BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    






           SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE       BILL NO: ACR 20
          SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN               AUTHOR:  Berryhill
                                                         VERSION: 5/4/09
          Analysis by:  Jennifer Gress                   FISCAL:  yes
          Hearing date:  June 9, 2009






          SUBJECT:

          The Sergeant Howard K. Stevenson Memorial Interchange

          DESCRIPTION:

          This resolution designates the interchange between State Highway  
          Route (SR) 99 and Whitmore Avenue in the City of Ceres as the  
          "Sergeant Howard K. Stevenson Memorial Interchange."

          ANALYSIS:

           This resolution  :  

           Designates the interchange between SR 99 and Whitmore Avenue  
            in the City of Ceres as the "Sergeant Howard K. Stevenson  
            Memorial Interchange."

           Requests the California Department of Transportation  
            (Caltrans) to determine the cost of erecting appropriate  
            signs, consistent with the signing requirements for the state  
            highway system, and, upon receiving donations from nonstate  
            sources sufficient to cover that cost, to erect those signs.
          
          COMMENTS:

           1.Background  .  Sergeant Howard K. "Howie" Stevenson was born on  
            February 18, 1965, and on June 3, 1986, at 21 years of age,  
            became a peace officer with the Ceres Police Department.

            On January 9, 2005, while responding to a call for assistance  
            at a local liquor store, Sergeant Stevenson and fellow  
            officers were ambushed and met with a hail of gunfire from an  
            assault rifle.  He died almost instantly.





          ACR 20 (BERRYHILL)                                        Page 2

                                                                       


            Sergeant Stevenson was the first police officer in the 86-year  
            history of the City of Ceres to be killed in the line of duty.

            On the morning of January 18, 2005, when Sergeant Stevenson  
            was laid to rest, Chief Art de Werk eulogized Sergeant  
            Stevenson in glowing terms and concluded his remarks with "and  
            to you Howie:  secure your gun and hang up your duty belt.  
            You've made the difficult sacrifice as a hero, dying in the  
            service of your fellow man. You are cleared of your watch."

            Sergeant Stevenson is remembered affectionately by his fellow  
            officers as being a role model and mentor to younger officers,  
            and as being "a cops' cop."  Sergeant Stevenson is survived by  
            his wife Kathy, daughters Megan and Mikeala, and son Bryce.

            By designating this interchange as the "Sergeant Howard K.  
            Stevenson Memorial Interchange," this resolution seeks to  
            recognize and honor the sacrifices made by Sergeant Stevenson  
            in the line of duty.

           2.Technical amendments  .  The resolution was amended on April  
            15th to designate an interchange instead of a highway because  
            the highway segment identified in the resolution had already  
            been designated.   The amendments, however, did not delete all  
            of the reference to the highway segment.  For this reason, the  
            following technical amendments are needed:

                 Page 2, line 23 delete "between" and insert "at"
                 Page 2, line 24 delete "between"
                 Page 2, line 25 delete "exits 218 and 223, northbound  
               and southbound,"
          
          Assembly Votes:
               Floor:    78-0
               Appr: 16-0
               Trans:    10-0

          POSITIONS:  (Communicated to the Committee before noon on  
          Wednesday,  
                     June 3, 2009)

               SUPPORT:  None received.
          
               OPPOSED:  None received.