BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: SB 842
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: Knight
VERSION: 1/7/14
Analysis by: Nathan Phillips FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: April 8, 2014
SUBJECT:
Highway directional signs
DESCRIPTION:
This bill requests that the Department of Transportation
(Caltrans) erect signs on state highway routes, directing
motorists to each veterans home of California.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law assigns Caltrans the responsibility of operating
and maintaining the state highway system, including the
installation and maintenance of highway signs. In administering
its duties, Caltrans has developed guidelines to use when
considering whether to erect non-required signage along the
state's highways, or what Caltrans refers to as "supplemental
destination signage."
Supplemental destination signs give information to motorists
regarding the location of specific destinations, such as
historical sites, cultural centers, and tourist attractions,
which are accessible from an upcoming highway exit. Caltrans
has established specific qualifying criteria for certain
destinations considered traffic generators, for example:
Post-secondary schools (public or private) with a minimum
enrollment of 1,000 students each week;
Museums, zoos, stadiums, and sports arenas (publicly owned and
nonprofit) with a minimum of one million in annual attendance;
Convention centers (publicly owned) with a minimum of 500,000
in annual attendance;
Fairgrounds (publicly owned and operated) with a minimum of
500,000 in annual attendance;
Governmental centers with a 5,000 minimum number of employees.
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The operative theory regarding these criteria is that only those
facilities that generate a substantial amount of traffic should
receive highway signing. For destinations such as veterans
homes, for which attendance criteria are not specifically
identified in its manual, Caltrans considers destination signs
only when "unusual operational or safety issues become apparent
that would be mitigated by signing."
The California Department of Veterans Affairs (CDVA) maintains
eight veterans homes in the state to provide long-term care to
resident veterans. These live-in, residential care facilities
offer comprehensive services and social activities for veteran
residents, and range in size from 60 to over 1,000 residents.
Veterans who are over 55 years old, or disabled, and discharged
from active military service under honorable conditions are
eligible to apply for admission.
This bill requests that Caltrans erect signs on state highways
directing motorists to each of California's veterans homes,
consistent with the signing requirements of the state highway
system, upon receiving donations from non-state sources
sufficient to cover the signage costs.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . The author asserts that Caltrans currently has an
inconsistent policy on highway signage to veterans homes.
Homes in Yountville, Barstow, and Chula Vista have highway
signage, while other homes in the state do not have signs.
According to the author, Caltrans denied requests for highway
signage to three of the homes in 2011, and appeals thereafter.
This bill would streamline and make consistent the policy for
erecting signage to the homes.
CDVA notes that veterans homes are centers where veterans'
organizations, community groups, and others congregate to
recognize and thank veterans for their service. At each of
the state's homes there are multiple celebrations throughout
the year including Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Independence
Day, Pearl Harbor Day, VE Day, VJ Day, Flag Day, the birthdays
of each military branch, Women's Military History Week, and
many more. While the veterans homes may have as few as 60
permanent residents, their community impacts are much larger.
They have become hubs where veterans and the community come
together.
2.A new and improved effort . This bill expands the scope of a
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resolution the author carried last year, which failed to pass
the Assembly. While SCR 59 sought to place signage on a
single veterans home (named in honor of the author's father),
this bill expands the scope of the requested signage to all
eight of the state's veterans homes. This adopts suggestions
in a previous Senate Transportation and Housing Committee
analysis to widen the scope to include all eight veterans
homes, and to consider the benefit of the weight of law that
attends passage of a bill rather than a resolution.
3.Is this a traffic generator ? As Caltrans' guidelines suggest,
supplemental directional signage, such as the signs proposed
by this resolution, is most appropriate when the destination
generates enough traffic to justify the signs. Otherwise, the
highway may become glutted with signs, and this proliferation
will divert attention away from signs containing critical
safety (e.g., construction ahead) and regulatory (e.g., speed
limit) information. Typically, destination signs are placed
only for those facilities that draw hundreds of thousands of
patrons each year. The veterans homes are, on average,
350-resident facilities, some of which are in relatively
unpopulated parts of the state. While it may be true that
veterans homes hold many well-attended events each year, it is
hard to imagine that this small facility generates as much
traffic as a convention center with a minimum of 500,000
annual attendees.
4.Are there other reasons for the signs ? Notwithstanding the
fact that veterans homes are unlikely to generate amounts of
traffic on par with sports stadiums and fairgrounds, there may
be other, legitimate reasons for directional signage to these
facilities. For example, due to the nature of the events at
veterans homes, many attendees may be older or disabled and
may appreciate the assistance extra directional signage may
provide. Additionally, CDVA indicates that the homes to some
degree "acknowledge the tremendous sacrifice California
veterans have made and recognizes them for their noble service
to our nation." Given that there are only eight veterans
homes in California, it seems reasonable to place directional
signs to these locations should the homes request them. In
fact, three of the homes already have directional signs to
their facilities from the nearest highways.
5.Only one of eight homes is named after an individual-should
signage follow ? A previous analysis by this committee
suggested that, if the intention is to direct motorists to the
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local veterans home, it seems that signs simply labeled
"veterans home" would be sufficient, rather than including the
full or surname of the memorialized individual. Other
directional signs to veterans homes in the state effectively
direct traffic to the homes. The "William J. 'Pete' Knight
Veterans Home of California-Lancaster," is the only one of the
eight homes that is named after an individual. This bill does
not make explicit whether the full name of this home would be
included in signage. Creating a custom sign for this single
home would likely be more complicated and costly than
producing generic signage for all homes. The committee may
wish to amend the bill to state that signs will contain
uniform, generic labeling, such as "veterans home."
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, April 2,
2014.)
SUPPORT: American Legion, Department of California
AMVETS, Department of California
California Association of County Veterans Service
Officers
California Sign Association
California State Commanders Veterans Council
City of Lancaster
Military Officers Association of America,
California Council of Chapters
Veterans of Foreign Wars, Department of
California
Vietnam Veterans of America, California State
Council
OPPOSED: None received.