BILL NUMBER: SCR 53	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Gaines

                        JUNE 19, 2013

   Relative to the Shawn Baker and Joseph "Robert" Jones Memorial
Highways.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SCR 53, as introduced, Gaines. Shawn Baker and Joseph "Robert"
Jones Memorial Highways.
   This measure would designate 2 specified portions of State Highway
Route 96 in Siskiyou County as the Shawn Baker and Joseph "Robert"
Jones Memorial Highways, respectively. The measure would also request
the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of
appropriate signs showing these special designations and, upon
receiving donations from nonstate sources covering the cost, to erect
those signs.
   Fiscal committee: yes.



   WHEREAS, Shawn Baker was born on April 4, 1963, and grew up in New
Mexico and Alaska; and
   WHEREAS, Mr. Baker served his country in the United States Navy
for five years; and
   WHEREAS, In 1999, Mr. Baker and his family moved to Siskiyou
County and eventually settled in Weed, California; and
   WHEREAS, Mr. Baker enjoyed camping, fishing, traveling, riding his
quad bike, climbing, playing water sports, working with wood, and
renovating his home, and could always be found in the middle of a
project; and
   WHEREAS, On January 1, 2004, Mr. Baker began his career with the
Department of Transportation as a permanent-intermittent equipment
operator in Yreka, California, and then transferred to the Yreka
special projects crew in April 2004; and
   WHEREAS, Mr. Baker was hired as a permanent full-time equipment
operator in November 2004, and then in December 2004, transferred to
the Grass Lake maintenance crew; and
   WHEREAS, Joseph "Robert" Jones was born on April 15, 1973, in
Yreka, California, to Marty Mangrum and Jim Jones; and
   WHEREAS, Mr. Jones attended schools in Yreka and Montague up until
his junior year in high school, when he transferred to South Fork
High School in Humboldt County, from which he graduated in 1991; and
   WHEREAS, The Department of Transportation hired Mr. Jones in
November 2005 as a temporary employee for the Mount Shasta
maintenance crew; and
   WHEREAS, Mr. Jones became a permanent-intermittent equipment
operator for the Mount Shasta crew in November 2006, and then
transferred to the Yreka crew in December 2006; and
   WHEREAS, In June 2008, Mr. Jones was hired as a permanent
full-time equipment operator for the Grass Lake special projects
crew, then transferred to the Yreka crew in December 2010; and
   WHEREAS, In his spare time, Mr. Jones deeply enjoyed his time as a
volunteer firefighter at the Mayten Fire Department; and
   WHEREAS, On April 24, 2013, a group of eight Caltrans District 2
employees was performing rock scaling operations to remove loose
material from a rocky hillside on State Route 96 near Happy Camp in
Siskiyou County when a rock slide occurred, tragically killing Mr.
Baker and Mr. Jones, and injuring a third employee; and
   WHEREAS, Mr. Baker is survived by his wife of 26 years, Tammie,
his daughters, Hilary and Mariah, and his sons, Weston and Quinton;
and
   WHEREAS, Mr. Jones is survived by his wife, of 16 years Shannon,
his stepson, Stephen, his son, Parker, and his daughter, Michael-La;
and
   WHEREAS, Both men gave their lives working selflessly to protect
motorists on the highway from future rock slides propelling rocks
onto the highway; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the
portions of State Highway 96 from PM 35.7 to PM 39.5, inclusive, and
PM 41.5 to PM 43.5, inclusive, as the Shawn Baker and Joseph "Robert"
Jones Memorial Highways, respectively, to honor these two selfless
employees of the Department of Transportation; 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.