[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 921]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


      HONORING AND CELEBRATING THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF SIG SANCHEZ

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ZOE LOFGREN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, February 4, 2013

  Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to acknowledge and honor Sig 
Sanchez.
  Sig was born to Spanish immigrant parents, as the second of eleven 
children. His mother worked in a cigarette factory in San Francisco and 
his father was an agricultural laborer. In 1942, Sig moved to Gilroy 
because of his involvement in agriculture. For 20 years, Sig owned a 
melon-packing operation with two of his brothers and a 600-acre farm to 
the south of Los Banos.
  Sig entered public service over 55 years ago when one of his tractors 
broke down. He went to repair his tractor and the owner of the shop was 
on the Gilroy City Council. The councilmember proceeded to encourage 
Sig to join him on the council. Sig served for five years as a 
councilman and another five years as the mayor. He then served 16 years 
on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. As a county supervisor, 
Sig advocated for the merger of the Santa Clara County Flood Control 
and Water District with the Santa Clara Valley Water Conservation 
District to better address flood management and water importation. In 
all his years of public service, he tried to never leave his office 
without returning every phone call.
  In 1980, Sig was appointed as an at-large director to the water 
district board. He was a key player in the 1987 merger of the Gavilan 
Water District in South County with the Santa Clara Valley Water 
District, which allowed for full integration of all the county's 
reservoirs and groundwater facilities. Sig was a charter board member 
in the 1992 development of the San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water 
Authority, a joint organization of 32 water and irrigation agencies 
that contract with the US Bureau of Reclamation for water from the 
Central Valley Project. He was also instrumental in water importation 
into Santa Clara County with the county Board of Supervisors, South Bay 
Aqueduct, water district board, and the San Felipe project. As the 
longest serving member of the water district's board of directors, Sig 
guided the agency on pressing water quality problems, steered the 
valley through both floods in the 1980s, and helped it survive the 
1987-1992 drought.
  Sig has served as a board member of HOPE Rehabilitation, Wheeler 
Hospital Foundation, and the Gilroy Elks Club. As a passionate advocate 
for water and flood control issues, he has been an active member of 
national, state, and local water resource organizations, including the 
Agricultural Water Advisory Committee, Central Valley Project 
Authority, Pajaro River Watershed Flood Prevention Authority, San Luis 
& Delta Mendota Water Authority Board and Finance Committee, Uvas/
Llagas Flood Control and Watershed Advisory Committee, Santa Clara 
Valley Water Commission, Santa Clara Valley Water District Board Ad Hoc 
Audit Committee, and the South County Regional Wastewater Authority.
  In recognition of his service and contributions, Sig was inducted 
into the Gilroy Hall of Fame in 1991. A building in San Martin is named 
after Sig. He also has a 10-mile portion of state Highway Route 101, 
the Sig Sanchez Freeway, named in honor of his 12-year effort to lobby 
various government agencies to build the highway.
  Sig is being honored as the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce's 2013 Man of 
the Year on February 9. I join in honoring his decades of contribution 
and service to the betterment of our society. The community is very 
fortunate to have benefited from his dedication, commitment, and 
advocacy. He has left his mark in the community and I know he will 
continue to play a positive role in the years to come.

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