Bill Text: CA SCR70 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: The Mario Obledo Building.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 60-19-1)
Status: (Passed) 2022-09-13 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 177, Statutes of 2022. [SCR70 Detail]
Download: California-2021-SCR70-Chaptered.html
Senate Concurrent Resolution
No. 70
CHAPTER 177
Relative to state government.
[
Filed with
Secretary of State
September 13, 2022.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCR 70, Caballero.
The Mario Obledo Building.
This measure would designate the East End Complex-Block 171 in Sacramento as the Mario Obledo Building, and would request the Department of General Services to determine the cost of erecting appropriate plaques and markers showing the designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources, to cover that cost to erect signage.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee: YESBill Text
WHEREAS, In 1975, Governor Jerry Brown appointed Dr. Mario Guerra Obledo as Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency. At the time, this appointment made him the highest-ranking Mexican American official in the country; and
WHEREAS, Secretary Obledo and Cesar Chavez were instrumental in the appointment of Cruz Reynoso, the first Latino on the California Supreme Court; and
WHEREAS, Secretary Obledo appointed Julian Camacho as the first Latino Director of the Department of General Services which led to a dramatic increase in minority contracting with the state and a great increase in farmworker housing; and
WHEREAS, Secretary Obledo appointed Doug Patino as the first Latino Director of the Employment Development Department and brought in innumerable Latino appointees as directors and deputy directors of departments, changing the face of state government in California; and
WHEREAS, Among his most consequential achievements, Secretary Obledo established the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in the State Department of Health Care Services, directed by Carlos Alcala, at a time when state government employment was only 4 percent Latino, and affirmative action efforts of that period have led to a state government employment that is now 25 percent Latino. The California Civil Rights Act, the Indian Child Welfare Act, and the states bilingual pay provisions were championed by the OCR; and
WHEREAS, Secretary Obledo forever changed the appointment process for hundreds of state boards and commission membership appointments to include Latinos and other minorities; and
WHEREAS, Secretary Obledo cofounded the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) and served as its first General Counsel. MALDEF was a pioneer of single member districts that greatly increased Latino representation in school districts and cities across California and the Southwest; and
WHEREAS, Secretary Obledo also served as President of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the nation’s largest and oldest Latino civil rights organization; and
WHEREAS, Secretary Obledo served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the National Rainbow Coalition and President of the National Coalition of Latino Organizations, and cofounded the Hispanic National Bar Association and the Southwest Voter Registration Project; and
WHEREAS, Few state buildings are named after Latino contributors to California’s state government; and
WHEREAS, It is the intent of the Legislature to commemorate Secretary Mario Obledo’s many accomplishments in state government and civil rights; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the East End Complex-Block 171, located at 1501 Capitol Avenue in Sacramento, be designated as the Mario Obledo Building; and be it further
Resolved, That the Department of General Services is requested to determine the cost of erecting appropriate plaques and markers, consistent with the signage requirements for state buildings, showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources, to cover that cost to erect signage; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
