BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AJR 44
Author: Carter (D), et al.
Amended: 8/21/12 in Assembly
Vote: 21
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 79-0, 8/23/12 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Sickle Cell Anemia Awareness Month
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This resolution recognizes the month of
September 2012, and each September thereafter, as Sickle
Cell Anemia Awareness Month in California, and urges the
President and the Congress of the United States to restore
and continue funding for sickle cell anemia centers and
research to make sickle cell anemia and other genetic
hemoglobin disorders a public health priority.
ANALYSIS : This resolution makes the following
legislative findings:
1. Sickle cell anemia and sickle cell disease, used
interchangeably, refer to a group of inherited
disorders that affect the red blood cells.
2. Sickle cell anemia is a disease in which a person's
body produces abnormally shaped red blood cells that
resemble a crescent or sickle, and which do not last as
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long as normal round red blood cells, which leads to
anemia. The sickle cells also get stuck in blood
vessels and block blood flow, which can cause pain and
organ damage.
3. Sickle cell anemia is a genetic disorder where
individuals with the disease are born with two sickle
cell genes, each inherited from one parent. An
individual with only one sickle cell gene has a "sickle
cell trait," which occurs in one out of every 12
African Americans and in one out of every 100 Latinos
in the United States.
4. It is estimated that more than 70,000 Americans have
sickle cell anemia. Sickle cell anemia occurs in one
out of every 500 African American births and in one out
of every 36,000 Latino births.
5. Sickle cell anemia can be a life-threatening
condition, and access to comprehensive care can be
limited by social, economic, cultural, and geographic
barriers.
6. The average cost of hospitalization for sickle cell
anemia in 2004 was $6,223, for more than 84,000
hospital admissions that year. Total hospitalization
costs for individuals with sickle cell anemia equaled
$488,000,000, of which 65 percent were covered by
Medicaid funds.
7. Individuals living with sickle cell anemia encounter
barriers to obtaining quality care and improving their
quality of life. These barriers include limitations in
geographic access to comprehensive care, the varied use
of effective treatments, the high reliance on emergency
departments and on public health programs, and the
limited number of health care providers with knowledge
and experience to manage and treat sickle cell anemia.
8. The Sickle Cell Anemia Control Act was signed into
law in 1972 by President Richard Nixon after pledging
that his administration would "reverse the record of
neglect on the dreaded disease" by increasing funding
for and expanding sickle cell anemia-related programs,
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including the development of comprehensive sickle cell
anemia centers.
9. In 1975, the Sickle Cell Disease Association of
America, Inc. and its member organizations began
conducting monthlong events in September to call
attention to sickle cell anemia and the need to address
the problem at national and local levels, and chose
September as National Sickle Cell Awareness Month in
order for the public to reflect on the children and
adults whose lives, education, and careers have been
affected by this disease.
10. In 2003, the Sickle Cell Treatment Act was signed
into law.
11. The effort to officially recognize Sickle Cell Anemia
Awareness Month succeeded at the federal level in 1983
when the United States House of Representatives
unanimously passed, and President Ronald Reagan signed,
the first resolution introduced by the Congressional
Black Caucus that recognized September as National
Sickle Cell Anemia Awareness Month.
FISCAL EFFECT : Fiscal Com.: No
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 79-0, 8/23/12
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani,
Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Gorell,
Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hill,
Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lara,
Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller,
Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby,
Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez, Portantino, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao,
Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Roger Hern�ndez
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CTW:n 8/28/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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