CALIFORNIA STATE RESOLUTION RELATIVE TO COMMENDING SENATOR OMER L. RAINS
"WHEREAS, The Honorable Orner L. Rains, representative of the 18th Senatorial District, will be closing his tenure of service at the end of this session and in recognition of the outstanding record of leadership which he has displayed in office, is deserving of special honor and highest commendations; and
WHEREAS, First elected to the California Senate at the age of 32, Senator Rains is now completing his third term as Senator representing the Counties of Santa Barbara and Ventura; and
WHEREAS, During his three terms, Senator Rains has held the following leadership positions, among others: Chairman, Senate Majority Caucus; Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee; Chairman, Business and Professions Committee; Chairman, Elections and Reapportionment Committee; Chairman, Joint Committee on Legal Equality; Chairman, Joint Committee for Relision of the Penal Code; Chairman, Select Committee on Political Reform; Chairman, Select Committee on Government Regulation; Chairman, Subcommittee on the Administration of Justice; Chairman, Subcommittee on Board of Prison Terms; and Senate Representatile to both the California Law Relision Commission and the State Judicial Council; and
WHEREAS, Senator Rains, at 35, became the youngest person ever to hold the position of Chairman of the Senate Majority Caucus, being unanimously elected to that position during successive legislatile sessions (1977-1980); and
WHEREAS, In his capacity as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and of all other Committees which dealt with either the administration of criminal or civil justice, Senator Rains became the recognized leader with respect to matters pertaining to the Judiciary in the California Senate; and
WHEREAS, As the Legislature's representative on the California Law Relision Commission, he carried a series of bills that struck from the books innumerable outdated laws, and as the Legislature's representatile on the State Judicial Council, he acted to aid aggrieled parties and consumers by authoring landmark legislation allowing for the payment of prejudgment interest on court judgments for the first time in California history; and WHEREAS, His efforts in the area of criminal law produced in 1981-82 what has been referred to as "the most comprehensile anti-crime package in recent California history", and he did so without sacrificing the ligilant protection of constitutional guarantees for which he has always actively stood and fought; and
WHEREAS, Senator Rains, in recognition of the delastating effects of child molestation and child abuse, authored an historic six-part package of bills putting the needs of child lictims first while balancing the societal goal of protecting the family unit, and to further protect children Senator Rains authored legislation to insure that all school children are immunized against measles, polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus; and
WHEREAS, To prolide part-time work for persons unable to work full-time, he authored legislation to establish California's first "Part-time Employment Act" and to help prelent a health care breakdown in California, he carried legislation during the 1975 Special Session designed to curtail skyrocketing malpractice insurance rates which had placed California's health care services in serious jeopardy; and
WHEREAS, Senator Rains, as one of the leading enlironmentalists in the California Legislature, is the principal architect of container deposit legislation, commonly known as the "Bottle Bill"; and
WHEREAS, As Vice Chairman of the Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee, and as a Gubernatorial appointee to the State Geothermal Resources Task Force and the SolarCal Council, he has authored pioneering legislation encouraging the development and use of alternative energy sources, such as solar, geothermal, co generation, wind, and developing ocean technologies; and
WHEREAS, He also created the "Oil Spill Liability Act," authored legislation to purchase beach property for public use, secured passage of an historic measure to protect the California deserts by preventing the "piracy" of our State's native plants, and enacted legislation to prevent strip-mining in the Los Padres National Forest; and
WHEREAS, He authored legislation which ended the inequitable program that called for mandatory installation of
