Bill Text: CA ACR133 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Awareness Month.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 59-15)
Status: (Passed) 2024-05-30 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Res. Chapter 69, Statutes of 2024. [ACR133 Detail]
Download: California-2023-ACR133-Chaptered.html
Assembly Concurrent Resolution
No. 133
CHAPTER 69
Relative to Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Awareness Month.
[
Filed with
Secretary of State
May 30, 2024.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 133, Ramos.
Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Awareness Month.
This measure would designate the month of May 2024 as Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Awareness Month in California and urge the Governor to declare a state of emergency due to the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous people.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee: NOBill Text
WHEREAS, In 2016, 5,712 missing and murdered indigenous cases were reported to the National Crime Information Center; and
WHEREAS, According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, homicide is the third leading cause of death for indigenous women between 15 and 24 years of age; and
WHEREAS, According to a study entitled “Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and the Criminal Justice Response: What is Known,” conducted on behalf of the United States Department of Justice, in some tribal communities, indigenous women face murder rates 10 times higher than the national average. No such study exists for urban areas; and
WHEREAS, Little data exists on the epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous people, and data that is available is incomplete and inadequate; and
WHEREAS, The data that does exist on this issue focuses primarily on indigenous women living on reservations, despite approximately 75 percent of native people living in urban cities; and
WHEREAS, According to the first report conducted by the Urban Indian Health Institute in 2018 on missing and murdered indigenous women in urban cities:
(1) In 27 percent of the missing and murdered indigenous women cases, the victims were 18 years of age or younger.
(2) The average age for missing and murdered indigenous women was 29.
(3) California has the sixth highest death rate of indigenous women in urban cities; and
WHEREAS, According to the most recent census data, California has the largest population of American Indians, more than any other state in the country; and
WHEREAS, In 2022, Governor Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 1314, the Feather Alert, which is a preventative measure that will be utilized to return missing and endangered indigenous people to their homes; and
WHEREAS, In 2023, Governor Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 44 which requires the Department of Justice to grant access to the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System to the law enforcement agency or tribal court of a qualified federally recognized Indian tribe, thus facilitating the exchange and dissemination of information between law enforcement agencies in the state; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the month of May 2024 as California’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Awareness Month; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the Legislature urges the Governor to declare a state of emergency due to the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous people as was done by the Yurok Tribe on December 17, 2021; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
