BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  SCR 80
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:  June 18, 2012

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
                               Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
                   SCR 80 (Fuller) - As Introduced:  March 28, 2012

           SENATE VOTE  :  33-0
           
          SUBJECT  :  State Route 14

           SUMMARY  :  Designates an interchange on State Route (SR) 14 as 
          the Lance Corporal Joseph C. Lopez Memorial Interchange.  
          Specifically,  this bill  :  

          1)Recounts the life and career of Joseph C. Lopez, a Marine 
            Corps member who lost his life in the service of his country.  


          2)Designates the Rosamond Boulevard Interchange of SR 14 in the 
            City of Rosamond as the Lance Corporal Joseph C. Lopez 
            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.  This bill was withdrawn from the 
          Senate Appropriations Committee pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8.  

           COMMENTS  :  Joseph C. Lopez enlisted in the Marine Corps in March 
          2009, and was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine 
          Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at 
          Camp Pendleton.  Lance Corporal Lopez was deployed to the Sangin 
          district of the Helmand province of Afghanistan in late 
          September 2010, with his unit.  On October 14th, 2010, he had 
          returned safely to his Marine camp, after successfully 
          patrolling an area of responsibility for more than 20 hours on 
          foot.  Lance Corporal Lopez's team was then dispatched to a 








                                                                  SCR 80
                                                                  Page  2

          nearby location to assist a Marine unit taking heavy fire.  
          Tragically, at the young age of 26, he was killed by an 
          improvised explosive device during that combat operation in 
          Helmand province.  

          In 2011, Lance Corporal Lopez's family and church established an 
          inaugural annual five kilometer run in remembrance of him, in 
          which members of his Marine unit participated, all proceeds of 
          which are donated to the Wounded Warriors Project and church 
          youth programs.  

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :

           Support 
           
          None on file
           
            Opposition 
           
          None on file

           
          Analysis Prepared by  :   Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093