issue that affects women, men, and children of all racial,
religious, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups in California; and
   WHEREAS, Nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an
intimate partner, which means more than 10 million women and men in
the United States are abused each year; and
   WHEREAS, More than 800,000 women were violently assaulted by an
intimate partner between 2002 and 2011, according to statistics from
the United States Department of Justice. Of all murder-suicides, 72
percent involve an intimate partner; and
   WHEREAS, California law enforcement agencies received over 150,000
domestic violence-related calls in 2014, including reports of more
than 100 domestic violence-related homicides. There are more than
20,000 additional phone calls placed each day to domestic violence
hotlines nationwide; and
   WHEREAS, A victim is not alone in suffering the impacts of
domestic violence. Studies indicate that children who witness
domestic violence experience long-term consequences, such as
difficulty at school, substance abuse, and serious adult health
problems, as well as an increased risk of becoming a domestic
violence victim or abuser as an adult; and
   WHEREAS, Because 75 percent of domestic violence victims have
children at home under 18 years of age, the impact of domestic abuse
has both immediate and generational effects. In 2011, nearly 21
percent of children in the United States were exposed to domestic
violence, either as victims or indirectly as witnesses, illustrating
the magnitude of this problem; and
   WHEREAS, The cost of domestic violence exceeds $5.8 billion each
year in the United States--$4.1 billion in direct medical and health
care services and nearly $1.8 billion in lost productivity, which
includes approximately 8,000,000 days of work lost by abused women
each year--equivalent to more than 32,000 full-time jobs; and
   WHEREAS, Domestic violence programs in California provide
essential, lifesaving services to nearly 6,000 victims and their
children each day as they flee violence. Overall, state-funded
domestic violence programs provide individual counseling to an
average of nearly 34,000 victims each year; and
   WHEREAS, Despite recent reductions in domestic violence incidents,
there is an ongoing need to educate the public about domestic
violence and to provide all victims access to programs and services;
and
   WHEREAS, The Legislature recognizes the vital role that all
Californians can play in preventing, and one day ending, domestic
violence; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature recognizes October 2016, and
each following October, as Domestic Violence Awareness Month; and be
it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.