BILL NUMBER: SCR 139 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 9, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Senator Gaines
(Coauthors: Senators Fuller, Nielsen, and Pan)
MAY 5, 2016
Relative to the Merle Haggard Memorial Highway.
Overpass.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCR 139, as amended, Gaines. Merle Haggard Memorial
Highway. Overpass.
This measure would designate a specified portion
the overpass at the interchange of Interstate 5
from Kern County to Shasta County and State
Highway Route 44 as the Merle Haggard Memorial
Highway. Overpass. 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, Merle Ronald Haggard was born to James and Flossie
Haggard on April 6, 1937, in Oildale, just north of Bakersfield,
California. Merle's father was a railroad worker, and Merle grew up
during the Great Depression. He lived with his family in a boxcar
that they had converted into a home. As a child, Merle suffered from
a respiratory condition that frequently kept him out of school and
confined to bed rest; and
WHEREAS, James Haggard died from a brain tumor when Merle was nine
years of age. After his father's death, Merle became rebellious. In
an attempt to straighten her son out, his mother put him in several
juvenile detention centers, but it had little effect on Merle's
behavior; and
WHEREAS, As a teenager, Merle fell in love with country music,
particularly Bob Wills, Lefty Frizzell, and Hank Williams. When he
was 12 years of age, Merle was given his first guitar by his older
brother. He then taught himself how to play by listening to records.
Continuing to rebel, he went to Texas with his friend Bob Teague and,
after returning to California, he moved to Modesto, where he made
his performing debut with Teague at a bar named the Fun Center. The
two were paid five dollars and given all the beer that they could
drink; and
WHEREAS, In 1958, at 20 years of age, Merle was sent
sentenced to San Quentin State Prison
after being convicted of for burglary and
an attempted escape from county jail. While serving a
two-and-one-half-year term, he played in the prison's country band
and took high school equivalency courses. He also was a
member of the audience when In 1959, he was a member
of the audience that witnessed Johnny Cash made his
legendary 1959 performance at the prison. Cash's first
performance at San Quentin. Merle Haggard would later be
officially pardoned in 1972 by then-Governor Ronald Reagan; and
WHEREAS, In 1962 Merle Haggard signed with a small label called
Tally Records for whom he recorded five songs, including his debut
single, "Sing a Sad Song," which rose to No. 19 on the country music
charts. In 1965 he formed his own band, The Strangers, before signing
with Capitol Records, and later that year the band released their
debut self-titled album. Their followup album, "Swinging Doors,"
reached No. 1 on the country music charts the following year, and in
1967 their single "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive" did the same. Later that
year, Merle Haggard continued his runaway success with "Branded Man,"
his first self-penned No. 1 song; and
WHEREAS, During the remainder of the 1960s, Merle Haggard produced
a string of No. 1 singles, culminating with what would become his
signature song and his most controversial recording, "Okie from
Muskogee." Released in 1969, the song became an anthem for middle
Americans whose patriotism and traditional values were under attack
from Vietnam War protesters and hippies. "Okie from Muskogee" crossed
over to the pop charts and in 1970 earned Merle Haggard the Country
Music Association's awards for Single, Entertainer, and Top Male
Vocalist of the Year. The album of the same name also won Album of
the Year; and
WHEREAS, Merle Haggard released nearly 70 albums and 600 songs,
250 of which he wrote himself. Among his most memorable albums were
"The Fightin' Side of Me" (1970), "Someday We'll Look Back" (1971),
"If We Make It Through December" (1974), and "A Working Man Can't Get
Nowhere Today" (1977). In 1982 he recorded a duet album with George
Jones called "A Taste of Yesterday's Wine," which yielded the chart
toppers "Yesterday's Wine" and "C.C. Waterback." The following year,
he collaborated with Willie Nelson to record the widely praised
compilation "Pancho & Lefty." In addition to an impressive title
track, "Pancho & Lefty" featured the touching ballads "It's My Lazy
Day," "Half a Man," "Reasons to Quit," and "All the Soft Places to
Fall"; and
WHEREAS, Merle Haggard was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame
in 1977. In 1994 his wealth of artistic achievements, including 38
No. 1 hits, earned him induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Though his musical output waned over the years, he continued to find
success with albums such as "If I Could Fly" (2000), "Haggard Like
Never Before" (2003), and his 2015 reunion album with Willie Nelson,
"Djano & Jimmie," which placed him atop the country music charts one
more time; and
WHEREAS, In 2008 Merle Haggard was diagnosed with lung cancer and
underwent surgery to remove a tumor. Reflecting on the situation, he
referred to it as "the greatest test of my fortitude"; and
WHEREAS, Merle Haggard was married five times.
At the time of his death, he Merle Haggard
was married to Theresa Lane, whom he married in 1993. He had
three children from his marriage to Leona Hobbs and two children with
Lane; and
WHEREAS, Merle Haggard died at home on his northern California
ranch in Palo Cedro in Shasta County on April 6, 2016, his 79th
birthday. He had been suffering from double pneumonia and had to
cancel a string of scheduled concerts with Willie Nelson. The 11 days
he spent trying to recover from his illness had become so difficult
that he reportedly told his friends and family that he would die on
his birthday; 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 overpass on Interstate 5 at the
interchange of Interstate 5 from the junction at State
Route 46 in Kern County to the junction at and
State Highway Route 44 in Shasta County
in the City of Redding as the Merle Haggard Memorial
Highway; Overpass; and be it further
Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested to
determine the cost of appropriate signs to be placed on
Interstate 5, north and south, 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 Director of Transportation and to the author for
appropriate distribution.