Bill Text: CA ACR123 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: California Memorial Project Remembrance Day.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 47-25)

Status: (Passed) 2010-07-07 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Res. Chapter 58, Statutes of 2010. [ACR123 Detail]

Download: California-2009-ACR123-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: ACR 123	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Chesbro

                        FEBRUARY 12, 2010

   Relative to the California Memorial Project Remembrance Day.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   ACR 123, as introduced, Chesbro. California Memorial Project
Remembrance Day.
   This measure would proclaim the 3rd Monday of each September as
California Memorial Project Remembrance Day in California, to honor
and restore dignity to individuals who lived and died in California
institutions.
   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, Since 1852 when the first California state institution
opened, the state has provided services to persons with disabilities
in state institutions, including state hospitals and developmental
centers; and
   WHEREAS, From the mid-1880s to the 1960s, more than 45,000
individuals passed away while residents of a state institution, and
information about these patients is incomplete; and
   WHEREAS, For the most part, the remains of the individuals who
died at state institutions were placed in unmarked or numbered graves
in mass sites, where numbered markers long ago disappeared and many
records identifying where bodies were buried have been misplaced or
destroyed; and
   WHEREAS, Some of the state institutions involved include the
following 14 institutes: Agnews Developmental Center, Atascadero
State Hospital, Camarillo State Hospital, DeWitt State Hospital,
Fairview Developmental Center, Lanterman Developmental Center,
Mendocino State Hospital, Metropolitan State Hospital, Modesto State
Hospital, Napa State Hospital, Patton State Hospital, Porterville
Developmental Center, Sonoma Developmental Center, and Stockton State
Hospital; and
   WHEREAS, Gravesites of unknown individuals who have passed away
while living in a state institution include, but are not limited to:
   (a) The cremated remains of 2,284 individuals who died at the
Modesto State Institution and Stockton Developmental Center at Park
View in Manteca.
   (b) The remains of many individuals who received treatment at the
Metropolitan State Hospital in the early 1980s relocated to area
cemeteries.
   (c) Napa State Hospital, where from 1875 to 1924, inclusive, an
estimated 4,368 individuals were buried. Napa State Hospital also
interred residents at the St. Helena Public Cemetery, a local paupers
field.
   (d) Patton State Hospital, where from 1893 to 1934, inclusive, an
estimated 2,024 individuals were buried.
   (e) The remains of 1,418 individuals were buried in a cemetery now
located in a field on the campus of the Sonoma Developmental Center;
and
   WHEREAS, When some state institutions closed, they sold their land
and exhumed remains to county cemeteries, and the California
Memorial Project has not identified all of the county cemeteries
where former residents of state institutions have been interred; and
   WHEREAS, The California Memorial Project is a collaboration of the
California Network of Mental Health Clients, Disability Rights
California, and People First California, that partners with the State
Department of Mental Health and the Department of Developmental
Services, to honor and restore dignity to individuals who lived and
died in state institutions; and
   WHEREAS, The legislation authored by Senator Wesley Chesbro
establishing the partnership between the California Memorial Project
and the state intended to identify the location of gravesites at
existing state institutions, identify the names of the patients whose
remains were donated for medical research and the entity to which
the remains were donated, work with the State Department of Mental
Health and other state agencies to research the records of deaths and
burials at cemeteries located on state institution grounds, and
develop a plan for the restoration of cemeteries and gravesites of
institutionalized persons; and
   WHEREAS, The goals of the California Memorial Project include to
restore cemeteries or graves where individuals from state
institutions are buried, to preserve the history of the residents of
state institutions, and to document the history of the client and
consumer movement in California; and
   WHEREAS, To further its mission, the California Memorial Project
restores and memorializes the cemeteries at state institutions and
county cemeteries, and works to place memorials at cemeteries and
other sites to remember people who have died in state institutions.
Two monuments have been placed so far, one erected on the California
State University (CSU) Stanislaus campus, and another at the Stockton
Rural Cemetery where 42 sets of remains of individuals who died in
state institutions unearthed at CSU Stanislaus were reinterred.
Future plans include a Napa State Hospital Memorial, a monument at
the Patton State Hospital, and a boulder monument to be placed at the
Ukiah Cemetery in honor of individuals who died while
institutionalized at the Mendocino State Hospital; and
   WHEREAS, Beginning in 2003 the California Memorial Project has
held a Remembrance Day to remember and honor individuals who lived
and died in state institutions on the third Monday of each September,
the anniversary of the signing of the legislation that established
the California Memorial Project partnership with the state; and
   WHEREAS, On the September 21, 2009, Remembrance Day, over 700
community members, self-advocates, family, friends, state institution
survivors, and disability advocates gathered at the Parkview
Cemetery in Manteca, Napa State Hospital in Napa, Metropolitan State
Hospital in Norwalk, Patton State Hospital in Patton, Hillcrest
Cemetery in Porterville, Agnews Historic Cemetery in Santa Clara,
Sonoma Developmental Center in Eldridge, Stockton Rural Cemetery in
Stockton, and Ukiah Cemetery in Ukiah, for Remembrance Day
ceremonies; and
   WHEREAS, In California's recent history, numerous Californians
with disabilities were institutionalized and died in state
facilities. Today, however, many people with disabilities live full
and productive lives in the community; and
   WHEREAS, Attention to the California Memorial Project and its work
to restore cemeteries, create memorials, develop oral histories, and
hold Remembrance Day ceremonies to honor those individuals are
critical pieces of California's history and serve as an opportunity
to reflect upon the strides made in reducing the stigma of
disability, including psychiatric and developmental disability, as
well as promoting community awareness and education; and
   WHEREAS, Efforts to restore dignity to individuals whose remains
are buried in gravesites on state institution lands deserve
recognition and support; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature of State of California
hereby proclaims the third Monday of each September as California
Memorial Project Remembrance Day; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.