Bill Text: CA ACR64 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Amended

California Assembly Concurrent Resolution 64 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Harvey L. Hall Memorial Highway.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 57-20-1)

Status: (Passed) 2021-09-17 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Res. Chapter 138, Statutes of 2021. [ACR64 Detail]

Download: California-2021-ACR64-Amended.html

Amended IN Senate May 06, 2021

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Concurrent Resolution

No. 64

Introduced by Assembly Members Fong and Salas
(Principal coauthors: Senators Grove and Hurtado)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Aguiar-Curry, Arambula, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Bigelow, Bloom, Boerner Horvath, Burke, Calderon, Carrillo, Chau, Chen, Chiu, Choi, Cooley, Cooper, Cunningham, Megan Dahle, Daly, Davies, Flora, Frazier, Friedman, Gabriel, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Lorena Gonzalez, Gray, Grayson, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Kiley, Lackey, Lee, Levine, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nguyen, O’Donnell, Patterson, Petrie-Norris, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Rendon, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Seyarto, Smith, Stone, Ting, Valladares, Villapudua, Voepel, Waldron, Ward, Akilah Weber, Wicks, and Wood)

April 05, 2021

Relative to the Harvey L. Hall Memorial Highway.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

ACR 64, as amended, Fong. Harvey L. Hall Memorial Highway.

This measure would designate a specified portion of Westside Parkway on State Route 58 in the County of Kern as the Harvey L. Hall Memorial Highway. The measure would request that the Department of Transportation determine the costs of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering those costs, erect those signs.

Fiscal Committee: YES

WHEREAS, Harvey L. Hall, who was a pioneer of modern emergency medical services in California, fostered the concept of “Unity in Our Community,” and was the City of Bakersfield’s 25th, and longest-serving, mayor, passed away at 77 years of age on May 19, 2018, surrounded by his family and with his three dogs at his side; and

WHEREAS, Harvey Hall was born in the City of Los Angeles on January 5, 1941, at the Long Beach Memorial Hospital, and was adopted at birth by Clarence Eugene “Pete” and Cecil Hall; he later attended Lowell and Longfellow elementary schools, Washington and Golden State middle schools, Bakersfield High School, Bakersfield College, and San Francisco City College; and

WHEREAS, Because of a dare to go on a ride-along in an ambulance in 1960, Hall’s interest was piqued in becoming an ambulance driver and sparked what would culminate in a 58-year career of caring for those in need; and

WHEREAS, With a vision to build the best ambulance company in America, Hall, with a $15,000 bank loan, two ambulances, and his residence serving as headquarters, founded Hall Ambulance Service, ~~Inc.~~ Inc., on February 10, 1971, and began answering the call to action; and

WHEREAS, Harvey Hall worked tirelessly to build relationships within the medical community and with his patients, whom he preferred to call his customers, and gained a reputation for providing a five-star ambulance service that resulted in the surrounding communities approaching him to bring his ambulance service to, ultimately, 88 percent of the County of Kern’s population as their exclusive 9-1-1 paramedic provider; and

WHEREAS, Harvey Hall introduced the first mobile intensive care paramedic program in the County of Kern in May 1975, dramatically elevating the level of medical care that could be provided in the field, while in 1990 the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians selected his ambulance service as one of the top three ambulance service providers in the nation and, the following year, the ambulance service was honored as the United States Paramedic EMS Service of the Year; and

WHEREAS, In December 2001, Harvey Hall elevated the care provided by his paramedics to a higher level by launching Hall Air Ambulance and eight years later he ushered in a new era of specialized medical transportation with the creation of Hall Critical Care Transport, which provides both ground and air regional interfacility transport solutions; and

WHEREAS, Harvey Hall was a longtime member of both the California Ambulance Association and the American Ambulance Association, where he was revered as an industry leader dedicated to improving the profession and, throughout his career, Harvey Hall enjoyed developing personal connections with the communities his ambulance service company served, contributing his time and personal resources to many community services and nonprofit organizations; and

WHEREAS, In 2015, Harvey Hall championed the cause to find solutions to the growing gap between the cost to provide safety net ambulance services to California’s most vulnerable residents and the reimbursement for services paid by Medi-Cal by founding the 911 Ambulance Provider’s Medi-Cal Alliance; and

WHEREAS, On March 30, 1999, Harvey Hall announced his candidacy for mayor on the steps of Centennial Plaza in the City of Bakersfield with his message of “Unity in Our Community” that was embraced by the voters, resulting in his winning the March 2000 election with 62 percent of the vote; and

WHEREAS, During his tenure extending for four terms, Mayor Hall was eager to help recognize the accomplishments, celebrations, and pride of Bakersfield’s diverse population, presenting 1,836 proclamations and 10,750 Certificates of Appreciation, performing 958 ribbon cuttings with his custom-made oversized scissors, leading 91 groundbreakings, delivering 981 speeches, extending 469 welcomes, hosting 452 foreign visitors, and participating in 64 military events; and

WHEREAS, Mayor Hall started the Mayor Hall Freeway Litter Cleanup Program, where, for 13 years, he personally led residents early on Saturday mornings as they picked up litter along highway onramps and offramps in the city; and

WHEREAS, In 2008, when President George W. Bush called on Mayor Hall to develop a plan to end homelessness in the Bakersfield community, Mayor Hall introduced Home First: Kern County’s Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, which brought together a coalition of organizations to tackle the challenging issue of homelessness in our communities; and

WHEREAS, On May 19, 2017, California State University, Bakersfield, awarded Mayor Hall an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters for distinction in his chosen field of endeavor, widely recognized eminence, and demonstrated values consistent with those of higher education, and on his birthday, in January 2018, Mayor Hall was inducted into the City of Bakersfield’s Hall of Fame; and

WHEREAS, Mayor Hall was the longest serving mayor in the history of the City of Bakersfield; and

WHEREAS, Outside of his very public life, Mayor Hall cherished the time he spent with his wife of 28 years, Lavonne, their daughter, Amy, and granddaughter, Skyler Blair, and his mother-in-law, Libby Allen, and as a family, they enjoyed spending time on California’s central coast and the cold weather and big sky of Jackson Hole, Wyoming; 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 Westside Parkway between the Coffee Road offramp and the Allen Road offramp on State Route 58 in the County of Kern as the Harvey L. Hall 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 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 Director of Transportation and to the author for appropriate distribution.