Board of Directors Board President Lois Thompson Partner Proskauer Rose LLP Board Treasurer Chris Hollinger Partner O’Melveny & Myers LLP Board Secretary Cathy Kim Director, Corporate Development Arzon Solar, Inc. Members Tony Blain Principal Blain & Associates Samantha Caldwell Vice President, Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Secretary Health Net Inc. Christa M. Demeke Counsel Roll Law Group P.C. Truc Do Partner Jones Day LLP Mira El Sonbaty Senior Counsel, Privacy Fox Group Legal Theane Evangelis Partner Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP Mayra Fornos Founder Fornos Law Firm Victor George Principal Law Offices of Victor George Esra Hudson Partner Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP Shawn Khorrami Principal Khorrami Boucher LLP Edie Mermelstein, Esq. Law Offices of F. Edie Mermelstein Pamela Palmer Partner Pepper Hamilton LLP Laura Petroff Partner Winston & Strawn LLP Interim Executive Director Betsy Butler March 17, 2015 The Honorable Carol Liu State Capitol Sacramento, CA 95814 Re: SB 592 (Leyva) – Healthy Relationships and Safe Schools Act - Support Dear Senator Liu: On behalf of the California Women’s Law Center (CWLC), I am writing in support of SB 592 (Leyva), the Healthy Relationships and Safe Schools Act, which makes strides toward eliminating domestic violence in California by requiring schools to provide education on healthy relationships and adolescent relationship abuse and incorporate plans responding to incidents of abuse in their school safety plan. CWLC is the first law center in California solely dedicated to addressing the comprehensive and unique legal needs of women and girls. Since its founding in 1989, CWLC has worked to eliminate the barriers that keep women and girls in poverty and advance the potential of women and girls through transformative litigation, policy advocacy and education. Preventive education about healthy relationships and the dangers of adolescent relationship abuse is consistent with our desire to empower women and girls to be their own best advocates. Adolescent relationship abuse is a pervasive problem with far-reaching, negative impacts on youth, families, schools and communities. Close to 1 in 10 high school students report being intentionally hit, slapped or physically hurt by a boyfriend or girlfriend, and 1 in 4 adolescents report verbal, emotional, physical or sexual dating abuse each year. Teens who experience physical dating violence are more likely than their non-abused peers to smoke, use drugs, engage in unhealthy dieting and risky sexual behaviors, and attempt or consider suicide. Schools have an important role to play in students’ lives, and responding to adolescent relationship abuse should be one component of that role. CWLC applauds this measure to require schools to provide education about healthy relationships and dating violence. SB 592 is an important step in preventing adolescent relationship abuse and learning how to build healthy relationship skills. For these reasons, the California Women’s Law Center is pleased to support SB 592. Sincerely, Betsy Butler Interim Executive Director Cc: Senator Connie Leyva 360 North Sepulveda Boulevard, Suite 2070 | El Segundo, CA 90245 Phone: 323-951-1041 | Fax: 323-951-9870 Email: [email protected] | Web: cwlc.org