Bill Text: CA ACR77 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended

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

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Bill Title: Suicide Prevention Week.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2011-09-28 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Res. Chapter 115, Statutes of 2011. [ACR77 Detail]

Download: California-2011-ACR77-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: ACR 77	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 31, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Torres

                        AUGUST 15, 2011

   Relative to Suicide Prevention Week.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   ACR 77, as amended, Torres. Suicide Prevention Week.
   This measure would proclaim September 4 through September 10,
2011, as Suicide Prevention Week.
   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, In the United States, one person completes suicide every
15.2 minutes; and
   WHEREAS, Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the United
States; and
   WHEREAS, Suicide is the third leading cause of death among
individuals who are 15 to 24, inclusive, years of age in the United
States; and
   WHEREAS, It is estimated that 4.5 million people in the United
States, known as survivors of suicide, have lost a loved one to
suicide; and 
   WHEREAS, Fifty and two-tenths percent of people who die by suicide
use a firearm; and 
    WHEREAS, Firearms, hanging, suffocation, and poisoning
constitute more than 90 percent of suicides in the United States; and

   WHEREAS, 2010 was the second year in a row that the United States
military lost more troops to suicide than combat in Iraq and
Afghanistan; and
   WHEREAS, Rates of completed suicide are highest among those 80
years of age and over; and
   WHEREAS, In 2007, 18 percent of Hispanic adolescents reported
seriously considering attempting suicide in the last 12 months, which
is a proportion higher than reported by their non-Hispanic
classmates; and
   WHEREAS, The stigma associated with mental illness and suicidality
works against suicide prevention by discouraging persons at risk for
suicide from seeking  life-saving   lifesaving
 help and further traumatizes survivors of suicide; and
    WHEREAS, The State of California, in order to address the
need to prevent suicides, has created the California Strategic Plan
on Suicide Prevention, established by the Office of Suicide
Prevention in the State Department of Mental Health, and has
supported multiple statewide and local projects launched under the
Mental Health Services Act; and 
   WHEREAS, Organizations such as the American Association of
Suicidology, that are dedicated to reducing the frequency of suicide
attempts and death and the pain of survivors of suicide through
educational programs, research programs, intervention services, and
bereavement services, urge the following:
   (a) Recognition of suicide as a national and state public health
problem and the declaration of suicide prevention as a statewide
priority.
   (b) Acknowledgment that no single suicide prevention program or
effort will be appropriate for all populations or communities.
   (c) Encouragement of initiatives based on the goals contained in
the National Strategy Prevention, which include all of the following:

   (1) Promotion of awareness of suicide as a public health problem
that is preventable.
   (2) Development of broad-based support for suicide prevention.
   (3) Development and implementation of strategies to reduce the
stigma associated with being a consumer of mental health, substance
abuse, and suicide prevention services.
   (4) Development and implementation of community-based suicide
prevention programs.
   (5) Promotion of efforts to reduce  access to 
 use of  lethal means and methods of self-harm.
   (6) Implementation of training for the recognition of at-risk
behavior and for the delivery of effective treatment.
   (7) Development and promotion of effective clinical and
professional practices.
   (8) Increase in access to, and community linkages with, mental
health and substance abuse services.
   (9) Improvement in reporting and portrayals of suicidal behavior,
mental illness, and substance abuse in the entertainment and news
media.
   (10) Promotion and support of research on suicide and suicide
prevention.
   (11) Improvement and expansion of surveillance systems for
suicidal behavior; and
   WHEREAS, A great many suicides are preventable; now, therefore, be
it
   Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby proclaims September 4
through September 10, 2011, as Suicide Prevention Week; and be it
further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly shall transmit
copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.