Article 4. State And Federal Highway Work of California Streets And Highways Code >> Division 1. >> Chapter 4. >> Article 4.

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.

(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, 2016, 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 shall include department- and local agency-sponsored projects, and shall 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, and 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, 2017, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2017, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.