Bill Text: CA SCR4 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Vernon P. Valenzuela Memorial Highway.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 2-1)
Status: (Passed) 2013-08-15 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 69, Statutes of 2013. [SCR4 Detail]
Download: California-2013-SCR4-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: SCR 4 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
RESOLUTION CHAPTER 69
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE AUGUST 15, 2013
ADOPTED IN SENATE APRIL 18, 2013
ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 8, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 6, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE FEBRUARY 12, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Senator Fuller
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Grove and Salas)
DECEMBER 6, 2012
Relative to the Vernon P. Valenzuela Memorial Highway.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCR 4, Fuller. Vernon P. Valenzuela Memorial Highway.
This measure would designate a specified portion of State Highway
Route 204 in the City of Bakersfield as the Vernon P. Valenzuela
Memorial Highway. The 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 that cost, to erect those signs.
WHEREAS, Vernon P. Valenzuela was born January 15, 1949, to the
late Louis and Nellie Valenzuela. He was raised in Bakersfield,
California, the youngest of five siblings; and
WHEREAS, In 1966 Mr. Valenzuela quit high school to join the
United States Army and volunteered to serve in Vietnam; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Valenzuela served in Vietnam from October 1967 to May
1968, when he was wounded in battle. After his honorable discharge
in 1969, he returned to Bakersfield and obtained his high school
diploma by attending night school; and
WHEREAS, The following September, Mr. Valenzuela became the first
member of his family to attend college; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Valenzuela discovered the large Associated Veterans
Students Club at Bakersfield College, and his association with the
organization began his life as a leader and veterans advocate; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Valenzuela became an active student and held
positions as President of both the Associated Veterans Students Club
and the Bakersfield College Student Body; and
WHEREAS, After graduating with an associate of arts degree in
1973, Mr. Valenzuela continued his education at California State
University, Bakersfield (CSUB), where he was a charter member of the
first student council and began working in the Veterans Cost of
Instruction Program (VCIP); and
WHEREAS, While still attending CSUB, Mr. Valenzuela was hired to
be Assistant Director of the Bakersfield College VCIP; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Valenzuela obtained his bachelor's degree in June
1975 and began counseling students at Bakersfield College, many of
whom were veterans. He touched so many people's lives during his
college years that for the rest of his life he would run into people
he knew while at college, who remembered him, who were helped by him,
or whose children thanked him; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Valenzuela received his masters degree in counseling
in 1977 and earned his license in marriage and family therapy in
1979, specializing in treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD);
and
WHEREAS, Mr. Valenzuela began his private practice shortly after
his marriage in 1981, focusing on veterans with PTSD. He worked as a
contract counselor with the Sepulveda Vet Center from 1981 to 1989,
inclusive; and
WHEREAS, During the 1990s, Mr. Valenzuela traveled to the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. and joined the Vietnam Veterans
of America (VVA). He became the President of the charter chapter of
Bakersfield VVA and gradually worked through local, state, and
national levels of the organization; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Valenzuela served as VVA's California president in
1993, and went on to serve on national committees for PTSD, substance
abuse, and the Veterans Initiative, which involved several trips to
Vietnam to recover MIA remains; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Valenzuela presented PTSD seminars throughout the
nation, and was called on to work with Oklahoma City bomb survivors
and United Auto Workers members in the New York area after September
11, 2001; and
WHEREAS, During his involvement with VVA, Mr. Valenzuela became a
leading advocate for the Vet Center program, meeting quarterly in
Washington with Readjustment Counseling Services Director Dr. Alfonso
Batres to discuss issues related to the Vet Center program; and
WHEREAS, In 1997, Mr. Valenzuela made a conscious decision to
bring his efforts to a more local level and was welcomed into the
Kern County Network for Children. His efforts over the last decade
included advocating for children and bridging the gap of community
services for veterans. Throughout the late 1990s, he collaborated
with the network to raise funds for graduating seniors and families
in need during the holiday season within Kern County; and
WHEREAS, In April 2008, Mr. Valenzuela was recruited to be the
first Team Leader for the new Bakersfield Vet Center, helping to
establish a much needed counseling resource for combat veterans
throughout Kern County; and
WHEREAS, As Team Leader of Bakersfield Vet Center, Mr. Valenzuela'
s goal was to meet all needs of the veterans, and make the vet center
a safe haven, a place where veterans could come for any help or
need. He wanted the vet center in Bakersfield to be a model for all
other vet centers, knowing that the people of Bakersfield are truly
unique in their giving capacity and collaborative efforts; and
WHEREAS, In addition to providing counseling and overseeing the
operation of the vet center, Mr. Valenzuela was instrumental in
beginning the Veterans Justice Program in Kern County and, along with
other veterans and community resources, created and chaired the
newly formed Kern County Veterans Collaborative. Mr. Valenzuela's
goal was not just to provide counseling services, but also to provide
any service or answer any question a veteran may have; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Valenzuela passed away at 63 years of age on Monday,
March 26, 2012, overlooking the ocean and surrounded by his family;
and
WHEREAS, Vernon P. Valenzuela is survived by his wife of 30 years,
Lise, and their three grown children, Robert, Alison, and Katie, all
of whom are very proud to have been his family; 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 204 between F Street and Q Street in
the City of Bakersfield as the Vernon P. Valenzuela Memorial Highway;
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.
