BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  ACR 130
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 5, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
                               Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
              ACR 130 (De La Torre) - As Introduced:  February 18, 2010
           
          SUBJECT  :  State Route 5

           SUMMARY  :  Designates a segment of State Route (SR) 5 the Arnold  
          C. Garcia Memorial Highway.  Specifically,  this bill  :  

          1)Recounts the life and career of Arnold C. Garcia, a Los  
            Angeles County Probation Department employee who was killed in  
            the line of duty.  

          2)Designates the segment of SR 5 between East Olympic Boulevard  
            and South Atlantic Boulevard, in the City of Commerce, as the  
            Arnold C. Garcia Memorial Highway.  

          3)Request the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) 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 that cost, to erect those  
            signs.  

           EXISTING LAW  :  Assigns Caltrans the responsibility of operating  
          and maintaining state highways.  This includes the installation  
          and maintenance of highway signs.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Unknown

           COMMENTS  :  Arnold C. Garcia was, for nearly two decades, a Los  
          Angeles County Probation Department group supervisor who worked  
          the graveyard shift at the Dorothy E. Kirby Center, supervising  
          locked cottages housing some of Los Angeles County's youngest  
          and most troubled offenders.  Although department guidelines  
          recommend one guard for every 10 juveniles in custody, he was  
          charged with watching over a 20-bed cottage.  

          During night shifts at the center, Mr. Garcia frequently bent  
          the rules, bringing candy and videos for the mostly well-behaved  
          wards.  According to co-workers, he always had his Bible in  
          hand, passing the lonely hours by praying for the wards.  









                                                                  ACR 130
                                                                  Page  2

          On April 4, 1994, Mr. Garcia heard a knock from inside one of  
          the bedroom doors.  The ward inside, who was serving time for  
          burglary and possession of a concealed weapon, asked for  
          permission to use the restroom.  After opening the door, Mr.  
          Garcia was fatally struck in the head with a metal object from a  
          disassembled desk in the room.  He was the first Los Angeles  
          County Probation Department employee killed in the line of duty  
          since the department was formed in 1903.  


           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   


           Support 
           
          Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
          County of San Bernardino
          L.A. County Probation Officers Union
          Los Angeles County Chicano Employees Association
          Los Angeles County Probation Officers Union
          Riverside Sheriffs' Association

           Opposition 
           
          None received
           

          Analysis Prepared by :   Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093