BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: ACR 129
Author: Monning (D)
Amended: 6/29/10 in Assembly
Vote: 21
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 52-11, 8/9/10 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : International treaties: reports
SOURCE : Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute
DIGEST : This resolution requests the Attorney General to
publicize specified international treaties and protocols 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 and
protocols.
ANALYSIS : 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 (U.N.) administering each treaty or protocol.
These include:
1. The International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, a treaty that includes many of the rights set
forth in the United States Bill of Rights and in the
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Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and to which the
United States, 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,
incorporating some provisions from the 8th Amendment to
the United States Constitution, and to which, in 1994,
the United States 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, a treaty including
provisions of the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 24th Amendments
to the United States Constitution, and to which, in
1994, the United States 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 U.N. 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 United States military and pornography
law, and to which the United States committed to make
reports every five years to the CRC.
This resolution:
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 U.N. committee administering the treaty or
protocol, including reports at the federal, state, and
local levels.
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3. Asserts that members of three U.N. 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 U.N. 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, complete, and accurate reports to fulfill
reporting obligations under these international
protocols and treaties.
FISCAL EFFECT : Fiscal Com.: Yes
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee
analysis, one-time minor cost of approximately $25,000 for
a consultant (social scientist) to review templates
developed by the Attorney General for suitability in
reporting information to the United States Department of
State.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/17/10)
Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute (source)
Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace and Justice
East Bay Peace Action
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom,
Monterey County Branch
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ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
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 U.N.
committees. This resolution 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 resolution 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.
According to the author's office, this resolution 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's office 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.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Ammiano, Arambula, Bass, Beall, Block, Blumenfield,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Carter, Chesbro,
Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, Evans, Feuer,
Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Gatto,
Gilmore, Hall, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman,
Jones, Lieu, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Monning,
Nava, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas,
Saldana, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres,
Torrico, Villines, Yamada, John A. Perez
NOES: Anderson, Cook, DeVore, Gaines, Hagman, Logue,
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Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, Norby, Silva
NO VOTE RECORDED: Adams, Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill,
Blakeslee, Charles Calderon, Conway, Eng, Fuller,
Garrick, Harkey, Jeffries, Knight, Miller, Smyth, Audra
Strickland, Tran, Vacancy
CTW:mw 8/25/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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