AB 9, authored by Assemblymember Ammiano and sponsored LGBT equality organizations, seeks to create a safer school environment for California students

Sacramento--The Senate Education Committee passed Seth’s Law (AB 9) in a 7-2 vote. Seth’s Law is designed to address the pervasive problem of school bullying by providing California schools with tools to create a safe school environment for all students. The bill is authored by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) and co-sponsored by a coalition of organizations advancing LGBT equality, including Equality California, the ACLU of California, National Center for Lesbian Rights, Gay-Straight Alliance Network, and The Trevor Project. The bill is named in memory of Seth Walsh, a 13 year-old gay student from Tehachapi, California, who took his life in September 2010, after facing years of relentless anti-gay harassment at school.

Wendy Walsh, Seth’s mother, provided powerful testimony in support of the bill today.

"I can’t bring my son back. But the California legislature can make a difference today to protect young people across our state just like Seth who are or are thought to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Schools need to take harassment and bullying seriously when parents or students tell them about it, and when they see it and hear it on the school campus," Walsh said.

AB 9 would ensure that every school in California implements updated anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies that include actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, and religion or association with one or more of these groups. It would also inform students and parents of their rights and how to address incidents of bullying.

“As a former teacher, I know how important it is for our students to feel safe at school. Each day throughout California, LGBT youth experience harassment. Seth’s Law will give schools the necessary tools to prevent any young person from being bullied, harassed or worse because of their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression,” said Assemblymember Ammiano.

"Public schools have tremendous power and responsibility to protect students from bullying and harassment," said James Gilliam, deputy executive director for the ACLU of Southern California. "Better school procedures and policies to prevent and address bullying will make a safer environment for students who are suffering."

Schools often do not have the tools or knowledge to adequately protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students and others from bullying, which remains a serious issue across California and the rest of the nation. Students, parents, and school employees often don’t know what the rules are or what to do if bullying occurs.

“Bullying can have serious and tragic consequences, particularly for students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender,” said Carolyn Laub, Executive Director of Gay-Straight Alliance Network. “We must take pro-active steps to ensure that California’s schools are safe for every student. Seth’s Law will provide critical support for student activists in Gay-Straight Alliance clubs across the state working to make their schools safer.”

“Every day thousands of children go to school fearing for their safety simply because of who they are,” said Jim Carroll, Interim Executive Director of Equality California. “California schools must do more to protect students against bullying and harassment. Seth’s law will provide schools with the knowledge and tools they need to effectively address bullying.” 

In a recent national survey, 9 out of 10 LGBT students reported being harassed at school. The problem persists in California as well, with LGBT students reporting significant harassment. The California Safe Schools Coalition reported in 2010 that 42% of California students who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual and 62% who identify as transgender reported being harassed at least once based on gender non-conformity.

“Children should never fear going to school, and yet that is the daily reality for thousands of California students who face relentless harassment and bullying,” said National Center for Lesbian Rights Executive Director Kate Kendell. “We must do everything we can to address the root causes of bullying and create inclusive and respectful school environments.”

“When schools have the resources to protect young people who are bullied or harassed, it greatly affects the psychological well-being of all students, including LGBT students,” said David McFarland, Interim Executive Director of The Trevor Project. “When passed, Seth’s Law will help encourage a safer and healthier school environment, benefitting all California youth.”

The consequences of bullying and harassment can include falling grades, depression, and risk of suicide. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth are four times more likely than their heterosexual peers to attempt suicide.

The following statement is attributed to Mark Rosenbaum and David Sapp of the ACLU of Southern California, Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe, Arnold & Porter LLP, Inner City Law Center, Gary Blasi, a UCLA Law Professor and Massey & Gail LLP

We have closely reviewed the VA’s latest press release and publication, as required by congressional mandate, of its final Master Plan for the West Los Angeles campus.  The release is virtually identical to a press release from the same office dated August 2007.  There is nothing new in the VA’s newly released plan.  And it remains merely a plan, with no firm commitments for any project.  Indeed, the only progress the VA made in four years is to change the stamp on the paper plan from “draft” to “final.”

The new release and finalized Master Plan, while constituting a frank acknowledgment of the core claims of our case that the VA is doing nothing to relieve homelessness of severely mentally disabled homeless veterans, makes no commitment to adding permanent supportive housing on the campus, despite the availability and underutilization of existing buildings that could be readily converted to permanent supportive housing for at least some of the 2500 chronically homeless vets in Los Angeles, the homeless veterans capital of our nation. 

