BILL NUMBER: ACR 21	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 7, 2012

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Davis

                        FEBRUARY 16, 2011

   Relative to  redistricting   Child Support
Awareness Month  .



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   ACR 21, as amended, Davis.  Redistricting: incarcerated
persons.   Family law: Child Support Awareness Month.
 
   This measure would make findings regarding California's child
support services program and the importance of child support to
children and families, and would declare August 2012 as Child Support
Awareness Month.  
   This measure would urge the Citizens Redistricting Commission, in
carrying out its redistricting responsibilities following the 2010
decennial federal census, to deem each incarcerated person as
residing at his or her last known address prior to incarceration
rather than at the institution of his or her incarceration. 

   Fiscal committee:  yes   no  .


   
   WHEREAS, The mission of the California Department of Child Support
Services is to enhance the well-being of children and the
self-sufficiency of families by providing professional services to
locate parents, establish paternity, and establish and enforce orders
for financial and medical support; and  
   WHEREAS, California's child support services program works with
parents, whether they are paying or receiving child support, to
ensure that children and families receive court-ordered financial and
medical support; and  
   WHEREAS, Child support services are available to the public
through a network of 51 county and regional child support agencies.
County professionals work very hard to ensure that the children in
the program can rely on their parents for the financial and medical
support that they need to be healthy and successful; and  
   WHEREAS, Child support collections in California increased by $37
million in the state fiscal year ending in June 2011, with the total
distributed collections at $2.3 billion. Of that $2.3 billion, $1.8
billion was distributed directly to families, and $500 million was
distributed to the state and federal government for recoupment of
public assistance and foster care expenses; and  
   WHEREAS, Child support is an effective investment in California's
future. The child support program increases family self-sufficiency,
reduces child poverty, and has a positive effect on children's
educational achievement. Nationally, one in four children are served
by child support programs; and  
   WHEREAS, The focus in 2012 of Child Support Awareness Month is the
very important role of parents in creating a positive environment
for their children. Child support provides security, instills
confidence, maintains trust, and helps to make childhood dreams come
true; and  
   WHEREAS, During the month of August 2012, parents who have fallen
behind in making their child support payments are encouraged to drop
by their local child support agency to make a payment, seek
modification of their child support order, obtain a repayment plan,
and find out whether they qualify for a compromise on an overdue
balance; now, therefore, be it  
   Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature proclaims the month of
August 2012 as Child Support Awareness Month, and encourages all
Californians to recognize the importance of child support to the
happiness and security of our children; and be it further 
    
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution. 
    
   WHEREAS, Historically, most state governments, including
California, have counted incarcerated persons as residents of the
prison communities in which they are incarcerated when redrawing
election district boundaries following the decennial federal census;
and 
   WHEREAS, This practice, known as "prison-based gerrymandering,"
artificially inflates the population count, and hence the political
influence, of those districts in which prisons and jails are located;
and  
   WHEREAS, Prisoners are not integrated into, and cannot establish
ties to, the communities in which their institutions of incarceration
are located, and thus are not properly considered residents of those
communities; and  
   WHEREAS, Under California law, a person does not gain or lose a
domicile solely by reason of his or her presence or absence from a
place while kept in a prison; and  
   WHEREAS, In 2010, the United States Census Bureau agreed, for the
first time, to make information regarding prisoner population data
available to states in time for those figures to be taken into
account in the electoral redistricting process; and 

   WHEREAS, The Citizens Redistricting Commission is vested by the
California Constitution with the authority to adjust election
district boundaries for the state's congressional, Senate, Assembly,
and Board of Equalization districts following each decennial federal
census; now, therefore, be it  
   Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature urges the Citizens
Redistricting Commission, in carrying out its redistricting
responsibilities following the 2010 decennial federal census, to deem
each incarcerated person as residing at his or her last known
address prior to incarceration rather than at the institution of his
or her incarceration; and be it further 
    
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the Citizens Redistricting Commission and to the
author for appropriate distribution.