BILL NUMBER: SCR 98	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER  83
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  AUGUST 17, 2010
	ADOPTED IN SENATE  JUNE 24, 2010
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 12, 2010

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Strickland
   (Coauthors: Senators Cox and Wiggins)
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Davis, Gilmore, Hall, and Monning)

                        APRIL 12, 2010

   Relative to spinal muscular atrophy.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SCR 98, Strickland. Spinal muscular atrophy.
   This bill would declare August 2010 as Spinal Muscular Atrophy
Awareness Month.



   WHEREAS, Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) kills more children than
any other genetic disease; and
   WHEREAS, SMA causes degeneration in voluntary muscle movement for
those impacted by the disease, eventually impacting the ability to
walk, sit, crawl, stand, breathe, eat, and even swallow; and
   WHEREAS, One in every 40 people, or nearly 10 million Americans,
unknowingly carries the gene responsible for SMA. Few have any known
family history; and
   WHEREAS, SMA is a pan-ethnic disease that does not discriminate
based on race, ethnicity, or gender; and
   WHEREAS, SMA does not impact the mind. Children with SMA are
bright, sensitive, and playful in spite of their failing bodies; and
   WHEREAS, Most children impacted by SMA succumb to the disease
before their second birthday; and
   WHEREAS, There is currently no treatment and no cure for SMA, but
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) selected SMA as the disease
closest to treatment of more than 600 neurological disorders; and
   WHEREAS, The nation's leading researchers signed a statement
stressing that, with adequate resources, a viable treatment or cure
is attainable in as little as five years; and
   WHEREAS, SMA research is considered a "model" approach, with the
potential of benefiting millions of people impacted by other
diseases, including ALS/Lou Gehrig's Disease, Alzheimer's, Parkinson'
s, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Fragile X, and Tay Sachs, among
others; and
   WHEREAS, Increased awareness of SMA will lead to increased
knowledge and increased support for both disease research and
families affected by the disease, hopefully leading to a cure; and
   WHEREAS, August has been declared as National Spinal Muscular
Atrophy Awareness Month in order to raise awareness and help promote
research into this devastating disease; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the month of August 2010, is hereby declared
Spinal Muscular Atrophy Awareness Month; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the author for distribution.