INSERT LETTERHEAD
SEND TO: Jillian Kissee Jillian.Kissee@sen.ca.gov
CC: Jessica.Golly@sen.ca.gov, Phillip.Vanderklay@sen.ca.gov, and Krista@cpedv.org
April 27, 2015
The Honorable Ricardo Lara
Chair, Senate Appropriations Committee
California State Senate
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Re: SB 592 (Leyva) - Healthy Relationships and Safe Schools Act - Support
Dear Senator Lara:
[AGENCY] expresses its strong support of SB 592, the Healthy Relationships and Safe Schools Act
(Leyva). SB 592 would require California school districts to update their school safety plans to include
guidance around how to prevent, recognize, and effectively respond to any occurrences of adolescent
relationship abuse among students.
Adolescent dating abuse is a pervasive problem with far-reaching, negative impacts on California youth,
families, schools, and communities. A major study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) found that nearly 1.5 million high school students nationwide experience physical abuse from a
dating partner in a single year. A substantial number of these incidents occur in school buildings and on
school grounds. One in 10 high school students report having experienced some sort of physical
violence from a boyfriend or girlfriend. Girls and young women between the ages of 16 and 24 experience
the highest rate of intimate partner violence; almost triple the national average. The severity of intimate
partner violence is often greater in cases where the pattern of abuse was established in adolescence.
Violent relationships in adolescence greatly increase the risk for victims to experience domestic violence
in adulthood.
Domestic violence has a huge economic impact on society as a whole and on individual female survivors
and their families. The cost of intimate partner violence exceeds $5.8 billion each year, $4.1 billion of
which is for direct medical and mental health services. Over the course of one year, it is estimated that
victims of intimate partner violence in America lost almost 8 million days of paid work because of the
violence perpetrated against them by current or former husbands, boyfriends, and dates. This loss is the
equivalent of more than 32,000 full-time jobs and almost 5.6 million days of household productivity as a
result of violence. While the precise dollar amount for this impact is currently unknown, research has
indicated the savings from other efforts to address intimate partner violence. The Violence Against
Women Act saved nearly $12.6 billion in net averted social costs in its first six years alone. Preventing,
detecting, and providing early response to intimate partner violence during adolescence, before the abuse
escalates, could substantially mitigate these costs.
This bill would ensure that school districts possess the infrastructure to prevent, detect, and respond to
adolescent relationship abuse among students. Through inclusion of community-informed protocols in
the extant comprehensive school safety plan, school districts can more effectively address the cycle of
domestic violence earlier, before it escalates in both frequency and severity, and in doing so ultimately
reduce the need for emergency crisis intervention and mental health services for adult domestic violence
survivors in the future. [AGENCY] strongly supports this legislation and respectfully requests your
support as well.
Sincerely,
[NAME/TITLE]