BILL ANALYSIS �
ACR 39
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Date of Hearing: May 2, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
ACR 39 (Nielsen) - As Introduced: March 21, 2011
SUBJECT : State Route 44
SUMMARY : Designates a bridge on State Route (SR) 44 as the
Deputy Dennis "Skip" Sullivan Memorial Bridge. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Recounts the life and career of Dennis "Skip" Sullivan, a
deputy with the Shasta County Sheriff's Office who died in the
line of duty.
2)Designates the Bear Creek Bridge on SR 44 in Shasta County as
the Deputy Dennis "Skip" Sullivan Memorial Bridge.
3)Requests the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to
determine the cost of appropriate plaques and markers,
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 plaques and markers.
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 : Dennis "Skip" Sullivan served 11 years with the South
San Francisco Police Department, where as a sergeant he
supervised the operations division and the community relations
and crime prevention programs. Among his many accomplishments,
he designed and implemented the South San Francisco Police
Department's field training program.
In 1981, Deputy Sullivan joined the Shasta County Sheriff's
Office. He served first as a resident deputy sheriff in the
Shingletown area of Shasta County and then as a patrol deputy
ACR 39
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sheriff at the Palo Cedro substation.
Tragically, Deputy Sullivan was killed in a traffic collision on
SR 44, on October 10, 1987, while on his way to negotiate with a
reportedly armed woman barricaded in a Mountain Gate home.
Deputy Sullivan had been performing duties as a dedicated member
of the Sheriff's Office Hostage Negotiation Team for four years.
As Deputy Sullivan was responding to the report of shots fired,
heading west near Inwood Road, the trailer of an eastbound truck
tipped over onto his small pickup. Witnesses report that Deputy
Sullivan tried to avoid the trailer by moving to the extreme
right of the road. The impact of the collision sheared off the
top of the pickup and forced it off the highway onto the north
side of SR 44.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093