HCR 3-SEXUAL ASSAULT AWARENESS MONTH  CHAIR MCGUIRE announced the consideration of HCR 3. SUZANNE CUNNINGHAM, Staff to Representative Kevin Meyer, sponsor of HCR 3, said this resolution proclaims April 2007 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month. 9:58:34 AM MS. CUNNINGHAM said sexual assault is a difficult topic but given the status of this crime in Alaska, it deserves to be at the forefront. The resolution recognizes the need for greater awareness, prevention and education. By observing the month, schools, state agencies, and individuals are encouraged to seek out or sponsor activities to increase public awareness. The sexual assault statistics provide a sobering reality. It is one of the most violent and underreported crimes in Alaska. Alaska's forcible rape rate is 2.5 times higher than the national average, and child sexual assault is six times higher. A 2006 opinion poll found that 75 percent of those polled have experienced or know someone who has experienced domestic violence or sexual assault. Over the past years the legislature has made laws tougher. There is a need to work with service providers and agencies to increase awareness and services for victims. She said HCR 3 seeks to support sexual assault survivors and their loved ones and advocate for increased public safety and victim rights. 10:00:25 AM SENATOR BUNDE said the legislature worked on revisions to sexual assault laws last year, and a reporter called him and said the judicial council reported that the recidivism rate for sexual assault is way down. The unspoken question was why get so tough on sex crimes because of that. He said he rejected such logic because the crime is so underreported. He asked for comments. MS. CUNNINGHAM said Representative Meyer has served on the board of Standing Together against Rape and has worked on this issue since becoming elected. She thinks he would say that one crime is enough. Interpersonal violence is devastating, she stated. 10:02:17 AM CHRIS ASHENBRENNER, Interim Program Administrator, Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, said she hasn't read the aforementioned report but quoted Representative Fairclough's response. "Sex offenders get smarter after they're caught." She noted that the report only looked back four years. She recalled a conversation with a woman who was assaulted by her uncle. Reporting the crime disrupted her family, her aunt could no longer support herself because the man was sent to jail, and the whole village was mad at her. When the man returned and started offending her again, she never told. The resolution is the key to getting the statistics lowered. "We have to get out into those schools; we have to talk to the children; we have to talk to the communities to get to the point where when that child in that community tells that her uncle is raping her, there isn't a person in that community that doesn't censor that behavior." She said this resolution is part of the whole puzzle. SENATOR STEVENS moved HCR 3 from committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note(s). Hearing no objection, it was so ordered.