SJR 6 Senate Joint Resolution

BILL NUMBER: SJR 6	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 9, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Kehoe
   (Principal coauthor: Senator Anderson)
   (Coauthors: Senators  Vargas   
 and Wyland   Alquist,   Corbett, 
 DeSaulnier,   Hancock,   Harman,  
Hernandez,   Lieu,   Liu,   Runner, 
 Vargas,   Wright,   Wyland,   and Yee
 )
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members  Beall,  
  Block,    
Cedillo,     Cook, 
   Dickinson,   
 Fletcher,     Halderman,
    Monning,  
  and John A. Pщrez   Achadjian, 
 Atkins,   Beall,   Block,  
Blumenfield,   Cedillo,   Cook,  
Dickinson,   Fletcher,   Galgiani,  
Halderman,   Hueso,   Huffman,   Jones,
 Logue,   Monning,   John A. Pщrez, 
 Portantino,   and Williams  )

                        APRIL 28, 2011

   Relative to survivors of torture.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SJR 6, as amended, Kehoe. Survivors of torture.
   This measure would declare June 26, 2011, a Day in Support of
Victims of Torture in California, and would urge the Office of
Refugee Resettlement to direct torture treatment funding through the
Torture Victims Relief Act  of 1998  .
   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, Approximately 100,000 residents of the State of
California have found refuge here after enduring politically
motivated torture in their home countries; and
   WHEREAS, These survivors of torture bring their remarkable
fortitude, resiliency, and powerful personal histories to their new
state; and
   WHEREAS, Many of these survivors have contributed greatly to
California's communities, economy, cultural vibrancy, and
understanding of the importance of human rights through opening
businesses, performing professional services, founding charitable
organizations, speaking out about their experiences, and volunteering
on behalf of others; and
   WHEREAS, These contributions come in spite of the lingering
physical, emotional, and social impacts of enduring torture; and
   WHEREAS, Studies and clinical reports on the consequences of
torture have been found to include, but are not limited to, scarring,
disfiguration, chronic pain, nightmares, insomnia, flashbacks,
hypervigilance, difficulty forming relationships of trust,
depression, panic attacks, and startle responses; and
   WHEREAS, Absent access to appropriate care, these ongoing effects
of torture can prevent or undermine the ability and desire of torture
survivors to restore their dignity and thrive as productive members
of their new California communities; and
   WHEREAS, Treating the unique impact of torture on survivors
requires highly specialized, holistic treatment; and
   WHEREAS, California played a key role in the development of the
torture treatment field in the late 1970s and early 1980s under the
leadership of Dr. Jose Quiroga and Ana Deutsch, themselves refugees
who fled from incidents of torture in Chile and Argentina,
respectively, came to Los Angeles, and there went on to found the
Program for Torture Victims (PTV) in order to attend to the unique
panoply of physical, emotional, and legal challenges faced by their
fellow survivors; and
   WHEREAS, California today is home to the largest number of torture
treatment centers in the United States, including, but not limited
to, the affiliates of the California Consortium of Torture Treatment
Centers--the Center for Justice and Accountability in San Francisco;
the Center for Survivors of Torture  at   ,
 Asian Americans for Community Involvement in San Jose; the
Institute for Redress and Recovery  in   at
 Santa Clara University; the Institute for the Study of
Psychosocial Trauma in Palo Alto; Program for Torture Victims in Los
Angeles; the Torture Survivors Project at the Legal Aid Foundation of
Los Angeles; Survivors International in San Francisco; and Survivors
of Torture, International in San Diego; and
   WHEREAS, These centers collectively serve around 1,000 torture
survivors annually; and
   WHEREAS, These torture treatment programs rely heavily on the
volunteerism of local professionals--among them doctors,
psychologists, psychiatrists, dentists, physical therapists,
interpreters, lawyers, masseurs, plastic surgeons, and others--to
provide holistic treatment far beyond the capacities of the centers'
limited staffs and budgets; and
   WHEREAS, Each year hundreds of California professionals donate
thousands of hours of their time to acquire the necessary specialized
training and assist torture survivors to heal; and
   WHEREAS, Each year hundreds of Californians make charitable
financial contributions to help make the services of these nonprofit
centers possible at no charge to the survivors; and
   WHEREAS, The Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability
Commission (MHSOAC) could use state-level public sector avenues to
improve regional services for torture survivors by working with
counties to include torture treatment in county mental health plans
reviewed by the MHSOAC; and
   WHEREAS, Data from the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement
(ORR) demonstrates that California has been the top destination
 for refugees who seek asylum in the United States, 
 in the country for humanitarian immigrants (25 percent of all
re   fugees since 1975, and 28 percent of all asylees in the
federal fiscal year 2009, according to ORR and the California
Refugee Programs Bureau), many of whom are torture survivors, 
but funding to provide adequate services for those refugees has been
insufficient because the federal Torture Victims Relief Act  of
1998  has not been fully funded by Congress and ORR has not
distributed domestic torture treatment under the Torture Victims
Relief Act  of 1998  formulas to provide adequate funding
areas that serve disproportional populations of formerly tortured
refugees; and
   WHEREAS, On June 26, 1997, the United Nations General Assembly
marked the 10th anniversary of its adoption of the  UN
  United Nations  Convention Against Torture and
Other Cruel, Inhuman  ,  or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment by establishing that date, annually, as International Day
in Support of Victims of Torture; and
   WHEREAS, The Legislature hereby acknowledges the widespread
presence of survivors of torture residing throughout the State of
California; and
   WHEREAS, The Legislature welcomes and commends the contributions
survivors of torture make to California's communities, economy, and
cultural vibrancy; and
   WHEREAS, The Legislature expresses its pride in California's
emerging legacy as a place of refuge and healing for those who have
endured torture; and
   WHEREAS, The Legislature undertakes to encourage the further
development of torture treatment services throughout the state by
honoring professionals and volunteers who have dedicated their time
to the treatment of torture survivors; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature urges ORR to direct torture
treatment funding through the Torture Victims Relief Act  of
1998  so as to reflect California's role as the nation's largest
resettlement destination for  humanitarian immigrants (25
percent of all refugees since 1975, according to ORR and the
California Refugee Programs Bureau, and 34 percent of affirmative
asylees in the last year, according to the Department of Homeland
Security's "Refugee Flow Report"), many of whom are  torture
survivors; and be it further
   Resolved, That June 26, 2011, be declared a Day in Support of
Victims of Torture in California; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States,
to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to each Senator and
Representative from California in the Congress of the Unites States,
and to the author for appropriate distribution.