BILL NUMBER: SCR 156	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER  140
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  AUGUST 24, 2016
	ADOPTED IN SENATE  JUNE 30, 2016
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 18, 2016

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Berryhill
   (Principal coauthor: Senator Nielsen)
   (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Cooley)
   (Coauthors: Senators Anderson, Bates, Gaines, Hall, Hertzberg,
Leno, Monning, Nguyen, and Pavley)
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Gordon, Hadley, Kim, Mathis, and
Olsen)

                        JUNE 20, 2016

   Relative to the California Conservation Corps.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SCR 156, Berryhill. California Conservation Corps: 40th
Anniversary.
   This measure would recognize the contributions of the California
Conservation Corps on the 40th anniversary of its creation.



   WHEREAS, The California Conservation Corps (CCC) was created
through legislation signed by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. on July 7,
1976, and has grown over 40 years from small beginnings to the
oldest and largest state conservation corps program in the nation;
and
   WHEREAS, In the six years after its inception, the CCC opened 21
centers, coined the motto "hard work, low pay, and miserable
conditions," and garnered national and international attention for
its work; and
   WHEREAS, With the elimination of its "sunset clause" in 1983, the
CCC became a permanent state department and then consolidated various
centers, added several dozen nonresidential satellite facilities,
and created the California Conservation Corps Foundation; and
   WHEREAS, In 1992 the focus of the corps' director was to make the
CCC "bigger and better" through an entrepreneurial approach and to
promote corpsmember development through education, emergency
response, and conservation work; and
   WHEREAS, Throughout its history, the CCC has established more than
two dozen centers and sites throughout the state, in urban, rural,
and suburban locations, has hired approximately 3,000 people each
year from all over the state to reflect the diversity of California,
and is now the only state program with year-round residential
centers; and
   WHEREAS, As a cost-effective labor force working for more than 250
local, state, and federal agencies, with crews tackling more than
900 projects annually, the CCC has generated more than $26,000,000;
and
   WHEREAS, The CCC has contributed 69 million hours to natural
resource work throughout the state by providing more than 9.6 million
hours of emergency response on nearly every major California natural
disaster since 1976, installing water-saving devices and
water-efficient irrigation systems, removing turf in favor of
drought-tolerant plants, and devoting more than 500,000 hours to
fighting wildfires in 2015 alone; and
   WHEREAS, Since the program began, the CCC has also planted more
than 21 million trees throughout the state, built or maintained more
than 10,840 miles of backcountry trails in California parks and
forests, and completed more than 1.6 million hours of fish habitat
improvement work and more than 11 million hours of work improving
rural and urban parks and recreation areas; and
   WHEREAS, In addition to natural resource work, the CCC has focused
on advancing education and fostering a service ethic and has had
more than 4,000 corpsmembers work to complete their high school
diplomas in the last three years with several hundred young people
earning scholarships to advance their education. Corpsmembers
provided more than 74,000 community volunteer hours in 2015 alone;
and
   WHEREAS, The CCC has been honored with numerous awards, including
the United Nations Environmental Programme Medal for leadership in
engaging youth in environmental projects and the Times-Mirror Chevron
Conservation Award for exceptional service to the cause of
conservation, and has been recognized by Tom Brokaw of NBC Nightly
News as the "best and longest-running program of its kind in the
country"; and
   WHEREAS, The CCC has significantly impacted corpsmember lives, and
will continue to improve California's natural resources and
recreational opportunities for many years to come; now, therefore, be
it
   Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature recognizes the contributions
of the California Conservation Corps on the 40th anniversary of its
creation, and all of its former and current corpsmembers, and
supports the continued and steadfast efforts of current corpsmembers
in the protection and restoration of California's environment and
responding to disasters; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.