BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  ACR 71
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   June 22, 2009

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
                                   Mike Eng, Chair
                    ACR 71 (Nielsen) - As Introduced:  May 4, 2009
           
          SUBJECT  :  State Route 99

           SUMMARY  :  Designates a segment of State Route (SR) 99 as the  
          Milton La Malfa Memorial Highway.  Specifically,  this bill  :  

          1)Recounts the life and career of Milton La Malfa, a prominent  
            rice farmer from Richvale, California.  

          2)Designates the segment of SR 99 between Oroville Dam Boulevard  
            West and Nelson Avenue in Oroville as the Milton La Malfa  
            Memorial Highway.  

          3)Requests the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to  
            determine the cost of appropriate signs, consistent with the  
            signing requirements for the state highway system, showing the  
            special designation and, upon receiving donations from  
            nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.

           EXISTING LAW  :  Assigns Caltrans the responsibility to operate  
          and maintain state highways, including the installation and  
          maintenance of highway signs.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Unknown

           COMMENTS  :  Milton La Malfa was a lifelong farmer from Richvale,  
          California.  He served as director of the Butte County Rice  
          Growers Association from 1973 to 1975 and again from 1981 to  
          1986, as well as secretary-treasurer for four years and chair  
          for one year.  Mr. La Malfa also served with distinction as a  
          director of Associated Rice Marketing Cooperative from 1988 to  
          1993, serving as chair for one year, and gave his time for many  
          years as director of the Richvale Seed Growers.  

          Mr. La Malfa was instrumental in organizing local farmers in  
          1985 to form the Western Canal Water Users Association, which  
          initiated the negotiations with Pacific Gas and Electric to  
          purchase the water rights and conveyance system for the farmers  
          in the area, and he subsequently became director of the Western  
          Canal Water District and served as its president.  He also  








                                                                  ACR 71
                                                                  Page  2

          contributed extensively as a director of Drainage District 200  
          and was on the Board of the Northern California Water  
          Association.  

          Milton LaMalfa passed away on October 5, 2008.  

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          None received

           Opposition 
           
          None received
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :   Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093