BILL NUMBER: SCR 79CHAPTERED BILL TEXT RESOLUTION CHAPTER 102 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE AUGUST 29, 2012 ADOPTED IN SENATE AUGUST 23, 2012 ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 21, 2012 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 21, 2012 AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 1, 2012 INTRODUCED BY Senator Lieu (Coauthors: Senators Alquist, Anderson, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Calderon, Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De Len, DeSaulnier, Dutton, Emmerson, Evans, Fuller, Gaines, Hancock, Hernandez, Huff, Kehoe, La Malfa, Leno, Liu, Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Pavley, Price, Rubio, Runner, Steinberg, Vargas, Walters, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, and Yee) (Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Furutani, Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gorell, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Olsen, Pan, Perea, John A. Prez, V. Manuel Prez, Portantino, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Wagner, Williams, and Yamada) MARCH 26, 2012 Relative to the Honorable Jenny Oropeza Memorial Highway. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SCR 79, Lieu. Honorable Jenny Oropeza Memorial Overcrossing. This measure would designate a specified portion of State Highway Route 1 in the County of Los Angeles as the Honorable Jenny Oropeza Memorial Overcrossing. This measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering those costs, to erect those signs. WHEREAS, Jenny Oropeza was a lifelong public servant; and WHEREAS, Jenny Oropeza was active in her community and was elected to the Long Beach Unified School District Board of Education, the Long Beach City Council, the California State Assembly, and finally to the California State Senate; and WHEREAS, During her time as a member of the California Legislature, Jenny Oropeza was a champion for public transportation, health care, education, clean air, equality, and prevention of cancer; and WHEREAS, Former Senator Oropeza was so admired by her constituents and community that since her death she has been honored by the Democratic Women's Study Club in Long Beach, which posthumously awarded her the Political Leadership Award. In future years the award will be called the Jenny Oropeza Political Leadership Award. Additionally, the Long Beach Community Hispanic Association (Centro CHA) posthumously awarded Senator Oropeza the Create Change Community Service Excellence Award, which will in future years be called the Create Change: Jenny Oropeza Community Service Excellence Award; and WHEREAS, In recognition of former Senator Oropeza, the Long Beach Lambda Democratic Club created the Jenny Oropeza Ally of the Year Award, which was, similar to the two previously mentioned awards, first awarded in 2011; and WHEREAS, As a tribute to former Senator Oropeza's dedication to fostering protections for key state public health programs, the Los Angeles County Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, in joint collaboration with the six other California-based Komen affiliates, known as "the California Collaborative," established the Senator Jenny Oropeza Public Policy Internship position; and WHEREAS, The City of Long Beach named the community center in Cesar E. Chavez Park the Jenny Oropeza Community Center and the Los Angeles Unified School District dedicated the Jenny Oropeza Global Studies Academy at the Rancho Dominguez Preparatory School; and WHEREAS, Shortly after taking office in 2000, then Assembly Member Oropeza, became aware that the Alameda Corridor would open in 2002 and all the planned bridges, designed to prevent cars from having to wait for trains to pass at street level, would be completed, except the bridge on State Highway Route 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) in the community of Wilmington, the busiest route along the Alameda Corridor; and WHEREAS, At the time, State Highway Route 1 bisected the Equilon Refinery and was therefore the most complicated and expensive bridge to build. Furthermore, there was not enough funding available to complete the bridge on State Highway Route 1; and WHEREAS, Former Assembly Member Oropeza brought together the interested parties, including the California Department of Transportation, the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Equilon Refinery, the Union Pacific Railroad, and the City of Los Angeles to solve this problem and was able to help facilitate $107 million in funding from a combination of sources which included state transportation funds, state Proposition 116 bond funds, federal demonstration funds, Metropolitan Transportation Authority funds, and railroad funds; and WHEREAS, Former Assembly Member Oropeza was also successful in her pursuit to have the long bridge built. This design not only eliminated the train and car conflicts on the Alameda Corridor, but also eliminated these same conflicts on Alameda Street and the San Pedro Branch of the Union Pacific Railroad; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the portion of State Highway Route 1 that runs between Coil Street and the east side of the main entrance to the Tesoro Refinery, in the community of Wilmington in the County of Los Angeles, as the Honorable Jenny Oropeza Memorial Overcrossing; and be it further Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested 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; and be it further Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the Department of Transportation and to the author for appropriate distribution.