HomeMy WebLinkAbout7/21/2010 - STAFF REPORTS - 2.K. RESOLUTION NO.
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
PALM SPRINGS SUPPORTING CALIFORNIA AB 2706
(LOWENTHAL) AMENDING THE CAL. CIVIL CODE TO
DEEM VIOLENCE AGAINST HOMELESS PEOPLE OR
THEIR PROPERTY AS A HATE CRIME FOR CIVIL
LITIGATION
WHEREAS, an estimated 157,000 people in the State of California are without
homes; and
WHEREAS, 30,000 of those people are veterans of the United States military;
and
WHEREAS, Riverside County's 2009 Homeless Count & Survey had a "one-day,
point-in-time" count of 203. This included those sheltered (i.e., emergency and
transitional housing) and unsheltered (i.e. outdoors, encampments, uninhabitable
structure, etc.); and
WHEREAS, homeless individuals are more likely to suffer from mental and
physical illness, and less likely to receive comprehensive medical treatment; and
WHEREAS, California has the second-highest rate of violence against homeless
people in the nation; and
WHEREAS, in the last year alone, homeless people have been set on fire,
stabbed, shot, and beaten with baseball bats; and
WHEREAS, perpetrators of those attacks act under the theory that the likelihood
of suffering legal consequences from their actions is not as high as it would be if they
assaulted another member of the community; and
WHEREAS, AB 2706 seeks to change those calculations of risk; and
WHEREAS, AB 2706 declares that a homeless person has the same right as
other Californians to be free from violence or intimidation; and
WHEREAS, AB 2706 confers upon a homeless person the right to sue his or her
attacker for enhanced civil penalties should an act of violence be committed against
them on the basis of their homeless status; and
WHEREAS, the passage of AB 2706 would send a message that California's
government seeks to guard the rights of all its residents; and
WHEREAS, the Palm Springs Human Rights Commission encourages the City
Council of the City of Palm Springs to support the adoption of AB 2706.
ITEM NO. o .�
Resolution No.
Page 2
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM SPRINGS DOES HEREBY
RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. To encourage the California Legislature to pass, and the Governor
to sign AB 2706.
ADOPTED THIS 215T DAY OF JULY, 2010.
David H. Ready, City Manager
ATTEST:
James Thompson, City Clerk
CERTIFICATION
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE ) ss.
CITY OF PALM SPRINGS )
I, JAMES THOMPSON, City Clerk of the City of Palm Springs, hereby certify that
Resolution No. is a full, true and correct copy, and was duly adopted at a regular
meeting of the City Council of the City of Palm Springs on ,
by the following vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTAIN:
James Thompson, City Clerk
City of Palm Springs, California