BILL ANALYSIS Ó
ACR 66
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Date of Hearing: June 27, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
ACR 66 (V. Manuel Pérez) - As Introduced: June 3, 2011
SUBJECT : State Route 8
SUMMARY : Designates a segment of State Route (SR) 8 as the
Deputy Probation Officer Irene B. Rios Memorial Highway.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Recounts the life and career of Irene Rios, an officer of the
Imperial County Probation Department (ICPD) who was killed in
the line of duty.
2)Designates the westbound segment of SR 8 between postmile
R4.60 and R6.60 in Imperial County as the Deputy Probation
Officer Irene B. Rios Memorial Highway.
3)Requests the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to
determine the costs of erecting the appropriate signs,
consistent with the signing requirements for the state highway
system, showing this special designation, and upon receiving
donations from nonstate sources covering the 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 : Irene Beatrice Rios graduated from San Diego State
University, Imperial Valley Campus in 2002 with a Bachelor of
Science Degree in criminal justice administration and a minor in
psychology. Upon graduation, she began working as a counselor
for children at the Imperial County Probation Receiving Home.
In 2005, she was hired as a Deputy Probation Officer and
assigned to the Juvenile Division of the Imperial County
Probation Department to work with high-risk minors. Deputy
Probation Officer Rios graduated from the Probation Officer Core
Academy during her first year of employment.
On August 13, 2008, while driving west on SR 8 to the San Diego
ACR 66
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airport, Deputy Probation Officer Rios lost control of her
vehicle near Devil's Canyon in western Imperial County. She
died when the vehicle was overturned after driving through the
dirt median and up the side of a mountain. Deputy Probation
Officer Rios was on her way to take a flight to Sacramento to
check-in with a group home of juveniles at the time of her
accident, making her the first female peace officer in Imperial
County to be killed in the line of duty.
Deputy Probation Officer Rios is remembered by her family and
law enforcement colleagues for her love of helping the families
and children with whom she worked. In her memory, her
colleagues in law enforcement established the 718 Foundation to
grant the Irene B. Rios Memorial Scholarship to students from
local, low-income families.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
718 Foundation (sponsor)
Imperial County Board of Supervisors
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Justin Behrens / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093