Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 106th Congress, First Session, Volume 145, Part 7 Page: 9,077
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May 11, 1999
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE
fact, one of the only things that most
Americans seem to agree on is that
this is an extremely complicated prob-
lem, and that there is not any one an-
swer. They are right.
The search for common ground and
common solutions began in earnest
yesterday with the summit meeting
the President convened at the White
House. At that meeting the President
opened a much-needed dialogue with
the entertainment and gun industries,
yielding some important commitments
from the gun makers, but little if any-
thing from the entertainment industry.
The President also laid out a promising
plan for translating this conversation
into action, calling for a national cam-
paign to change the pervading culture
of violence, to mobilize a sustained re-
sponse to this threat from every seg-
ment of our society, much as we have
done in the fight against teen preg-
nancy.
We are here today to introduce legis-
lation that we believe can make an im-
portant contribution to this national
campaign, something that will help us
better understand as we prepare to act.
Our proposal would create a select na-
tional commission on youth violence,
whose mandate would be to delib-
erately and dispassionately examine
the many possible root causes of this
crisis of youth violence, to help us un-
derstand why so many kids are turning
into killers, and to help us reach con-
sensus on how to curtail this recurring
nightmare.
This commission would be composed
of a wide array of experts in the fields
of law enforcement, school administra-
tion, teaching and counseling, par-
enting and family studies, and child
and adolescent psychology, as well as
Cabinet members and national reli-
gious leaders, to thoroughly study the
different dimensions of this problem.
After deliberating for a year, the com-
mission would be directed to report its
conclusions to the President and Con-
gress and recommend a series of tan-
gible steps we could take to reduce the
level of youth violence and prevent
other families and communities from
feeling the searing pain and grief that
has visited the people of Littleton for
the last three weeks.
Our proposal is not intended to fore-
stall or preempt a more immediate re-
sponse to what happened in Littleton.
To the contrary, we each believe there
are several steps that the Congress and
different groups and industries could
and should take now that would help us
reduce not just the risk of another
school massacre, but the daily death
toll of youth violence across America.
Several of us here, for example, have
and will continue to push the enter-
tainment industry to stop glorifying
and romanticizing violence, and in par-
ticular to stop marketing murder and
mayhem directly to kids.
But we also believe that this extraor-
dinary problem is not something thatwe can solve overnight, or with any
single piece of legislation. A commis-
sion is no guarantee that we will find
all the answers and bridge all the divi-
sions, but we believe it provides as
good a hope as any for thoughtfully
doing so, and for making this national
campaign a success.
In the coming days, we will offer this
proposal as an amendment to the juve-
nile justice bill. We will also be putting
forward a companion amendment call-
ing for a Surgeon General's report on
the public health aspects of the youth
violence epidemic, with a particular
focus on the contributing effects of en-
tertainment media violence on chil-
dren. This proposal, which the Presi-
dent endorsed at Monday's summit, is
intended to inform the commission's
work and hopefully raise public aware-
ness of the enormous role the enter-
tainment culture plays in shaping the
world our sons and daughters inhabit.
I ask unanimous consent that the
text of this bill be printed into the
RECORD.
There being no objection, the bill was
ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as
follows:
S. 1001
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Rep-
resentatives of the United States of America in
Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the "National
Youth Violence Commission Act".
SEC. 2. NATIONAL YOUTH VIOLENCE COMMIS-
SION.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION.-There
is established a commission to be known as
the National Youth Violence Commission
(hereinafter referred to in this Act as the
"Commission"). The Commission shall-
(1) be composed of 16membersappointed in
accordance with subsection (b); and
(2) conduct its business in accordance with
the provisions of this Act.
(b) MEMBERSHIP.-
(1) PERSONS ELIGIBLE.-Except for those
members who hold the offices described
under paragraph (2)(A), and those members
appointed under paragraph (2) (C)(ii) and
(D)(iv), the members of the Commission shall
be individuals who have expertise, by both
experience and training, in matters to be
studied by the Commission under section 3.
