BILL ANALYSIS
ACR 129
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Date of Hearing: June 22, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Mike Feuer, Chair
ACR 129 (Monning) - As Amended: June 2, 2010
As Proposed to Be Amended
SUBJECT : INTERNATIONAL TREATIES: REPORTS
KEY ISSUE : SHOULD THE LEGISLATURE REQUEST THE STATE ATTORNEY
GENERAL TAKE STEPS TO ASSIST CALIFORNIA CITIES, COUNTIES AND
STATE AGENCIES IN RECOGNIZING AND FULFILLING CERTAIN REPORTING
OBLIGATIONS CALIFORNIA HAS UNDER VARIOUS INTERNATIONAL HUMAN
RIGHTS TREATIES AND PROTOCOLS AGREED TO BY THE UNITED STATES?
FISCAL EFFECT : As currently in print this measure is keyed
fiscal.
SYNOPSIS
This measure would request the state Attorney General to take
steps to help California cities, counties and state agencies
recognize and fulfill certain reporting obligations that arise
from international protocols and treaties agreed to by the
United States to protect human rights. In addition to
publicizing the text of these treaties and protocols to increase
awareness among cities and counties in California, the Attorney
General is also requested to prepare templates that cities,
counties and state agencies can use to make concise, accurate
reports on human rights injustices that have occurred in their
jurisdictions. According to the author, this measure presents
an opportunity for California to become a leader among the
states in fulfilling reporting obligations under these treaties
and protocols by taking steps to make it easier for cities,
counties, and state agencies to complete the task of compiling
and organizing relevant data. The author notes that in 2006 the
city of Berkeley became one of the first cities in California
and in the country to submit reports about human rights
injustices at the local level, and suggests that Berkeley's
experience provides evidence that these reporting obligations
can largely be met with minimal fiscal impact to local
governments, especially with the additional assistance of
templates prepared by the state Attorney General as requested by
this measure. This measure has received letters of support from
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a number of individuals and human rights organizations, and has
no registered opposition.
SUMMARY : Requests the State Attorney General to take steps to
assist California cities, counties and state agencies recognize
and fulfill certain reporting obligations California possesses
under international protocols and treaties agreed to by the
United States to protect human rights. Specifically, this
measure :
1)States that California is required to fulfill and implement
its reporting obligations under international treaties and
domestic laws.
2)States that the United States has agreed to a number of
international human rights treaties and protocols in which it
made commitments to publicize the text of each treaty and
protocol throughout its states and territories, as well as
make periodic reports to the appropriate United Nations
Committee administering the treaty or protocol, including
reports at the federal, state, and local levels.
3)Asserts that members of 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.
4)Asserts that all of the facts and statistics needed to make
reports to the appropriate United Nations Committees are
available in reports already prepared by California for other
purposes, and further states that California can become a
leader among the states in fulfilling reporting obligations
under these treaties and protocols by taking steps to ease the
task of compiling and organizing data for cities, counties and
state agencies.
5)Requests the Attorney General to publicize the text of three
specified U.N. treaties and two protocols among all city,
county, and state agencies.
6)Requests the Attorney General to prepare templates for use by
cities, counties, and state agencies on which to make concise,
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complete, and accurate reports to fulfill reporting
obligations under these international protocols and treaties.
EXISTING LAW , under several international human rights treaties
and protocols agreed to by the United States, includes
commitments to publicize the text of each treaty and protocol
throughout the states and territories and to make periodic
reports at the federal, state, and local levels to the
appropriate Committees of the United Nations administering each
treaty or protocol. These include:
1)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, and to which the U.S. in 1992
committed to make reports on human rights injustices every
five years to the U.N. Human Rights Committee;
2)The International Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (ICAT),
incorporating some provisions from the 8th Amendment to the
United States Constitution, and to which in 1994 the U.S.
committed to make reports on human injustices every four years
to the U.N. Committee Against Torture;
3)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, and to which in 1994 the U.S.
committed to make reports on human injustices every two years
to the U.N. Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
4)Optional protocols to the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child (CRC), namely the Optional Protocol on the
Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, and the Optional
Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child
Pornography, including some provisions of U.S. military and
pornography law, and to which the U.S. committed to make
reports every five years to the CRC.
