Amended  IN  Senate  June 18, 2024
Amended  IN  Assembly  May 16, 2024
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 21, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2698

Introduced by Assembly Member Ta
(Principal coauthor: Senator Min)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Alanis, Chen, and Low)

February 14, 2024

An act to amend Section 615 of the Streets and Highways Code, relating to highways.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2698, as amended, Ta. Route 405: Little Saigon Freeway.
Existing law vests the Department of Transportation with full possession and control of all state highways. Existing law describes the authorized routes in the state highway system, including that for Route 405 from Route 5 near El Toro to Route 5 near San Fernando.
This bill would specify that Route 405 from Bolsa Chica Road to Magnolia Street Bolsa Avenue in the County of Orange shall be known and designated as the Little Saigon Freeway, and would require the department to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing that special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources sufficient to cover the cost, to erect those signs, as specified.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Since April 1975, when the capital of South Vietnam fell, more than 2,500,000 Vietnamese refugees and immigrants became permanent residents and citizens of the United States, and over 800,000 resettled in California.
(b) In June 1988, Governor George Deukmejian recognized the importance of Little Saigon as a major cultural, social, and commercial center of southern California, and freeway signs officially designating the Vietnamese business district in the Cities of Westminster and Garden Grove as “Little Saigon” were unveiled giving official status to the title “Little Saigon,” recalling the name of the South Vietnamese capital more than a decade after it was changed to Ho Chi Minh City.
(c) Little Saigon is the largest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam and is a destination for tourists and refugees from all over the world.
(d) The designation of Little Saigon in the County of Orange represents the very first “Little Saigon” in the United States.

SEC. 2.

 Section 615 of the Streets and Highways Code is amended to read:

615.
 (a) Route 405 is from Route 5 near El Toro to Route 5 near San Fernando.
(b) (1) Route 405 from Bolsa Chica Road to Magnolia Street Bolsa Avenue in the County of Orange shall be known and designated as the Little Saigon Freeway.
(2) The department shall determine the cost of appropriate signs, consistent with the signing requirements for the state highway system, showing special designation described in paragraph (1) and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources sufficient to cover the cost, shall erect those signs.