The members of the Commission shall be
well-known and respected among their peers
in their respective fields of expertise.
(2) APPOINTMENTS.-The members of the
Commission shall be appointed for the life of
the Commission as follows:
(A) Four shall be appointed by the Presi-
dent of the United States, including-
(i) the Surgeon General of the United
States;
(ii) the Attorney General of the United
States;
(iii) the Secretary of the Department of
Health and Human Services; and
(iv) the Secretary of the Department of
Education.
(B) Four shall be appointed by the Speaker
of the House of Representatives, including-
(i) 1 member who meets the criteria for eli-
gibility in paragraph (1) in the field of law
enforcement;
(ii) 1 member who meets the criteria for
eligibility in paragraph (1) in the field ofschool administration, teaching, or coun-
seling;
(iii) 1 member who meets the criteria for
eligibility in paragraph (1) in the field of par-
enting and family studies; and
(iv) 1 member who meets the criteria for
eligibility in paragraph (1) in the field of
child or adolescent psychology.
(C) Two shall be appointed by the Minority
Leader of the House of Representatives, in-
cluding-
(i) 1 member who meets the criteria for eli-
gibility in paragraph (1) in the field of law
enforcement; and
(ii) 1 member who is a recognized religious
leader.
(D) Four shall be appointed by the Major-
ity Leader of the Senate, including-
(i) 1 member who meets the criteria for eli-
gibility in paragraph (1) in the field of law
enforcement;
(ii) 1 member who meets the criteria for
eligibility in paragraph (1) in the field of
school administration, teaching, or coun-
seling;
(iii) 1 member who meets the criteria for
eligibility in paragraph (1) in the social
sciences; and
(iv) 1 member who is a recognized religious
leader.
(E) Two shall be appointed by the Minority
Leader of the Senate, including-
(i) 1 member who meets the criteria for eli-
gibility in paragraph (1) in the field of school
administration, teaching, or counseling; and
(ii) 1 member who meets the criteria for
eligibility in paragraph (1) in the field of par-
enting and family studies.
(3) COMPLETION OF APPOINTMENTS; VACAN-
IES.-Not later than 30 days after the date
of enactment of this Act, the appointing au-
thorities under paragraph (2) shall each
make their respective appointments. Any va-
cancy that occurs during the life of the Com-
mission shall not affect the powers of the
Commission, and shall be filled in the same
manner as the original appointment not
later than 30 days after the vacancy occurs.
(4) OPERATION OF THE COMMISSION.-
(A) CHAIRMANSHIP.-The appointing au-
thorities under paragraph (2) shall jointly
designate 1 member as the Chairman of the
Commission. In the event of a disagreement
among the appointing authorities, the Chair-
man shall be determined by a majority vote
of the appointing authorities. The deter-
mination of which member shall be Chair-
man shall be made not later than 15 days
after the appointment of the last member of
the Commission, but in no case later than 45
days after the date of enactment of this Act.
(B) MEETINGS.-The Commission shall
meet at the call of the Chairman. The initial
meeting of the Commission shall be con-
ducted not later than 30 days after the later
of-
(i) the date of the appointment of the last
member of the Commission; or
(ii) the date on which appropriated funds
are available for the Commission.
(C) QUORUM; VOTING; RULES.-A majority of
the members of the Commission shall con-
stitute a quorum to conduct business, but
the Commission may establish a lesser
quorum for conducting hearings scheduled
by the Commission. Each member of the
Commission shall have 1 vote, and the vote
of each member shall be accorded the same
weight. The Commission may establish by
majority vote any other rules for the con-
duct of the Commission's business, if such
rules are not inconsistent with this Act or
other applicable law.9077
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United States. Congress. Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 106th Congress, First Session, Volume 145, Part 7, book, May 1999; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30923/m1/66/: accessed May 13, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.