Amended in Assembly March 17, 2014

Amended in Assembly September 11, 2013

Amended in Assembly September 4, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 5

Introduced by Assembly Member Gomez

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(Coauthors: Assembly Members Hall, Nazarian, and Rendon)

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(Coauthors: Senators Padilla and Pavley)

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January 17, 2013

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 5—Relative to begin delete the Los Angeles River. end delete begin insert National end insert begin insert Cancer Awareness Week. end insert

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AJR 5, as amended, Gomez. begin delete Los Angeles River: ARBOR study alternative 20. end delete begin insert National end insert begin insert Cancer Awareness Week. end insert

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This measure would designate the week of April 20 to 26, 2014, inclusive, as National Cancer Awareness Week, encourage the promotion of policies and programs that seek to reduce cancer disparities and, as a result, improve cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and followup care for all Californians, and urge the President and the Congress of the United States to recognize National Cancer Awareness Week.

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This measure would urge the United States Army Corps of Engineers to select ARBOR study alternative 20, which would serve to revitalize communities and create a more functional and interconnected watershed that will provide a more diverse regional ecological system and restore the functionality of the Los Angeles River as a critical natural and cultural heritage and community resource.

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Fiscal committee: no.

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WHEREAS, National Cancer Awareness Week has been
observed across the country each year since 1987 in an effort to
bring attention to the disparities of cancer among medically
underserved populations; and

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WHEREAS, The American Cancer Society is participating in
National Cancer Awareness Week to highlight the disparities in
cancer burdens and to encourage public and private sector
commitments in helping eliminate these disparities; and

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WHEREAS, California is the most populous and ethnically and
culturally diverse state in the country, and thus, is in a position to
provide leadership for the nation to address the reduction of the
incidence of cancer among all races, ethnicities, and genders; and

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WHEREAS, In California, disparities exist in knowledge about
cancer, cancer survival, and access to early detection, high-quality
treatment, health care coverage, and health care. Social inequities
also exist, including differences in occupational hazards,
environmental exposures to pollution and other toxins, access to
education, nutrition, physical activity, safe neighborhoods, healthy
food options, and other factors that contribute to an increased or
reduced risk of cancer; and

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WHEREAS, The risk of developing and dying from cancer varies
considerably among different cultural populations in California.
The medically underserved are often diagnosed at later stages,
and with a higher incidence of cancers with higher mortality, such
as lung cancer, and are more likely to receive delayed health care;
and

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WHEREAS, Cancer is the leading cause of death among Latinos,
Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders, and is the second leading
cause of death for most other Californians; and

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WHEREAS, In California, African American males have the
highest overall cancer incidence and mortality rates. African
American women are more likely to die of breast cancer, although
non-Hispanic white women are the most likely to be diagnosed
with the disease. African Americans have substantially higher
rates of cancers of the stomach, small intestine, liver, and larynx,
myeloma, and Kaposi’s sarcoma than non-Hispanic whites. African
American men are at especially high risk for prostate cancer, more
than any other racial and ethnic group; and

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WHEREAS, In California, lung cancer is the most common cancer
among Laotian and Vietnamese men, while prostate cancer is the
most common cancer for men in most other ethnic groups.
Colorectal cancer is the most common cancer among Kampuchean
and Korean men. Despite an overall statewide decline in colorectal
cancer rates from 1988-2008, incidence sharply increased among
Koreans and Vietnamese. Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and
Latinos have substantially higher rates of liver and stomach cancer
than other groups. Vietnamese women have much higher rates of
cervical cancer than non-Hispanic white women. Asian Americans
have among the lowest rates of screening for breast, cervical, and
colorectal cancers. There remains a lack of data about factors
related to cancer, cancer control, and effective interventions among
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders; and

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WHEREAS, In California, Latinos have substantially higher
rates of stomach and liver cancers than other Californians. Latinos
have higher rates of acute lymphocytic leukemia and cervical
cancer than non-Hispanic whites. Latinos have the highest
likelihood of being medically uninsured, which can create serious
barriers to screenings, early detection, and treatment. Latino
women have the highest risk of developing cervical cancer,
significantly higher, than non-Hispanic white women, African
American women, Asian American women, and Pacific Islander
women; and

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WHEREAS, Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender community are at greater risk for cancer, face specific
challenges accessing quality health care because of insurance
policies that fail to cover same-sex partners, and may hesitate to
access health care because of previous discrimination in health
care settings. Lesbians have fewer mammograms, pelvic
examinations, and Pap smear tests than heterosexual women.
There remains a lack of data about factors related to cancer,
cancer control, and effective interventions in the lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender community; now, therefore, be it

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Resolved, by the Assembly and the Senate of
the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature
urges the President and the Congress of the United States to
recognize “National Cancer Awareness Week”; and be it further

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Resolved, That the Legislature declares the week of April
20 to 26, 2014, inclusive, as “National Cancer Awareness Week,”
within the State of California, and encourages the promotion of
policies and programs that seek to reduce cancer disparities and,
as a result, improve cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and
followup care for all Californians; and be it further

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Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit
copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the
United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to
the Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and
Representative from California in the Congress of the United
States, and to the author for appropriate distribution.

