BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SCR 52
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( Without Reference to File )
SENATE THIRD READING
SCR 52 (Vargas)
As Amended August 25, 2011
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :39-0
TRANSPORTATION 11-0 APPROPRIATIONS 16-1
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|Ayes:|Bonnie Lowenthal, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Jeffries, Achadjian, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| |Blumenfield, Bonilla, | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| |Buchanan, Eng, Furutani, | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, |
| |Galgiani, Miller, | |Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| |Portantino | |Mitchell, Nielsen, |
| | | |Solorio, Wagner |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Norby |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Designates specified route segments and interchanges
in honor of Department of Transportation (Caltrans) maintenance
staff. Specifically, this bill :
1)Recounts the lives and careers of Jaime Obeso, Gary Wayne
Smith, and Richard Gonzalez, Caltrans staff members who lost
their lives while courageously serving the state's motoring
public.
2)Designates the one-fourth mile before the Sunbeam Rest Area
and the one-fourth mile after the Sunbeam Rest Area six miles
west of El Centro on State Route (SR) 8 as the Caltrans
Highway Maintenance Leadworker Jaime Obeso Memorial Highway.
3)Designates the segment of SR 99 from one mile north of its
intersection with Wilson Landing Road to Broyles Road, north
of the City of Chico, as the Caltrans Leadworker Gary Wayne
Smith Memorial Highway.
4)Designates the interchange between SR 5 and SR 905 in the
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County of San Diego as the Caltrans Equipment Operator II
Richard Gonzalez Memorial Interchange.
5)Requests Caltrans to determine the cost of each of the
appropriate signs, consistent with the signing requirements
for the state highway system, showing these special
designations and, upon receiving donations from nonstate
sources covering the cost of a sign designation, to erect
those signs.
EXISTING LAW assigns Caltrans the responsibility of operating
and maintaining state highways. This includes the installation
and maintenance of highway signs.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Jaime Obeso was born in El Centro and grew up in
Imperial, where he excelled in football and track during high
school, holding records in the pole vault and 4x100 relay. He
was known as a hard working employee and received many awards
during his service with Caltrans. His last promotion was as a
Leadworker with the El Centro Travelway Crew. On June 7, 2011,
an errant motorist struck and killed Mr. Obeso while he was
working on a stretch of SR 8 near the Sunbeam Rest Area.
Gary Wayne Smith was known as a kind-natured individual who was
never without a smile and who helped many coworkers on the job.
He began working for Caltrans in 1978 and spent the majority of
his career at the Chico Maintenance Station, taking great pride
in his work. On November 14, 2010, a driver struck and killed
Mr. Smith while he was performing traffic control at the scene
of a fatal accident on SR 99 north of Chico.
Richard Gonzalez was an exemplary employee whose passion outside
of work was the restoration of classic cars and serving as a
mentor and role model to his family and friends. He began
working for Caltrans in July of 2008 and was assigned to the
Special Programs Crew based in Chula Vista near his home in San
Ysidro. On June 20, 2011, the crew was picking up trash near
the I-15/SR 94 interchange when a driver struck and killed Mr.
Gonzalez.
Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
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FN: 0002855