Bill Text: CA ACR71 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

California Assembly Concurrent Resolution 71

Bill Title: Little Saigon Freeway.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 58-19)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-06-12 - From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on TRANS. [ACR71 Detail]

Download: California-2023-ACR71-Amended.html

Amended IN Senate June 12, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Concurrent Resolution

No. 71

Introduced by Assembly Member Ta
(Coauthors: Assembly Members ~~Vince Fong, Kalra, Stephanie Nguyen, Sanchez,~~ Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Alanis, Arambula, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Juan Carrillo, Wendy Carrillo, Cervantes, Chen, Connolly, Megan Dahle, Davies, Dixon, Essayli, Flora, Mike Fong, Vince Fong, Friedman, Gallagher, Garcia, Gipson, Grayson, Haney, Hart, Holden, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Lackey, Low, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mathis, McCarty, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Stephanie Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Jim Patterson, Joe Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Sanchez, Santiago, Schiavo, Ting, Valencia, Villapudua, Waldron, Wallis, Ward, Weber, Wilson, Wood, and Zbur)
(Coauthors: Senators ~~Cortese,~~ Newman, ~~Ochoa Bogh,~~ Ochoa Bogh, and Umberg)

May 01, 2023

Relative to the Little Saigon Freeway.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

ACR 71, as amended, Ta. Little Saigon Freeway.

This measure would designate the portion of Interstate Highway 405 from Bolsa Chica Road in the County of Orange to Magnolia Street in the County of Orange as the Little Saigon Freeway. The measure also would request the Department of Transportation 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.

Fiscal Committee: YES

WHEREAS, In April 1975, the capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, fell to the Vietnamese communists, and over the following 48 years, millions of Vietnamese have fled communist oppression in their homeland; and

WHEREAS, 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; and

WHEREAS, 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; and

WHEREAS, The signs gave 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 by the communist government; and

WHEREAS, Little Saigon is the largest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam and is a destination for tourists and refugees from all over the world; and

WHEREAS, The designation of Little Saigon in the County of Orange represents the very first “Little Saigon” in the United States; and

WHEREAS, One can find all types of services and businesses in Little Saigon, including restaurants, supermarkets, medical clinics and centers, pharmacies, and law offices serving the Vietnamese American community, as well as other local and surrounding area residents in the County of Orange; and

WHEREAS, Tết festivals and parades in Little Saigon celebrating the Vietnamese lunar new year have attracted thousands of participants; and

WHEREAS, Vietnamese voters in Little Saigon are now a significant voting bloc, and Vietnamese Americans are political leaders on the city councils of the Cities of Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, and Westminster, and on the Orange County Board of Supervisors, as well as on the school boards in the school districts serving these areas; and

WHEREAS, The Vietnamese community in Little Saigon pioneered many political movements, demanding freedom in Vietnam and fighting against the oppression and dictatorship carried out by the totalitarian communist regime, whose oppression is the main reason for slow economic growth in Vietnam; and

WHEREAS, The Vietnamese community has launched a campaign demanding the immediate release of all prisoners of conscience, who mainly ask that fundamental human rights be afforded to all of Vietnam’s citizens and seek the separation of powers and removal of the one-party system; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the portion of Interstate Highway 405 from Bolsa Chica Road in the County of Orange to Magnolia Street in the County of Orange as the Little Saigon Freeway; 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 Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the Department of Transportation and to the author for appropriate distribution.