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Rancho Cucamonga urges pilot suicide‑prevention barriers in SB 800 testimony; bill moved to suspense
Summary
City representative Kobi Pezzatti urged the Appropriations Committee to support SB 800, a pilot program to install suicide‑prevention barriers on highway overpasses in San Bernardino County, and said the city would accept reducing the initial number of overpasses from 10 to about 5; the bill was placed on the suspense file.
Kobi Pezzatti, speaking on behalf of the city of Rancho Cucamonga, urged the Senate Appropriations Committee to support SB 800, describing two recent suicides on the same overpass in the city and expressing frustration with Caltrans’ pace in installing countermeasures. Pezzatti said the city and Caltrans initially discussed barriers and signage beginning in October but that the city had seen “very little contact and actually no action from Caltrans.” He said signage that had been installed earlier was removed and later reinstalled after city calls.
At the hearing Pezzatti described the bill as a pilot program proposed for San Bernardino County and said the current text provides funding or authority for up to 10 overpasses. He told the committee the city was “open to the idea of reducing the number” to about five overpasses to maintain pressure while reducing costs. “All you need is 5 minutes in order to save somebody's life,” Pezzatti said, arguing that barriers can buy time and reduce deaths.
Pezzatti asked the committee for an aye vote and suggested an amendment to add Senator Grayson as a coauthor. After public testimony, the committee chair announced there were no committee questions and placed SB 800 on the suspense file without objection.
SB 800’s future will depend on further fiscal review and any amendments the author and committee may agree to.