COMMENTS : This measure would request the state Attorney General
to take steps to help California cities, counties and state
agencies recognize and fulfill certain reporting obligations
that arise from international protocols and treaties agreed to
by the United States to protect human rights. In addition to
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publicizing the text of these treaties and protocols to increase
awareness among cities and counties in California, the Attorney
General also would be requested to prepare templates that local
governments can use to make accurate reports on human rights
injustices that have occurred in their jurisdictions to fulfill
reporting obligations.
According to the author, although the United States has agreed
to a number of international treaties and protocols to protect
human rights, many local government and state agencies have
never been informed of their reporting duties under those
treaties and protocols, and have consequently failed to make any
required reports to the appropriate United Nations committees.
This measure is therefore intended to help inform state and
local government throughout California of their reporting
obligations under these human rights treaties and protocols. In
addition, this measure seeks to better facilitate fulfillment of
these reporting duties by requesting the Attorney General to
prepare template documents that will make the reporting task
easier for local governments to complete.
Author's clarifying amendment . The author proposes to amend
this measure to clarify that the measure does not obligate or
request the California Attorney General, on behalf of the state,
to "merge" local reports into a compendium of data that reflects
combined statewide reporting, nor to subsequently "submit" a
merged report to the United Nations committees.
Seeking more information about the submission of reports from
local and state agencies, the Committee contacted
representatives at the U.S. State Department responsible for
coordinating reports of data pursuant to these treaties. These
representatives stated that the State Department does not
necessarily anticipate receiving a state compilation of data
derived from all of the state's agencies and local components,
and that it would accept reports directly from individual state
and local agencies providing relevant data. The author's
proposed amendments reflect this new understanding that local
data need not be reported to nor "obtained" by California state
authorities (including the Attorney General) before such data is
provided to either the U.S. State Department or the appropriate
U.N. Committees.
California can become a national leader among the states in
fulfilling treaty reporting duties. According to the author,
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this measure signals that the Legislature finds it important to
address human rights issues, and presents an opportunity for
California to become a leader among the states in fulfilling
reporting obligations under these human rights treaties and
protocols. The author envisions that the California can
accomplish this by having the Attorney General take steps to
make it easier for cities, counties, and state agencies to
complete the task of compiling and organizing relevant data into
their reports-- for example, the preparation of standardized
templates that will help local agencies easily identify the
information to go into their reports.
The author notes that the city of Berkeley in 2006 became one of
the first cities in California and in the country to fulfill
reporting duties about human rights injustices at the local
level, writing:
The Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission informed the city
of Berkeley about the treaties in 1994, and as a result,
the city of Berkeley has submitted its initial local
reports citing human injustices to the United Nations Human
Rights Committee. In 2006 and 2007, under city council
resolutions, the City of Berkeley submitted local reports
to the CERD and CAT. City officials have found that
submitting these reports has heightened awareness among
local officials about the significance of enforcing human
rights.
According to the author, the experience of the City of Berkeley
illustrates that the reporting obligations under these treaties
and protocols may be fulfilled with minimal fiscal impact to
local government if the data to be reported is already available
from existing reports produced by local departments, as was
apparently the case in Berkeley. Because the relevant data was
already available to the public, no additional analysis or data
generation was necessary. The remaining task of compiling
information for the U.N. reports was thus considered appropriate
for the city to delegate to volunteers and student interns, who
by completing the task helped save city staff resources.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute (sponsor)
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Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace and Justice
East Bay Peace Action
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
13 individuals
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Anthony Lew / JUD. / (916) 319-2334