820-828

STREETS AND HIGHWAYS CODE
SECTION 820-828




820.  The State of California assents to the provisions of Title 23
of the United States Code, as amended and supplemented, other acts of
Congress relative to federal aid, or other cooperative highway work,
or to emergency construction of public highways with funds
apportioned by the government of the United States. All work done
under the provisions of Title 23 or other acts of Congress relative
to highways shall be performed as required under acts of Congress and
the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. Laws, or rules and
regulations, of this state inconsistent with the laws, or rules and
regulations, of the United States, shall not apply to that work, to
the extent of the inconsistency.


820.1.  (a) The State of California consents to the jurisdiction of
the federal courts with regard to the compliance, discharge, or
enforcement of the responsibilities assumed by the department
pursuant to Section 326 of, and subsection (a) of Section 327 of,
Title 23 of the United States Code.
   (b) In any action brought pursuant to the federal laws described
in subdivision (a), no immunity from suit may be asserted by the
department pursuant to the Eleventh Amendment to the United States
Constitution, and any immunity is hereby waived.
   (c) The department shall not delegate any of its responsibilities
assumed pursuant to the federal laws described in subdivision (a) to
any political subdivision of the state or its instrumentalities.
   (d) The department shall, no later than January 1, 2009, and
again, no later than January 1, 2011, submit a report to the
Legislature that includes the following:
   (1) A comparative analysis of the environmental review process
under the National Environmental Policy Act (Chapter 55 (commencing
with Section 4321) of Title 42 of the United States Code) for the 30
projects, excluding those projects categorically excluded from
environmental review, undertaken immediately preceding the enactment
of this section that involved the Federal Highway Administration and
the environmental review process for all projects, excluding those
projects categorically excluded from environmental review, undertaken
following the enactment of this section that did not involve the
Federal Highway Administration. This analysis should address the
following:
   (A) For each project included in the analysis, the environmental
review process under the National Environmental Policy Act, including
which state and federal agencies reviewed the environmental
documents and the amount of time the documents were reviewed by each
agency, shall be described.
   (B) The points in the environmental review process under the
National Environmental Policy Act when project delays occurred and
the nature of the delays.
   (C) The time saved in the environmental review process for
projects undertaken following the enactment of this section in
comparison to the review process for projects undertaken prior to the
enactment of this section. The points in the review process when
time was saved.
   (D) The circumstances when the Federal Highway Administration
hindered and facilitated project delivery.
   (2) All financial costs incurred by the department to assume the
responsibilities pursuant to Section 326 of, and subsection (a) of
Section 327 of, Title 23 of the United States Code, including, but
not limited to, the following:
   (A) Personnel to conduct and review environmental documents and to
manage litigation.
   (B) Administrative costs.
   (C) Litigation.
   (3) An explanation of all litigation initiated against the
department for the responsibilities assumed pursuant to Section 326
of, and subsection (a) of Section 327 of, Title 23 of the United
States Code.
   (4) A comparison of all costs and benefits of assuming these
responsibilities.
   (5) An assessment of overall project delivery time from the time
environmental studies begin to the time the project is ready to
advertise for construction, including the time required for each
project phase and distinguishing between different types of
environmental documents and between projects on the state highway
system and local assistance projects. The department may also include
other variables that it determines may be useful in the assessment.
(e) (1) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2012, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2012, deletes or extends
that date.
   (2) The state shall remain liable for any decisions made or
responsibilities assumed and exercised, prior to the repeal of this
section under this subdivision, pursuant to applicable federal
statutes of limitation for filing citizens' suits in federal court.
   (f) Nothing in this section affects the obligation of the
department to comply with state and federal law.



820.5.  The department may enter into agreements with authorized
officials of the United States for the performance of street or
highway construction, improvement, or maintenance projects, including
the acquisition of necessary rights-of-way therefor, for military,
naval, access, and tactical highways, including highways providing
access to timber or other natural resources, regardless of whether or
not such highways are on the state highway system. As to any project
not on the state highway system, such agreement shall provide for
full reimbursement to the department, except for general
administrative and administrative engineering expenses.
   As to any such street or highway, the department and the
commission are, and each of them is, authorized to do any and all
things in connection therewith as may be done with reference to the
state highways. The commission may adopt resolutions authorizing
condemnation of property necessary for such highways with like effect
as it may with reference to state highways. All provisions of this
article shall apply to any work done by the department under any such
agreement.
   If desired by the United States, title to any real property, or
interest therein, acquired by the department in connection with any
such street or highway which is not a part of the state highway
system may be transferred to the United States, or any agency
thereof, by a conveyance executed on behalf of the State of
California by the director. Such conveyance shall only be made in the
event the state has been fully reimbursed for any expenditures made
in connection with the acquisition of such property or interest
therein. Upon completion of the construction of any such highway
which is not a state highway, it shall forthwith be turned over to
the United States for maintenance and control, if the United States
will accept the highway. If the United States will not accept the
maintenance and control thereof, such highway shall become a city
street or county highway, as the case may be, upon the passage by the
commission of a resolution to that effect.
   The department may enter into like agreements with authorized
officials of the United States to furnish other engineering services,
such as laboratory services, upon the condition that the state shall
be reimbursed in full therefor.



