Good morning. I am Marylia Kelley, the Executive Director for Tri-Valley CAREs. We are a Livermore, CA-based nonprofit organization with 5,700 members. Tri-Valley CAREs has monitored nuclear weapons activities at California’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for 35 years. We are unique in that our membership includes scientists and engineers from the Lab, which is one of two locations where all U.S. nuclear weapons are designed.
Tri-Valley CAREs is a partner in key coalitions including the International Coalition for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 for its efforts to achieve the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
I had the honor of participating at the United Nation in negotiations for the TPNW last summer. The Treaty makes clear that nuclear weapons pose horrific humanitarian and environmental consequences that are legally and morally unacceptable under all circumstances.
The Treaty was overwhelmingly adopted by 122 states parties last year, putting the vast majority of the countries of the world on record – speaking in a single voice – that nuclear weapons are no longer acceptable.
This is how societal patterns are changed – and how national behaviors are changed over time.
By voting to pass AJR 33, this committee becomes an integral part of the global shift to public safety based on a nuclear weapons free world for our children and all who come after us.
It is right, timely and thrilling to me as a Californian that my state is poised to take a principled position to help ensure that nuclear weapons are never again used, that the international TPNW is supported, and that the elimination of nuclear weapons occurs at the earliest possible date.
Thank you, Assembly member Limon for introducing AJR 33, and thank you members of the Committee on Public Safety for considering this Resolution – and for inviting me to speak this morning before your most important vote.