Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 4

Introduced by Senator Rubio

(Coauthor: Senator Fuller)

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Grove and Salas)

December 6, 2012

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 4—Relative to the Vernon P. Valenzuela Memorial Highway.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SCR 4, as introduced, Rubio. Vernon P. Valenzuela Memorial Highway.

This measure would designate a specified portion of State Highway Route 204 in the City of Bakersfield as the Vernon P. Valenzuela Memorial Highway. The measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.

Fiscal committee: yes.

WHEREAS, Vernon P. Valenzuela was born January 15, 1949,
to the late Louis and Nellie Valenzuela. He was raised in
Bakersfield, California, the youngest of five siblings; and

WHEREAS, In 1966 Mr. Valenzuela quit high school to join
the U.S. Army and volunteered to serve in Vietnam; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Valenzuela served in Vietnam from October
1967 to May 1968, when he was wounded in battle. After his
honorable discharge in 1969, he returned to Bakersfield and
obtained his high school diploma by attending night school; and

WHEREAS, The following September, Mr. Valenzuela became
the first member of his family to attend college; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Valenzuela discovered the large Associated
Veterans Students Club at Bakersfield College, and his association
with the organization began his life as a leader and veterans
advocate; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Valenzuela became an active student and held
positions as President of both the Associated Veterans Students
Club and the Bakersfield College Student Body; and

WHEREAS, After graduating with an associate of arts degree
in 1973, Mr. Valenzuela continued his education at California
State University, Bakersfield (CSUB), where he was a charter
member of the first student council and began working in the
Veterans Cost of Instruction Program (VCIP); and

WHEREAS, While still attending CSUB, Mr. Valenzuela was
hired to be Assistant Director of the Bakersfield College VCIP;
and

WHEREAS, Mr. Valenzuela obtained his bachelor’s degree in
June 1975 and began counseling students at Bakersfield College,
many of whom were veterans. He touched so many people’s lives
during his college years that for the rest of his life he would run
into people he knew while at college, who remembered him, who
were helped by him, or whose children thanked him; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Valenzuela received his masters degree in
counseling in 1977 and earned his license in marriage and family
therapy in 1979, specializing in treating post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD); and

WHEREAS, Mr. Valenzuela began his private practice shortly
after his marriage in 1981, focusing on veterans with PTSD. He
worked as a contract counselor with the Sepulveda Vet Center
from 1981 to 1989, inclusive; and

WHEREAS, During the 1990s, Mr. Valenzuela traveled to the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. and joined the
Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA). He became the President
of the charter chapter of Bakersfield VVA and gradually worked
through local, state, and national levels of the organization; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Valenzuela served as VVA’s California
president in 1993, and went on to serve on national committees
for PTSD, substance abuse, and the Veterans Initiative, which
involved several trips to Vietnam to recover MIA remains; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Valenzuela presented PTSD seminars
throughout the nation, and was called on to work with Oklahoma
City Bomb survivors and United Auto Workers members in the
New York Area after 9/11; and

WHEREAS, During his involvement with VVA, Mr. Valenzuela
became a leading advocate for the Vet Center program, meeting
quarterly in Washington with Readjustment Counseling Services
Director Dr. Al Batres to discuss issues related to the Vet Center
program; and

WHEREAS, In 1997, Mr. Valenzuela made a conscious decision
to bring his efforts to a more local level and was welcomed into
the Kern County Network for Children. His efforts over the last
decade included advocating for children and bridging the gap of
community services for veterans. Throughout the late 1990s, he
collaborated with the network to raise funds for graduating seniors
and families in need during the holiday season within Kern County;
and

WHEREAS, In April 2008, Mr. Valenzuela was recruited to be
the first Team Leader for the new Bakersfield Vet Center, helping
to establish a much needed counseling resource for combat veterans
throughout Kern County; and

WHEREAS, As Team Leader of Bakersfield Vet Center, Mr.
Valenzuela’s goal was to meet all needs of the veterans, and make
the vet center a safe haven, a place where veterans could come for
any help or need. He wanted the vet center in Bakersfield to be a
model for all other vet centers, knowing that the people of
Bakersfield are truly unique in their giving capacity and
collaborative efforts; and

WHEREAS, In addition to providing counseling and overseeing
the operation of the vet center, Mr. Valenzuela was instrumental
in beginning the Veterans Justice Program in Kern County and,
along with other veterans and community resources, created and
chaired the newly formed Kern County Veterans Collaborative.
Mr. Valenzuela’s goal was not just to provide counseling services,
but also to provide any service or answer any question a veteran
may have; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Valenzuela passed away at 63 years of age on
Monday, March 26, 2012, overlooking the ocean and surrounded
by his family; and

WHEREAS, Vernon P. Valenzuela is survived by his wife of
30 years, Lise, and their three grown children, Robert, Alison, and
Katie, all of whom are very proud to have been his family; now,
therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the
portion of State Highway Route 204 between F Street and Q Street
in the City of Bakersfield as the Vernon P. Valenzuela Memorial
Highway; and be it further

Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested
to determine the cost of appropriate signs consistent with the
signing requirements for the state highway system showing this
special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate
sources sufficient to cover the cost, to erect those signs; and be it
further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of
this resolution to the Department of Transportation and to the
author for appropriate distribution.