BILL NUMBER: ACR 129 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Monning
FEBRUARY 18, 2010
Relative to international treaties.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 129, as introduced, Monning. International treaties: reports.
The measure would request the Attorney General to publicize 3
specified international treaties to cities, counties, and state
agencies, and to prepare templates for cities, counties, and state
agencies to use to create reports pertaining to those treaties.
Fiscal committee: yes.
WHEREAS, California is a coastal state populated by many native
people and immigrants from all nations that has long recognized its
role in the United States and in the global community; and
WHEREAS, The City and County of San Francisco was proud to serve
as the site for the founding of the United Nations and the United
Nations Charter, which was ratified by the United States Senate in
1945; and
WHEREAS, In 1992, the United States Senate ratified the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a
treaty that includes many of the rights set forth in the United
States Bill of Rights and in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, in which the United States made commitments to (1) publicize
the text of the treaty throughout its states and territories, and (2)
make reports every five years to the United Nations Human Rights
Committee administering the ICCPR, including reports at the federal,
state, and local levels; and
WHEREAS, In 1994, the United States Senate ratified the
International Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment (ICAT), a treaty including some of
the provisions in the Eighth Amendment to the United States
Constitution, in which the United States made commitments to (1)
publicize the text of the treaty throughout its states and
territories, and (2) make reports every four years to the United
Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) administering the ICAT,
including reports at the federal, state, and local levels; and
WHEREAS, In 1994, the United States Senate ratified the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination (ICERD), a treaty including provisions of the 13th,
14th, 15th, and 24th Amendments to the United States Constitution, in
which the United States made commitments to (1) publicize the text
of the treaty throughout its states and territories, and (2) make
reports every two years to the United Nations Committee on
Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), including reports at the
federal, state, and local levels; and
WHEREAS, To date, California has not received a formal notice from
the United States Department of State that reports are due under
these treaties and has failed to make any required report to any of
the three United Nations committees; and
WHEREAS, In 1994, the City of Berkeley, informed of the treaties
by its Peace and Justice Commission, submitted its initial local
reports to the Human Rights Committee, and in 2006 and 2007,
submitted its local reports to the CERD and CAT under city council
resolutions; and
WHEREAS, City officials in Berkeley have found that these
submissions heightened awareness among city officials and staff of
the significance of their enforcing human rights; and
WHEREAS, The members of the three United Nations committees
recently used information from unofficial reports by nongovernmental
organizations in their discussions of the official United States
reports, and specifically stated in their Concluding Observations
that they expect to receive information at the local level in all
future United States reports; and
WHEREAS, All of the facts and statistics needed to make the
reports to the three United Nations committees are available in
reports already prepared by the state for other purposes; and
WHEREAS, California can become the first state in the nation to
prepare and file the reports required under these three treaties by
obtaining information from all cities and counties and from state
agencies; and
WHEREAS, The next reports from the United States are due to the
Human Rights Committee of the United Nations on August 8, 2010, to
the CERD Committee on November 20, 2011, and to the CAT Committee on
November 19, 2011; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring That the Legislature of the State of California
hereby requests the Attorney General to (1) publicize the text of the
three treaties among all city, county, and state agencies, and (2)
prepare templates for use by cities, counties, and state agencies on
which to make concise, complete, and accurate reports that the state
can merge and submit in its reports to the three United Nations
committees; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the Attorney General, President and Vice President
of the United States, the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
the Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative
from California in the Congress of the United States, the United
States Department of State, the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights, the Chair of the Human Rights Committee, the Chair of
the Committee Against Torture, and to the Chair of the Committee on
Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva.