BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  ACR 148
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          Date of Hearing:   April 12, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
                               Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
               ACR 148 (Charles Calderon) - As Amended:  April 8, 2010
           
          SUBJECT  :  State Route 60

           SUMMARY  :  Requests signs on State Route (SR) 60 directing  
          motorists to the Armenian Martyrs Monument.  Specifically,  this  
          bill  :  

          1)Recounts the experience of the Armenian people living in the  
            Ottoman Empire in 1915 and notes that the lives of nearly  
            1,500,000 Armenians were lost from 1915 to 1921.  

          2)Notes that the Armenian Martyrs Monument was erected in 1965  
            in Bicknell Park in the City of Montebello in dedication to  
            those Armenian victims and to all victims of crimes against  
            humanity.  

          3)Declares the Legislature's recognition of the importance of  
            the Armenian Martyrs Monument to the people of California.  

          4)Requests the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to erect  
            informational signs on the westbound portion of SR 60 leading  
            to the Garfield Avenue exit and the eastbound portion of SR 60  
            leading to the Garfield Avenue exit, directing motorists to  
            the Armenian Martyrs Monument, consistent with the signing  
            requirements for the state highway system and upon receiving  
            donations from nonstate sources sufficient to cover the cost  
            to erect those signs.  

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

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Unknown

           COMMENTS  :  According to the text of the resolution, the Armenian  
          people living in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 suffered what is  
          known by historians as the "First Genocide of the Twentieth  
          Century," and as the prototype of modern day mass killing.  This  
          began with the arrest, exile, and murder of hundreds of Armenian  
          intellectuals, and business, political, and religious leaders,  








                                                                  ACR 148
                                                                  Page  2

          starting on April 24, 1915.  The Armenian Martyrs Monument was  
          erected in 1965 in Bicknell Park in the City of Montebello in  
          dedication to the 1,500,000 Armenian victims of the genocide and  
          is the site of religious and cultural commemorations by the  
          Armenian community in southern California.  

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          None received

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