SCR 2-SEXUAL ASSAULT AWARENESS MONTH:APRIL 2017  3:54:37 PM CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ announced that the final order of business would be SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 2, Proclaiming April 2017 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month. 3:54:58 PM CHRISTINE MARASIGAN, Staff, Senator Kevin Meyer, Alaska State Legislature, offered some background on the proposed resolution. She stated that the proposed resolution would proclaim April 2017 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, part of a national campaign designed to raise public awareness about sexual assault and educate communities and individuals on how to prevent sexual violence. She shared that this had first been brought forward in 2001 by then Representative Meyer. When asked why this was not placed permanently in statute, the sponsor explained that by bringing it forward each year, attention was renewed for the issue of sexual violence. She declared that national sexual assault statistics were staggering, as one in five women and one in seventy one men had been victims of violent sexual assault, with even higher rates in Alaska. She reported that in 2015, a victimization survey stated that 33 percent of women in Alaska had experienced sexual violence. She stated that sexual violence was preventable, and that it was a social, public health, criminal justice, and human rights issue. She declared that it was necessary to continue to educate the public. She stated that this year, the campaign would focus on engaging new voices to broaden the scope of prevention efforts. 3:57:13 PM REPRESENTATIVE SULLIVAN-LEONARD asked if there had been any success for bringing down the statistics. MS. MARASIGAN replied that the most recent report did show that the statistics for sexual assault with alcohol were coming down, and she offered to supply those statistics. 3:58:20 PM REPRESENTATIVE TARR offered her belief that this was "one of the most important issues that we have to take on, community violence." She directed attention to page 2, line 16, and noted that these programs had all been cut in the budget during the last year. She declared that these were prevention programs which had tremendous positive impact. She pointed to page 2, lines 22 - 25, and stated that the Fourth R program had been funded through a grant, and had not been made available to every district. She stated that these grant funds had not been renewed. She declared that it was a challenge when funding was cut. She expressed her support for the proposed resolution. REPRESENTATIVE SULLIVAN-LEONARD asked if the funding had been returned for this year. REPRESENTATIVE TARR offered her belief that there was not any new funding for those grant programs. 4:01:20 PM ALIZA KAZMI, Policy Specialist, Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, paraphrased from a prepared statement, which read: On behalf of our 19 member agencies, I offer our full support of Senate Concurrent Resolution 2. With missions to end violence, our members work with sexual assault victims and survivors every day - through collaborating with law enforcement and medical professionals to establish immediate safety: through legal advocacy and connecting victims with other social services: and through prevention programming working with tribal partners, children and parents, and many other community stakeholders. Sexual assault is a heinous crime that is dehumanizing and traumatizing. 33 out of 100 women in Alaska have experienced sexual assault in their lifetime, according to the most robust state-specific data that we have at this point. The crime of sexual assault also disproportionately impacts particularly vulnerable populations such as Alaska Native women. Because of the nature of the trauma, and how our advocates are compelled to safeguard victim safety and confidentiality, the importance of intentionally building awareness about sexual assault in Alaska cannot be overstated. Alaskans need to understand the issue, acknowledge its urgency, and be empowered to take action so that we can work together to end sexual assault, and cease to beknown as the rape capital of the United States. Building awareness of what sexual assault is, requires immense resources in and of itself. This is because sexual assault is a complex manifestation of power and control. It is not about sexual gratification. This abusive exertion of power and control can include force, threats (to life), trickery (through drugs or lies), manipulation (through guilt and pressure), and/or coercion (through bribes or blackmail). We urge you to join the Governor in proclaiming April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and pass this resolution to support victims, survivors, and the sexual assault service provision and prevention work, that agencies like our members do every day. 4:03:48 PM CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ announced that SCR 2 would be held over.