BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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Date of Hearing: August 18, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON RULES
Richard S. Gordon, Chair
SCR
160 (McGuire) - As Introduced August 1, 2016
SENATE VOTE: 36-0
SUBJECT: California Runaway and Homeless Youth Month
SUMMARY: Designates the month of November 2016 as California
Runaway and Homeless Youth Month and recognizes the need for
individuals, schools, communities, businesses, local
governments, and the state to take action on behalf of runaway
and homeless youth in California. Specifically, this resolution
makes the following legislative findings:
1)Runaway and homeless youth are young people between 12 and 24
years of age who have the least access to essential
opportunities and supports.
2)Runaway and homeless youth flee conflict, abuse, neglect, or,
increasingly, poverty in their homes. They have become
disconnected from educational systems and the workforce, and
do not have the skills and financial resources to live on
their own. The factors impacting youth homelessness are
complex and differ from those impacting other homeless
populations.
3)Runaway and homeless youth who live on the street are victims
of physical abuse, sexual exploitation, and crime in untold
numbers. An estimated 300,000 youth are either victims, or at
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risk of becoming victims, of commercial sexual exploitation.
Approximately 60 percent of these victimized children are
homeless.
4)Youths who "age out" of the foster care system are at an
increased risk of homelessness and represent an estimated 20
percent of the 20,000 youth who leave foster care and are
currently homeless.
5)Providing safe, stable, and permanent housing for runaway and
homeless youth is a family, community, state, and national
priority.
6)The future well-being of our state depends on the value we
place on our youth, and, in particular, on our actions to
provide the most vulnerable young people in the state with
opportunities to acquire the knowledge, skills, and abilities
they need to find and maintain stable housing and develop into
healthy and productive adults.
7)The number of effective programs providing services and
support to runaway and homeless youth in California is a
fraction of what is needed to fully address the needs of these
young people as only 20 out of California's 58 counties have
programs for runaway and homeless youth.
FISCAL EFFECT: None
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Coalition for Youth
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Nicole Willis / RLS. / (916) 319-2800
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