To the contrary, the document contains an express commitment to no commitment to assist veterans.  At page 10, it reads:  “The Master Plan is a flexible plan to guide development and it is not an implementation plan.  It does not commit to any specific project, construction schedule, or funding priority.  Each development proposal must be approved individually by the GLAHS [Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System] Director, the Network Director, and national VA officials as required by VA regulation governing the specific project.”

Equally disturbing, the VA has also provided no answers about why this land given for vets is being leased to private corporations like Marriott and Tumbleweed buses.  In fact, the only commitment the Plan makes is to maintain all existing leases to private corporations and entities on the campus.  The press release and final Master Plan continue the cover-up of these land deals, withholding from public scrutiny the facts behind the negotiations of these deals and any information as to the monies procured and where that money has gone.  Additionally, this announcement pointedly leaves a number of unanswered questions about the current use of the land, including:

• Why is this land being leased to private entities?
• Where has the money from the current lease agreements with private commercial enterprises gone?
• Why isn’t the funding generated from these leases sufficient to fund the needed renovations of the three buildings on the campus available for permanent supportive housing?
• Why does the Master Plan not provide for accommodation of chronically homeless veterans or commit to a schedule for providing permanent supportive housing?

We, along with thousands of homeless veterans living on the streets of Los Angeles, are still waiting for the housing they need to get the other care to which they are entitled by reason of their service.  The announcement does not provide a timeline or firm commitments for when the buildings will be renovated, raising a critical question: Is the VA willing to commit to concrete plans that will result in shovels hitting dirt at a date certain?  The answer from the VA remains no.  Sadly, there appear to be individuals within the VA who clearly are more intent on covering the VA than providing shelter for our wounded vets.

New data in a study to be released next week on California’s death penalty has revealed that the price tag for death is even higher than we thought: $4 billion since 1978. Put another way, we spend $184 million more per year for death penalty inmates than we do on those sentenced to life without the chance of parole. All told, California is on track to spend $1 billion on the death penalty over the next five years. The new estimate is the result of a three-year comprehensive examination of state, federal, and local expenditures on California’s death penalty by Arthur Alarcón, a federal judge on the 9^th Circuit, and Paula Mitchell, a Loyola Law School professor. Mercury News called the study “highly credible” and that it made the case for replacing the death penalty “nearly indisputable.” Not that anyone was disputing the wasteful spending before – except for that guy who comments on all my blogs. By now, most folks get that the death penalty wastes hundreds of millions of our dwindling state dollars. Only now we know that it actually wastes billions. $4 billion and what did that get us? A grand total of 13 executions. That’s over $300 million per execution above the cost of life without parole.
Meanwhile, nearly half of all murders in California go unsolved. How many dangerous individuals could we have locked up permanently and taken off our streets over the last 33 years if we hadn’t executed those 13 people? How many children and families could have accessed the education and health services they needed, or how many students could have had the opportunity to attend college? Looking ahead, the study predicts another $9 billion will be spent by 2030. Unless of course Gov. Brown just cuts the death penalty spending already – and it really is that easy.
The Governor has the authority to convert all 714 of California’s death sentences to life without the possibility of parole, saving California $1 billion over five years without releasing a single prisoner. Grassroots organizations and thousands of individuals around the state have been asking the Governor to do just that since the day he took office, and these new figures are giving the idea more traction with those looking for budget fixes, like CNNMoney.
And here’s the kicker: California voters agree. Polls as recent as April 2011 show that Californians support cutting the death penalty [PDF]. A full 63% of likely voters favor the governor converting all existing death sentences to life without parole, with the requirement that prisoners work and pay restitution into the Victims’ Compensation Fund (death row inmates are not currently required to work). That support spans party and geographic lines – majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents all across the state agree. It’s hard not to when there are four billion reasons. The case is closed on the death penalty. There’s no question that California’s death penalty is dysfunctional and that the only thing it’s killing is our economy. The experts know it, the voters know it, and our elected leaders need to acknowledge it. Tell Jerry Brown to give up the charade of the death penalty and to give back the hundreds of millions of dollars law enforcement and education leaders need to actually keep our families safe.