BILL NUMBER: SCR 24	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Wolk
   (Coauthors: Senators Anderson, Hall, Hueso, Mitchell, Nielsen, and
Roth)
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Alejo, Brown, Burke, Chávez, Cooper,
Dodd, Frazier, Gipson, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Mathis, McCarty,
Ridley-Thomas, Thurmond, and Weber)

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2015

   Relative to the Lieutenant Colonel James C. Warren Memorial
Interchange.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SCR 24, as introduced, Wolk. Lieutenant Colonel James C. Warren
Memorial Interchange.
   This measure would designate the interchange of Interstate Routes
80 and 505 in the County of Solano as the Lieutenant Colonel James C.
Warren Memorial Interchange. The measure would request the
Department of Transportation to determine the cost for appropriate
signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations
from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.
   Fiscal committee: yes.



   WHEREAS, Born on August 16, 1923, into the racially segregated
community of Gurly, Alabama, James C. Warren left the region at the
age of 15 years, when his mother sent him to Island Park, Illinois,
where he attended high school; and
   WHEREAS, Enlisting in 1943 to preflight with the Tuskegee Airmen,
the all black United States Army Air Force unit that distinguished
itself in combat during World War II, Lieutenant Colonel Warren was
assigned to Indiana's Freeman Field, where, after being eliminated
from pilot training, he completed navigator training, through which
he qualified as both a navigator and a bombardier; and
   WHEREAS, Lieutenant Colonel Warren was one of the 101 black
officers at Freeman Field in 1945 who were arrested and charged with
mutiny because they refused to comply with base regulations excluding
black officers from a base officers' club; and
   WHEREAS, The service records of Lieutenant Colonel Warren and the
other 100 officers were cleared by the Air Force in 1995, an action
that was announced that year during a convention of the Tuskegee
Airmen; and
   WHEREAS, After serving with the 477th Bombardment Group of the
Tuskegee Airmen, Lieutenant Colonel Warren spent 35 years with the
United States Air Force, for which he flew 173 combat missions in
Korea and Vietnam, earning such esteemed commendations and
decorations as the Congressional Gold Medal, Distinguished Flying
Cross with two Oak Leaf Clusters, and Air Force Commendation Medal,
among numerous others; and
   WHEREAS, A University of Nebraska graduate who ultimately became
the oldest individual to earn a pilot's license at the age of 87
years, Lieutenant Colonel Warren distinguished himself through his
community leadership and participation in the Nut Tree Airport's
Young Eagles Program, as well as his membership with the Jimmy
Doolittle Air and Space Museum Foundation, the Kappa Alpha Psi
Fraternity, and Tuskegee Airmen Incorporated; and
   WHEREAS, In recognition of Lieutenant Colonel Warren's great
accomplishments in support of the cause of freedom for all people,
and especially in light of his contributions to his fellow citizens
of California, it would be fitting to designate the interchange of
Interstate Routes 80 and 505 in the County of Solano in his honor;
now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the
interchange of Interstate Routes 80 and 505 in the County of Solano
as the Lieutenant Colonel James C. Warren Memorial Interchange; and
be it further
   Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested to
determine the costs of erecting the appropriate signs, consistent
with the signing requirements for the state highway system, showing
this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate
sources covering the cost, to erect those signs; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the Director of Transportation and to the author for
appropriate distribution.