LRB-5322/1
CMH:klm
2017 - 2018 LEGISLATURE
February 8, 2018 - Introduced by Senators Vinehout, Risser, Wirch and Ringhand,
cosponsored by Representatives Berceau, Shankland, Sinicki, Zepnick,
Vruwink, Hebl, Spreitzer, Subeck, Sargent, Kolste and Crowley. Referred
to Committee on Senate Organization.
SJR104,1,1 1Relating to: recognizing January 30, 2018, as “CTE Awareness Day" in Wisconsin.
SJR104,1,42 Whereas, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive,
3degenerative brain disease that appears in persons with a history of repetitive brain
4trauma sustained over a period of years; and
SJR104,1,85 Whereas, CTE was first described in 1928 by Dr. Harrison Martland in a study
6published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that linked brain
7injury and boxing (Martland, Harrison S. (1928) “Punch Drunk." JAMA 91(15):
81103-1107); and
SJR104,1,149 Whereas, it was not until 2002 that Dr. Bennet Omalu discovered the first
10pathological evidence of CTE in a professional football player and, together with his
11colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh, published the details of his
12groundbreaking findings in 2005 (Omalu, B., DeKosky S., Minster, R., Kamboh, M.,
13Hamilton, R., & Wecht, C. (2005) “Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in a National
14Football League player.” Neurosurgery, 57(1), 128-134); and
SJR104,2,2
1Whereas, CTE is caused by a buildup of an abnormal protein called Tau in the
2brain, which leads to brain cell death; and
SJR104,2,73 Whereas, the risk of developing CTE is greatest with athletes, who frequently
4endure repeated subconcussive blows to the head from playing contact sports,
5military veterans, who can suffer traumatic injury from military training or blasting,
6and domestic violence survivors who sustain hits by partners or caretakers, and it
7also appears in those with epilepsy; and
SJR104,2,128 Whereas, while symptoms associated with CTE, such as sleep disturbances,
9memory loss, tremors, addictions, progressive dementia, depression, suicidal
10thoughts, impaired judgment, and paranoia, most often present years or decades
11after the brain trauma or hits cease, they have been found in a patient as young as
1217 years old; and
SJR104,2,1413 Whereas, currently, CTE can be definitively diagnosed only after death through
14postmortem neuropathological analysis; and
SJR104,2,1915 Whereas, advocacy organizations, health care providers, and institutional
16researchers are dedicated to studying the cause and symptoms of CTE in order to
17enable parents and families to make informed decisions regarding the best interests
18of their children in youth sports and to develop an earlier diagnostic tool so that
19patients may address these symptoms as early as possible; and
SJR104,2,2220 Whereas, one such advocacy organization is Faces of CTE, co-founded by the
21Wisconsin family of Joseph Chernach, a youth and high school football athlete
22diagnosed with CTE; and
SJR104,2,2523 Whereas, the mission of Faces of CTE is to put a face on the mind-robbing
24disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy and educate the public that CTE does
25not only impact professional athletes, but children and non-athletes as well; and
SJR104,3,4
1Whereas, Faces of CTE founded CTE Awareness Day on January 30, 2017, and
2now, along with other organizations, celebrates CTE Awareness Day across the
3United States in order to reflect on those lost to CTE, how to help those suffering with
4the disease, and, most importantly, how to stop the disease; now, therefore, be it
SJR104,3,7 5Resolved by the senate, the assembly concurring, That the Wisconsin
6State Legislature recognizes January 30, 2018, as “CTE Awareness Day" in
7Wisconsin.
SJR104,3,88 (End)
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