BILL ANALYSIS
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | ACR 99|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: ACR 99
Author: Cohn (D)
Amended: 8/14/06 in Assembly
Vote: 21
WITHOUT REFERENCE TO COMMITTEE OR FILE
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Read and adopted
SUBJECT : Domestic Violence Awareness Month
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This resolution proclaims the month of October
2006 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
ANALYSIS : This resolution makes the following
legislative findings:
1. According to the Surgeon General, United States Public
Health Service, domestic violence, also know as intimate
partner violence, is a societal problem of epidemic
proportions.
2. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated
in 1995, that the total cost of intimate partner
violence against adult women was approximately $5.8
billion including more than $4 billion for health care
services.
CONTINUED
ACR 99
Page
2
3. Domestic violence is a serious criminal justice and
public health problem: in the most recent (July 2000)
National Violence Against Women Survey, 1.5 percent of
surveyed women and 0.9 percent of surveyed men said they
were physically assaulted or raped by a partner in the
previous 12 months, according to these estimates,
approximately 1.5 million women and 835,000 men are
physically assaulted or raped by an intimate partner
annually in the United States, cumulatively, an
estimated 25 percent of women and eight percent of men
in the United States have been physically or sexually
abused by an intimate partner at some point in their
lives.
4. Domestic violence has serious health consequences: the
immediate injuries sustained by victims during violent
episodes can be severe and sometimes fatal, while
physical and psychological abuse has been linked to a
number of adverse medical health effects, domestic
violence is linked to eight of 10 of the leading
indicators for Healthy People 2010, the health effects
of intimate partner violence often persist for years
after the abuse has ended.
5. The costs of domestic violence are substantial. The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
estimated in 1995, that the total cost of intimate
partner violence against adult women was approximately
$5.8 billion, the great majority of these costs, more
than $4 billion, were for health care services.
6. Identifying and responding to abuse can make a
difference. Models developed to identify other chronic
health problems can effectively be applied to intimate
partner violence, routine inquiry of all patients by
skilled health care professions increases opportunities
for both identification and effective interventions,
validates intimate partner violence as a serious public
health issue, and enables providers to assist both
victims and their children.
7. Women are not the only targets of domestic violence:
young children, elderly persons, and men are also
victims in their own homes.
CONTINUED
ACR 99
Page
3
8. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
sponsored the first Day of Unity in October 1981, for
the purpose of uniting battered women's advocates across
the nation in an effort to end domestic violence.
9. The first Domestic Violence Awareness Month was
proclaimed in October 1987, aimed at creating awareness
about the problem and presenting solutions, and models
developed to identify other chronic health problems can
be applied to intimate partner violence enabling health
care providers to assist victims and their children.
FISCAL EFFECT : Fiscal Com.: No
JJA:mel 8/24/06 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
**** END ****
CONTINUED