California Assembly Bill ACR21 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: ACR 21AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 7, 2012 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Davis FEBRUARY 16, 2011 Relative to  redistricting   Child Support Awareness Month  . LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST ACR 21, as amended, Davis.  Redistricting: incarcerated persons.   Family law: Child Support Awareness Month.   This measure would make findings regarding California's child support services program and the importance of child support to children and families, and would declare August 2012 as Child Support Awareness Month.   This measure would urge the Citizens Redistricting Commission, in carrying out its redistricting responsibilities following the 2010 decennial federal census, to deem each incarcerated person as residing at his or her last known address prior to incarceration rather than at the institution of his or her incarceration.  Fiscal committee:  yes   no  .  WHEREAS, The mission of the California Department of Child Support Services is to enhance the well-being of children and the self-sufficiency of families by providing professional services to locate parents, establish paternity, and establish and enforce orders for financial and medical support; and   WHEREAS, California's child support services program works with parents, whether they are paying or receiving child support, to ensure that children and families receive court-ordered financial and medical support; and   WHEREAS, Child support services are available to the public through a network of 51 county and regional child support agencies. County professionals work very hard to ensure that the children in the program can rely on their parents for the financial and medical support that they need to be healthy and successful; and   WHEREAS, Child support collections in California increased by $37 million in the state fiscal year ending in June 2011, with the total distributed collections at $2.3 billion. Of that $2.3 billion, $1.8 billion was distributed directly to families, and $500 million was distributed to the state and federal government for recoupment of public assistance and foster care expenses; and   WHEREAS, Child support is an effective investment in California's future. The child support program increases family self-sufficiency, reduces child poverty, and has a positive effect on children's educational achievement. Nationally, one in four children are served by child support programs; and   WHEREAS, The focus in 2012 of Child Support Awareness Month is the very important role of parents in creating a positive environment for their children. Child support provides security, instills confidence, maintains trust, and helps to make childhood dreams come true; and   WHEREAS, During the month of August 2012, parents who have fallen behind in making their child support payments are encouraged to drop by their local child support agency to make a payment, seek modification of their child support order, obtain a repayment plan, and find out whether they qualify for a compromise on an overdue balance; now, therefore, be it   Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature proclaims the month of August 2012 as Child Support Awareness Month, and encourages all Californians to recognize the importance of child support to the happiness and security of our children; and be it further   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.   WHEREAS, Historically, most state governments, including California, have counted incarcerated persons as residents of the prison communities in which they are incarcerated when redrawing election district boundaries following the decennial federal census; and  WHEREAS, This practice, known as "prison-based gerrymandering," artificially inflates the population count, and hence the political influence, of those districts in which prisons and jails are located; and   WHEREAS, Prisoners are not integrated into, and cannot establish ties to, the communities in which their institutions of incarceration are located, and thus are not properly considered residents of those communities; and   WHEREAS, Under California law, a person does not gain or lose a domicile solely by reason of his or her presence or absence from a place while kept in a prison; and   WHEREAS, In 2010, the United States Census Bureau agreed, for the first time, to make information regarding prisoner population data available to states in time for those figures to be taken into account in the electoral redistricting process; and   WHEREAS, The Citizens Redistricting Commission is vested by the California Constitution with the authority to adjust election district boundaries for the state's congressional, Senate, Assembly, and Board of Equalization districts following each decennial federal census; now, therefore, be it   Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature urges the Citizens Redistricting Commission, in carrying out its redistricting responsibilities following the 2010 decennial federal census, to deem each incarcerated person as residing at his or her last known address prior to incarceration rather than at the institution of his or her incarceration; and be it further   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the Citizens Redistricting Commission and to the author for appropriate distribution.