BILL ANALYSIS �
ACR 117
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Date of Hearing: April 9, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
ACR 117 (Achadjian) - As Amended: March 29, 2012
SUBJECT : State Routes 46 and 101
SUMMARY : Designates the east and westbound State Route (SR)
46/101 interchanges as the California Highway Patrol Officer
Brett J. Oswald Memorial Interchange. Specifically, this bill :
1)Recounts the life and career of Brett Oswald, a California
Highway Patrol (CHP) officer who lost his life in the line of
duty.
2)Designates the eastbound and westbound interchanges at SR 101
and SR 46 in Paso Robles as the California Highway Patrol
Officer Brett J. Oswald Memorial Interchange.
3)Requests 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 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 : Brett James Oswald graduated from the CHP Academy in
1990 as a flight officer, and was assigned to the Santa Fe
Springs Area Office. He subsequently served as a traffic
officer in the King City Area Office, a flight officer in the
Paso Robles Coastal Division Air Operations Office, and a
traffic officer in the Templeton Area Office. Officer Oswald
proudly served a total of 20 years and one month as a California
Highway Patrol Officer.
Officer Oswald was killed in the line of duty on June 27, 2010,
in Paso Robles when he was struck by a vehicle while waiting for
ACR 117
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a tow truck on the side of the road. He had responded to a
report that a vehicle had hit a tree on South River Road in Paso
Robles. After investigating, Officer Oswald determined that no
accident had occurred and that the vehicle was abandoned. He
called for a tow truck and was waiting next to his patrol car,
when a passing vehicle crossed the double yellow lines and
struck the patrol car. The force of the impact pushed the patrol
car into him. He was transported to a local hospital where he
later died from his injuries.
Related legislation : ACR 100 (Lowenthal) combines a number of
highway-namings into one bill. AB 1645 (Norby) would transfer
authority for highway-namings from the Legislature to the
California Transportation Commission. Both of these bills are
on today's Committee agenda. The author of ACR 117 has not
included the proposed Oswald Memorial Interchange naming in ACR
100 since this particular memorialization needs to be approved
in an expedited fashion in order for the signs to be produced in
time for a scheduled (June 27) ceremony in memory of Officer
Oswald.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Association of Highway Patrolmen (sponsor)
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093