AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 6, 2026

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

98

Introduced by Senator Wiener

August 3, 2026

Relative to the Emperor Norton Tunnel.

Fiscal committee: yes

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

This measure would designate the Yerba Buena Tunnel on State Highway Route Interstate 80, located between postmile 7.719R and 7.821R in the City and County of San Francisco, as the Emperor Norton Tunnel. The measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation, and upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.

WHEREAS, Joshua Abraham Norton was born on February 4, 1818, in Deptford, England, and was the son of John Norton and Sarah Norden; and

WHEREAS, Norton was raised, educated, and began working in South Africa, where his family moved when he was two years old, and his parents were influential in founding the first Jewish synagogue and building the Jewish community on the Eastern Cape; and

WHEREAS, Norton arrived as an immigrant in San Francisco in late 1849 and quickly established himself as a respected and prosperous commodities trader and commission merchant of foodstuffs, conducting business as Joshua Norton & Company, and acquiring significant real estate holdings in North Beach; and

WHEREAS, Norton suffered disastrous financial and property losses in the mid-1850s, following a failed effort to corner the market on rice; and

WHEREAS, Norton, on September 17, 1859, bounced back by publicly declaring himself “Emperor of the United States,” adding the title “Protector of Mexico” in 1866; and

WHEREAS, Norton lived as “Emperor” for more than 20 years; known as “Norton I” or, less formally, as “Emperor Norton,” he resided in a top-floor room of the Eureka Lodgings at 624 Commercial Street in the City of San Francisco from 1864 until his death, and was listed in city directories and the United States Census as “Emperor”; and

WHEREAS, Wearing the picturesque secondhand regalia that made him a regular subject for the leading photographers of the day, Emperor Norton became a familiar presence in the streets, parks, libraries, theaters, political lecture halls, and free-lunch counters of the city, recognized and often saluted wherever he went; and

WHEREAS, Emperor Norton was a fixture in the pages of newspapers throughout the state and country, regularly visiting locales in northern California, including Sacramento, where he kept tabs on the proceedings of state government and lobbied for the priorities of his own “imperial government”; and

WHEREAS, Emperor Norton distinguished himself as a reformer and early champion of the values of fairness, tolerance, self-determination, and the common good that came to be associated with his adopted city and region, and with gentle defiance and always with an eye to the future, he challenged existing norms, conventions, and prejudices, issuing more than 400 proclamations, some 250 of which were published in the Black-owned and -operated The Pacific Appeal; and

WHEREAS, Emperor Norton, in his proclamations and elsewhere, called out corruption of all kinds, warned of the dangers of religious sectarianism, and advocated for the dignity and rights of immigrants and other marginalized groups, insisting that courts allow Chinese testimony and writing that “the eyes of the Emperor will be upon anyone who shall council any outrage or wrong on the Chinese,” that Black people be allowed to attend public schools and ride public streetcars, that Native Americans not have their lands stolen, and that women have the right to vote; and

WHEREAS, Emperor Norton kept his finger on the pulse of the public welfare and responded to emerging issues by proposing timely, practical solutions on a wide range of concerns, including gun safety, vaccines, farmers’ markets, funding for the local opera, and the design of a railroad switch; and

WHEREAS, Emperor Norton made weekly visits to the Cities of Oakland and Berkeley, was well-known in the East Bay, and was a particular favorite of students at the newly established University of California; and

WHEREAS, Emperor Norton issued three proclamations in 1872 setting out the vision for a bay-spanning bridge linking the Cities of Oakland and San Francisco, specifying that the bridge be routed via “Goat Island,” known today as Yerba Buena Island; and

WHEREAS, The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge was built across that route, opening in November 1936, and celebrates its 90th anniversary in 2026; and

WHEREAS, Emperor Norton died on January 8, 1880, his funeral attended by a reported 10,000 people from all stations of life, and he was buried in San Francisco's Masonic Cemetery; and

WHEREAS, Emperor Norton’s death was noted in newspapers from 33 current and future states of the Union, a testament to his national profile and reach; and in 1934, he was reburied at Woodlawn Memorial Park in the City of Colma, a location that has been a pilgrimage site for generations; and

WHEREAS, Today, Emperor Norton is recognized and revered as a pioneer ambassador and folk hero of San Francisco and early California, a figure whose story of reinvention continues to symbolize the promise of California; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the California Legislature takes great pride in honoring, commemorating, and recognizing Emperor Norton’s historic and prescient role in forging the identity and spirit of San Francisco, the bay area, and California, and hereby designates the Yerba Buena Tunnel (#34-0004) on State Highway Route Interstate 80, located between postmile 7.719R and 7.821R in the City and County of San Francisco, as the Emperor Norton Tunnel; and be it further

Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested to determine the cost of erecting the appropriate signs, consistent with the signage requirements for the state highway system, showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the Director of Transportation and the author for appropriate distribution.