Amended in Assembly August 22, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 65

Introduced by Assembly Member Hall

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bonta, Brown, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Mitchell, Ting, begin delete and Weber end delete begin insert Weber, Achadjian, Alejo, Atkins, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bradford, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gorell, Gray, Hagman, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Linder, Logue, Maienschein, Medina, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. Pérez, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Stone, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk, Williams, and Yamada end insert )

(Coauthors: Senators Price and Wright)

June 12, 2013

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 65—Relative to the Willie L. Brown, Jr. Bridge.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

ACR 65, as amended, Hall. The Willie L. Brown, Jr. Bridge.

This measure would name the western span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge the Willie L. Brown, Jr. Bridge. The measure would request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost for erecting appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.

Fiscal committee: yes.

WHEREAS, Willie L. Brown, Jr. was born on March 20, 1934,
in Mineola, Texas, and was the son of Minnie Collins Boyd and
Willie Lewis Brown, Sr. and grandson of Anna Collins. He married
the former Blanche Vitero in September 1957. He is the father of
four children: Susan Elizabeth Brown, Robin Elaine Brown-Friedel,
Michael Elliot Brown, and Sydney Minetta Brown; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Brown received a bachelor of arts degree from
San Francisco State University in 1955 and a juris doctor from the
University of California, Hastings College of Law, in 1958. He
was admitted to the practice of law in the State of California and
to the federal court, including the United States Supreme Court;
and

WHEREAS, Mr. Brown was first elected in 1964 and served in
all of the following capacities: as a Member of the California State
Assembly from 1965 to 1995, as Speaker of the California State
Assembly as the longest serving Speaker in California history,
from 1980 to 1995, and the first African American; and two terms
as the 41st Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco, from
January 8, 1996, to January 8, 2004; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Brown served as the Chair of the Assembly
Ways and Means Committee and the Chair of the Assembly
Revenue and Taxation Committee; served on the Board of Trustees
of the California State University system and as a Regent of the
University of California; and served on the Board of Administration
of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System; and

WHEREAS, As mayor of California’s most cosmopolitan city,
he refurbished and rebuilt one of the nation’s busiest transit
systems, pioneered the use of bond measures to build affordable
housing, created a model juvenile justice system, and paved the
way for creating the expansion campus of the University of
California, San Francisco, to serve as the anchor of a new
development that would position the city as a center for the
burgeoning field of biotechnology; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Brown is widely regarded as one of the most
influential politicians of the late 20th century, and has been at the
center of California politics, government, and civic life for an
astonishing four decades; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Brown’s career spans the American presidency
from Lyndon Johnson to Barack Obama, and he has worked with
every California Governor from Edmund Gerald “Pat” Brown, Sr.,
to Edmund Gerald “Jerry” Brown, Jr., and has left his imprimatur
on every aspect of politics and public policy in the Golden State,
including civil rights, education reform, tax policy, economic
development, health care, international trade, domestic
partnerships, and affirmative action; and

WHEREAS, Today, Mr. Brown heads the Willie L. Brown, Jr.
Institute on Politics and Public Service, where he shares his vast
political knowledge and skills with a new generation of California
leaders; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the California Legislature takes great
pride in recognizing Willie L. Brown, Jr. for all of his political,
professional, and personal accomplishments by naming the western
span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge the Willie L.
Brown, Jr. Bridge to honor and commemorate his many
contributions to California; and be it further

Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested
to determine the cost of erecting the appropriate signs, consistent
with the signing requirements for the state highway system,
showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations
from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs; and
be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the Governor, the Speaker of the Assembly,
the President pro Tempore of the Senate, the California Legislative
Black Caucus, the Director of Transportation, and the author for
appropriate distribution.