Existing law establishes the Department of Transportation and vests it with full possession and control of all state highways and all property and rights in property acquired for state highway purposes. Existing law authorizes the department to issue written permits to, among other things, place, change, or renew an encroachment. Existing law requires a permit issued to a county, city, public corporation, or political subdivision that is authorized by law to establish or maintain any works or facilities in, under, or over any public highway, to contain a provision that, in the event the future improvement of the highway necessitates the relocation or removal of the encroachment, the permittee will relocate or remove the encroachment at the permittee’s sole expense, as provided.

This bill would, until January 1, 2031, exempt a public utility district in the County of Mendocino with a ratepayer base of 5,000 households or fewer from the above-described provision and instead would require the department to bear the sole expense of relocating or removing the public utility district’s encroachment in the event a future improvement of the highway necessitates the relocation or removal of the encroachment and to notify the public utility district at each stage of a project that necessitates the relocation or removal of the public utility district’s encroachment.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Mendocino.