821.  The department, on behalf of the State, shall submit to the
Secretary of Agriculture, or other properly authorized officer of the
United States, such project statements as may be required and may
agree with the proper officials of the United States as to the kind,
quality, and extent of all such work. The department shall file in
its office all approved plans, specifications, and estimates.




822.  The department is authorized to do any and all acts and things
with reference to any military or public street or highway in, or to
be constructed in, this State necessary to the performance of any
such agreement, including but not limited to the construction or
improvement of streets, highways or roads which are not a part of the
State Highway System.



822.5.  Agreements are authorized between the department and any
county, or counties, or city, or cities, providing for the
acquisition of property for, the construction, improvement and
maintenance of any highway, including those not in the State Highway
System, and those lying partly within and partly without the
boundaries of the State, to be constructed with federal aid. The
department may, when authorized by any such written agreement,
acquire for the county or city, as the case may be, any real property
within the State required for any such highway which is not in the
State Highway System.



823.  In addition to the purposes for which the moneys in, and to be
received in, the State Highway Account have been appropriated, all
of the moneys, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby
appropriated to, and may be expended by the department for, the
performance of such street or highway construction or improvement
projects as are agreed upon with the properly authorized officers of
the United States, including projects on public or military highways
in the State of California which are not a part of the state highway
system.
   As to such projects on streets or highways which are not a part of
the state highway system, such expenditures shall be limited to
those items for which the Government of the United States has agreed,
and is obligated, to reimburse the state in full, except that the
general administrative and administrative engineering expense for
which the Federal Government will not repay the state is properly
chargeable to the general administration of the department.



823.5.  The department may maintain any street or highway which is
not a part of the state highway system whenever all of the following
facts exist:
   (a) The department has performed upon such street or highway a
construction or improvement project.
   (b) Such project was financed, in whole or in part, by moneys
contributed by the government of the United States.
   (c) Either the governmental agency having jurisdiction over such
street or highway, or in the case of annexed areas, the county prior
to such annexation, has agreed either with the State of California,
acting by and through the department, or with the United States to
maintain such street or highway to the satisfaction of the authorized
agents of the United States.
   (d) The governmental agency having jurisdiction over such street
or highway has failed to so maintain such street or highway, and the
authorized agents of the United States have demanded of the
department that such street or highway be maintained in accordance
with such agreement.
   The department shall carefully segregate all items of cost of such
maintenance, including not to exceed 10 percent for overhead and
administration. In the event the governmental agency having
jurisdiction over such street or highway is a county or city, the
director shall notify the State Controller of the expenditures by the
department on such street or highway. The State Controller thereupon
shall deduct from the succeeding apportionments to such county or
city from the Highway Users Tax Account in the Transportation Tax
Fund the amount certified by the director and shall place such amount
in the State Highway Account.



824.  Expenditures made from the State Highway Account, to the
extent to which the United States is obligated by a project agreement
to reimburse the state, shall be considered as advancements made by
this state for performance on behalf of the United States and shall
not be considered as expenditures of state funds.
   Such advancements are not subject to any provisions of law
relative to allocation of State Highway Account moneys. Such
advancements shall be excluded in making the computations required by
Section 11274 of the Government Code and the amount of such
advancements made, and to be so excluded during any given period of
time, shall be deemed to be equal to the amount received from the
Government of the United States as reimbursement for street or
highway projects and deposited in the State Treasury during that
period of time.


825.  The total of the funds available from the Federal Government
and the State for construction or improvement of state highways by
the State shall be apportioned between the two county groups in
accordance with the provisions of Section 188. Where more projects
are available which are eligible for expenditure of federal funds in
one county group than in the other, state funds shall be allocated to
the county group receiving the lesser expenditure of federal funds
to so balance such total expenditures.



826.  All moneys received from the Government of the United States
as reimbursement for street or highway construction projects shall be
deposited in the State Treasury to the credit of the fund from which
the advancements were made. The department shall certify to the
State Treasurer the fund in which each payment is required to be
deposited.



826.5.  The department, the State Controller, and the State
Treasurer are hereby authorized to enter into such agreements,
execute such documents, establish and manage such accounts or
deposits, and take any other action that may be required to enable
the State to receive and expend advancements of funds from the
Federal Government in connection with the construction of highways
for which federal funds are available. Expenditures from such
advances shall be so accounted for as to comply with Section 825 of
this code.


827.  The department may insert in the specifications for any
contract for any project as to which a project agreement has been
executed by and between the State and the United States a stipulation
that the contractor shall forfeit to the State the sum of ten
dollars ($10) for each calendar day, or portion thereof, for each
person who is employed upon the project in violation of the
specifications relating to selection of labor, wages, hours, and
conditions of employment, and the contractor shall be bound thereby.
   The department may insert in the specifications for any such
contract all special provisions required by the rules and regulations
of the properly authorized officers of the United States, regardless
of whether or not any such provision tends to increase the cost of
the work.



828.  The provisions of this article, as added by the Legislature at
its 1955 Regular Session, are not to be considered a change in
existing law, but merely a continuation thereof. It is hereby
declared to be the intent of the Legislature that the only purpose of
repealing and reenacting these provisions is to validate, as a part
of the Streets and Highways Code, the original enactment of the
provisions of this article by Chapter 360 of the Statutes of 1935 and
the subsequent amendments thereto.