Career
He was Senator for the Second District from 1939 to 1966, and for the First District from 1967-1976. Collier served as Chairman of the California Senate Transportation Committee and was the sponsor and co-author of the Collier–Burns Highway Acting of 1947 which established the California transportation infrastructure. He was Chairman of the Senate Interim Committee on Highways, Streets and Bridges.
Collier was an opponent of rapid transit.
He has a rest stop in Siskiyou County, where he lived all his life, named after him, as well as a tunnel on the Redwood Highway, Route 199.