SENATE BILL REPORT
SCR 8403
This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent. |
As Passed Senate, March 5, 2019
Brief Description: Renaming Marathon Park after Joan Benoit Samuelson.
Sponsors: Senators Hunt and Wilson, C..
Brief History:
Committee Activity: State Government, Tribal Relations & Elections: 2/20/19, 2/21/19 [DP].
Floor Activity:
Passed Senate.
Brief Summary of Concurrent Resolution |
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SENATE COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, TRIBAL RELATIONS & ELECTIONS |
Majority Report: Do pass.
Signed by Senators Hunt, Chair; Kuderer, Vice Chair; Zeiger, Ranking Member; Bailey, Hasegawa, Hawkins and Takko.
Staff: Melissa Van Gorkom (786-7491)
Background: Marathon Park is a 2.25-acre waterfront park constructed in 1970. The park earned the name Marathon Park when the City of Olympia competed for, and won, the right to host the United States time trials for the first Women’s Olympic Marathon, in 1984. The marathon route for the trials began and ended at the park.
The trials were run in May 1984 and won by Joan Benoit Samuelson. She went on to win the first Women’s Olympic Marathon at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. Joan is a 1999 inductee into the International Women's Sports Foundation Hall of Fame and was voted into the Olympic Hall of Fame in 2008.
Summary of Concurrent Resolution: Marathon Park is renamed Joan Benoit Samuelson Marathon Park. Department of Enterprise services must properly sign the park as Joan Benoit Samuelson Marathon Park.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Available.
Creates Committee/Commission/Task Force that includes Legislative members: No.
Staff Summary of Public Testimony: PRO: These trials were a huge undertaking. It was 88 years before Women's marathon was added to the modern Olympics. It is important to commemorate this major milestone in women sports history and Olympics history which happened right here in our state. No one expected Olympia to win the bid for the Women's Marathon trials, but they did. It's fitting to name the park after Joan Benoit Samuelson who won the trials in honor of this historic event. It will encourage girls and women to engage in physical fitness and sports.
Persons Testifying: PRO: Senator Sam Hunt, Prime Sponsor; Karen Fraser, citizen; Denise Keegan, The Olympia Women's Marathon Trials Legacy Committee.
Persons Signed In To Testify But Not Testifying: No one.