BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 595
Page 1
Date of Hearing: January 9, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 595 (Norby) - As Introduced: February 16, 2011
SUBJECT : Highway memorial signs
SUMMARY : Prohibits the naming of highway facilities by the
Legislature during calendar years 2012 and 2013. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Allows the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to expend
only nonstate funds for plaques reflecting the naming, by
legislative resolution, of highway facilities.
2)Prohibits, for calendar years 2012 and 2013, any highway,
bridge, or other transportation facility owned and operated by
Caltrans, or by any district through which a state highway
passes, to be named or otherwise designated by the
Legislature.
3)Prohibits any plaques or signs to be erected by Caltrans to
reflect the naming or designation of a highway, bridge, other
transportation facility, or district during those calendar
years.
4)Specifies that these provisions do not prohibit replacement of
a naming or designation sign that is damaged or destroyed
where the naming or designation occurred prior to January 1,
2012.
5)Specifies that these provisions also do not preclude Caltrans
from posting state highway route number signs, directional
signs, and other signs other than those to which these
provisions specifically apply.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires Caltrans to keep in repair all objects or markers
adjacent to a state highway that have been erected to mark
registered historical places and to keep those markers free
from vegetation that may obscure them from view.
AB 595
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2)Authorizes Caltrans to expend reasonable sums for highway
designation plaques when the Legislature, by concurrent
resolution, has designated names for certain districts or
state highway bridges, and has requested the placing of name
plaques at the boundaries of the districts or on the bridges.
(By longstanding custom as well as by more recent Committee
policy, these resolutions have typically specified that the
expense for such signing must be borne by nonstate sources.)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : According to the author, "The state is facing
tremendous deficits, services are being cut, and our state
Legislature is spending valuable time, staff resources and
taxpayer money memorializing state highways, instead of working
on more important issues, such as the state budget deficit."
The Legislature has, for several decades, named highway segments
and associated facilities (such as bridges, vista points, and
roadside rests) in honor of persons or groups who have served
the state with distinction or made other notable contributions.
In recent years, this practice has become far more frequent,
despite policies being adopted in both the Assembly and the
Senate narrowing the criteria as to when such designations are
appropriate. (In the Assembly, for instance, an honoree must
either be deceased or be a retired elected official, there must
be community consensus for the designation, and the resolution
must be authored or coauthored by the member representing the
geographical location of the designation.)
As these designations proliferate, Caltrans is forced to oversee
an increasing inventory of signs, taking time and effort away
from more important maintenance functions. (Although highway
naming resolutions require the sign fabrication and installation
to be funded by nonstate sources, ongoing maintenance costs are
borne by Caltrans.) Any fixed object within a highway right of
way, such as a dedication sign, can add to the potential danger
to motorists in the instance of run-off-the-road incidents. And
to the extent that Caltrans maintenance forces must tend to
damaged or windblown signs, they themselves are subject to added
exposure to the dangers of working alongside high-speed traffic.
Finally, in the aggregate, the processing of these resolutions
comes at some considerable cost to the Legislature.
AB 595
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While the roster of individuals who have been honored through
highway-naming resolutions is replete with any number of heroes
(typically law enforcement or military members who have lost
their lives in service to the state or nation), this bill
proposes a reasonable pause in the process of naming highways so
that some thought might be given to the development of a less
onerous means of honoring California's heroes.
Opponents appreciate the author's desire to streamline the
process of highway naming but "do not believe it is appropriate
to put a moratorium on public safety officers, especially those
who work on the highways and freeways and risk their lives on a
daily basis."
Suggested committee amendments : This bill was introduced in
2011. Had it been enacted in that year, a two-year moratorium
would have covered calendar years 2012 and 2013. A bill enacted
this year would not be effective until 2013. The author may
therefore wish to adjust the dates of the proposed moratorium to
2013 and 2014.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file
Opposition
California Association of Highway Patrolmen
Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093