Assembly Concurrent Resolution
No. 130
CHAPTER 126
Relative to the Ambassador Phillip V. Sanchez Memorial Bridge.
[
Filed with
Secretary of State
August 19, 2022.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 130, Patterson.
Ambassador Phillip V. Sanchez Memorial Bridge.
This measure would designate the Alluvial Avenue undercrossing located at Fre-041-R30.949, State Route 41 at Postmile R30.949, in the County of Fresno as the Ambassador Phillip V. Sanchez Memorial Bridge. The measure would request that the Department of Transportation determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, erect those signs.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee:
YES WHEREAS, Phillip V. Sanchez was born on July 28, 1929, in his family’s residence in Pinedale, a small community less than a mile’s distance from what is now the interchange of State Highway 41 and Herndon Avenue in the County of Fresno; and
WHEREAS, Except for Presidential assignments to foreign countries, and military service deployments by the United States Army, Ambassador Sanchez lived on Alluvial Avenue in Pinedale, and embodied the promise of the American dream in his journey from poverty to prosperity as a leader in government, business, education, and publishing; and
WHEREAS, He became the highest ranking Hispanic official in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, as a Unites States Ambassador and Director of the United States Office of Economic Opportunity; and
WHEREAS, While serving as the Director of the United States Office of Economic Opportunity, with a budget of $400,000,000 and a nationwide staff of 262,000 employees, Ambassador Sanchez was frequently lauded by members of Congress, from both sides of the aisle, for his leadership and accountability to taxpayers; and
WHEREAS, Adversity never kept Ambassador Sanchez, who was fatherless since he was six years old, from succeeding; and
WHEREAS, He graduated magna cum laude from Clovis High School and Coalinga City College, and summa cum laude from California State University, Fresno; and
WHEREAS, He was President and Founder of the first Sigma Chi Fraternity Chapter at California State University, Fresno, and was a trustee and former president of the National Hispanic University; and
WHEREAS, While a student at California State University, Fresno, he enlisted in the California Army National Guard as Private (E-1), the lowest rank, and climbed through the ranks to become Master Sergeant, the highest enlisted grade; and
WHEREAS, He was promoted to Warrant Officer 1 (WO1), the lowest grade, and climbed through the warrant grades to Warrant Officer 4 (WO4), the then highest grade; and
WHEREAS, He was accepted by the United States Army to attend Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia; and
WHEREAS, He graduated from Officer Candidate School with the highest levels of academic and leadership achievement, and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant; and
WHEREAS, He climbed through the commissioned officer ranks to Colonel, the highest field grade in the United States Army; and
WHEREAS, A 1984 Pentagon review of military personnel records since World War I revealed that, among the millions who served, Ambassador Sanchez had advanced through all enlisted grades, all warrant officer grades, and all infantry commissioned grades to the highest field rank of colonel; and
WHEREAS, He retired after more than 40 years of military service in the United States Army, the United States Army Reserve, and the California Army National Guard; and
WHEREAS, At the age of 33, as Chief Administrative Officer of the County of Fresno, Ambassador Sanchez was the youngest chief administrative officer in the history of all California counties; and
WHEREAS, He became a member of the Board of Trustees for the Clovis Unified School District, and served with distinction before being appointed by Governor Ronald Reagan to serve on the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, and, subsequently, was appointed to the Trustees of the California State University; and
WHEREAS, Ambassador Sanchez has a charter school named after him in the City of Fresno, as well as three orphanages located in Mexico that he founded and funded; and
WHEREAS, He was a frequent newspaper and magazine contributor and accepted an appointment as publisher for the New York Tribune and Noticias del Mundo, and as President of CAUSA USA, a faith-based educational organization that denounced communism worldwide; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the Alluvial Avenue undercrossing located at Fre-041-R30.949, State Route 41 at Postmile R30.949, in the County of Fresno as the Ambassador Phillip V. Sanchez Memorial Bridge; 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, 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.