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WHEREAS, The Los Angeles River flows roughly 51 miles
from its origin in the San Fernando Valley to the Long Beach
Harbor and is 32 miles long within the City of Los Angeles; and

WHEREAS, Within the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles
River flows through three United States congressional districts,
eight city council districts for the City of Los Angeles,
approximately 20 neighborhood councils, 12 community plan
areas, the second largest urban region in the United States, and
one of the world’s busiest port regions, and flows into the Pacific
Ocean, the world’s largest body of water; and

WHEREAS, The Los Angeles River corridor is home to more
than one million people, more than 390,000 housing units, more
than 480,000 workers, more than 35,000 businesses, and more
than 80 schools; and

WHEREAS, The Los Angeles River flows through historically
disadvantaged communities and underserved neighborhoods of
Los Angeles that lack open-space resources and have high
unemployment rates; and

WHEREAS, The County of Los Angeles, the State of California,
the federal government, and an incredible number of nonprofit
groups and organizations have been invaluable partners in the
process of developing and now implementing the Los Angeles
River Revitalization Master Plan; and

WHEREAS, The goals of the Los Angeles River Revitalization
Master Plan include improving environmental quality, improving
public access to the Los Angeles River, increasing recreation and
open spaces, enhancing flood control, encouraging community
reinvestment, and increasing awareness and pride in the Los
Angeles River; and

WHEREAS, In 2006, recognizing the environmental degradation
occurring in and along the Los Angeles River within the boundaries
of the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles City Council
authorized the Board of Public Works of the City of Los Angeles
to execute an agreement with the United States Army Corps of
Engineers for the Los Angeles River Ecosystem Restoration
Feasibility Study, also known as the ARBOR study, committing
the City of Los Angeles to a 50-percent share of the cost as local
sponsor. In 2009, the cost increased when the total ARBOR study
cost was raised to $9,710,000; and

WHEREAS, The ARBOR study is consistent with the goals of
President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative, which
includes direction to reconnect Americans, especially children, to
America’s rivers and waterways and to build upon state, local,
private, and tribal priorities for the conservation of land, water,
wildlife, and historic and cultural resources, creating corridors and
connectivity across these outdoor spaces, and for enhancing
neighborhood parks. In the President’s America’s Great Outdoors
Initiative, federal agencies are asked to determine how the federal
government can best advance these priorities through public-private
partnerships and locally supported conservation strategies; and

WHEREAS, The Los Angeles River watershed was selected as
one of only seven nationwide first-phase pilots of the Urban Waters
Federal Partnership, an implementation piece of President Obama’s
America’s Great Outdoors Initiative, which aims to stimulate
regional and local economies, create local jobs, improve quality
of life, and protect Americans’ health by revitalizing urban
waterways in underserved communities across the country and the
ARBOR study was selected as the top priority of the Urban Waters
Federal Partnership in Los Angeles; and

WHEREAS, In 2013, the United States Army Corps of
Engineers developed a final array of the four best buy alternatives
for the ARBOR study and only one of those alternatives includes
both significant restoration at the Los Angeles River’s confluence
with the Verdugo Wash near the City of Los Angeles’s border
with the City of Glendale and the only substantial western bank
connection, providing a profound hydrological link between the
Los Angeles State Historic Park (Cornfields site) and the Los
Angeles River, leveraging a significant investment made by the
State of California toward restoration of the Los Angeles River;
and

WHEREAS, The City of Los Angeles endorses the ARBOR
study alternative 20 that results in the most expansive ecosystem
restoration, specifically that which includes the following priorities
for the City of Los Angeles:

(a) Verdugo Wash Confluence.

(b) Taylor Yard/Bowtie.

(c) Taylor Yard/G-2.

(d) Arroyo Seco Confluence.

(e) Cornfields Los Angeles State Historic Park.

(f) Piggyback Yard (Union Pacific Railroad); and

WHEREAS, Once completed, the ARBOR study will
recommend a project that will be cost-shared by the United States
Army Corps of Engineers and local sponsors to modify the river’s
concrete channel significantly for the first time since the river was
channelized by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in the
early to mid 1900s. The project will be one of the largest examples
of urban ecosystem restoration in the nation’s second most
populous city; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature urges the United States
Army Corps of Engineers to select the ARBOR study alternative
20, which would serve to revitalize communities and create a more
functional and interconnected watershed that will provide a more
diverse regional ecological system and restore the functionality of
the Los Angeles River as a critical natural and cultural heritage
and community resource; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the
Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative
from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the
Commanding General and Chief of Engineers of the United States
Army Corps of Engineers.

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