BILL ANALYSIS
SCR 105
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 9, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
SCR 105 (Florez) - As Amended: June 7, 2010
SENATE VOTE : 33-0
SUBJECT : State Route 223
SUMMARY : Designates a segment of State Route (SR) 223 as part
of the National Purple Heart Trail. Specifically, this bill :
1)Recounts the national and California history of the National
Purple Heart Trail, which commemorates and honors men and
women who have been wounded or killed in combat while serving
in the United States Armed Forces.
2)Designates the segment of SR 223 from SR 99 to SR 58 for
inclusion in the National Purple Heart Trail.
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
that special designation and, upon receiving donations from
nonstate sources covering 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. This bill was withdrawn from the
Senate Appropriations Committee pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8
COMMENTS : The Armed Forces of the United States awards Purple
Hearts to members who are wounded by an instrument of war in the
hands of the enemy and posthumously to the next of kin in the
name of those who are killed in action or die of wounds they
received in action. In 1992, an organization of Purple Heart
recipients, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, began a
campaign to establish a National Purple Heart Trail. The trail
begins at a monument in Mount Vernon, Virginia, the home of
George Washington who created the original Purple Heart award.
The purpose of the Purple Heart Trail is to create a symbolic
and honorary system of roads, highways, bridges, and other
SCR 105
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monuments that give tribute to the men and women who have
received the Purple Heart medal. According to the Order, 45
states, as well as Guam, have designated sections of the trail
within their jurisdictions. The segments of the trail are not
coterminous, nor are they intended to link up. California has
already designated three sections of highway within the state as
part of the National Purple Heart Trail: (1) all of Interstate
5, (2) all of Interstate 80, and (3) a portion of State Highway
Route (SR) 101 in Monterey, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara
Counties.
This resolution designates the portion of SR 223 from SR 99 to
SR 58, in Kern County, for inclusion in the National Purple
Heart Trail. This resolution further requests the Department of
Transportation to erect appropriate signs upon receiving
donations from non-state sources to cover the costs.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Military Order of the Purple Heart, Chapter 604
Opposition
None received
Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093