Bill Text: CA SCR97 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Chaptered

California Senate Concurrent Resolution 97 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: The Stan Statham Memorial Highway.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 55-21-1)

Status: (Passed) 2022-09-13 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 178, Statutes of 2022. [SCR97 Detail]

Download: California-2021-SCR97-Chaptered.html

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 97

CHAPTER 178

Relative to the Stan Statham Memorial Highway.

[ Filed with Secretary of State September 13, 2022. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SCR 97, Nielsen. The Stan Statham Memorial Highway.

This measure would designate a specified portion of State Highway Route 44, near Oak Run in the County of Shasta, as the Stan Statham Memorial Highway. This measure would 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.

Fiscal Committee: YES

WHEREAS, Raymond Stanley Statham was born in Chico, California, on April 7, 1939, to his father, a British citizen who came to California after retiring from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and his mother, a native of Utah, who was a homemaker; and

WHEREAS, In 1953, Raymond won a contest to host a weekly program as a disc jockey on the local radio station, KPAY, where his first words into the microphone were: “This is Teen Time and you are listening to Stan the Man,” and he was then known as Stan Statham for the rest of his life; and

WHEREAS, Stan graduated from Chico Senior High School in 1956 and enlisted as a member of the 131st Technical Intelligence Attachment in West Berlin, Germany, and as an American spy during the Cold War, he earned a top-secret clearance using the cover name Roland Stanley; and

WHEREAS, Upon his honorable military discharge in 1959, Stan came home to work as an operations supervisor for Crocker Bank in Yuba City, but longing to return to the airwaves to be the next Dick Clark, Stan soon secured jobs at several radio stations in Northern California, from the low power, nondirectional signal of KAGR to KROY, “The Pulse of Sacramento;” and

WHEREAS, Stan expanded his broadcast resume into television in 1965, accepting the title of News Director and Anchorman for KHSL-TV in Chico, where he wrote and delivered the news for over a decade, and during his tenure at the television station, he met and quickly married Geraldine Plants, and they had two children, Devin and Jennifer; and

WHEREAS, In 1976, Stan decided to make news instead of reporting it, and entered the race for the California State Assembly as a Republican, winning despite having no experience in politics; a true Mr. Statham Goes to Sacramento story; and

WHEREAS, During his 18 years in office, Stan was known by all his legislative colleagues as a moderate, independent thinker who used his considerable speaking talents to reach beyond partisan politics and get things done, putting 90 new laws on the books; and

WHEREAS, Motivated by the death of his district director from a drunk driver, several of those measures were to enhance DUI penalties, which resulted in President Ronald Reagan taking note of his efforts and appointing Stan as a lifetime member of the Presidential Commission on Drunk Driving, an honor bestowed on only 26 citizens so far; and

WHEREAS, In 1980, Stan learned that farmers were often reluctant for liability reasons to let Senior Gleaners collect unused crops from their fields for distribution to poor communities, so Stan passed the “Brown Bag Act,” which today still provides millions of dollars of free food to senior nutrition programs throughout California; and

WHEREAS, Stan’s media background became an asset to the California State Assembly in 1989 when efforts formally began to televise legislative sessions and Assembly Speaker Willie Brown appointed him to chair the Committee on Televising the California State Assembly, and gavel-to-gavel coverage started on August 6, 1990; and

WHEREAS, Stan is best known for his attempt to make Northern California the 51st state, as his advisory measure in 1992 was on 31 county ballots and received a majority vote in 27 of those counties; and

WHEREAS, The results of that election encouraged him to introduce legislation placing a question on a statewide ballot asking voters whether they wanted California divided into three new states, and his measure, Assembly Bill 3, was approved by the California State Assembly with a vote of 46 to 28 on June 10, 1993; and

WHEREAS, In light of the success of the split-the-state movement, Stan decided to forgo the two remaining years of his term limit in the California State Assembly and instead ran for Lieutenant Governor, and after a dynamic campaign, Stan finished second in the Republican primary behind a last-minute southern California candidate that state party leaders funded to run against him; and

WHEREAS, Stan was selected as President and CEO of the California Broadcasters Association (CBA) in 1995, the trade group representing more than 1,000 radio and television stations in California, and in that capacity, he moderated six gubernatorial debates, including the recall debate in 2003 with Arnold Schwarzenegger; and

WHEREAS, Stan married his fiancée of three years, Roleeda Epperson, on April 25, 2004, at Wine & Roses in Lodi, California, and they shared a blended family of six children and enjoyed traveling the world, dining out, and watching television together; and

WHEREAS, Retiring from the CBA after 20 years, Stan roamed between his home in Sacramento and a mountain cabin in Oak Run where his faithful dog Buster resided, writing a weekly column for the Red Bluff Daily News, and visiting with his rural neighbors; and

WHEREAS, Stan passed away on August 1, 2020; his motto for thriving was: “Life is what we make it to be, moment by moment;” and

WHEREAS, Stan is survived by his wife, Roleeda Statham; daughter, Jennifer Hejsek; son, Devin Statham; stepdaughters, Jessica and Janis Epperson; stepsons Eric and Steven Epperson; and his grandchildren and great-grandchildren; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designate a portion of State Highway Route 44, from postmile R7.7 to postmile R9, near Oak Run in the County of Shasta, as the Stan Statham 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 of the signs for which the donations were made, to erect those signs; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the Director of Transportation and to the author for appropriate distribution.