State highways: relinquishment.

Existing law gives the Department of Transportation full possession and control of all state highways. Existing law describes the authorized routes in the state highway system and establishes a process for adoption of a highway on an authorized route by the California Transportation Commission. Existing law also authorizes the commission to relinquish state highway segments to local agencies that have been deleted from the state highway system by legislative enactment, and in certain other cases. This bill would generally authorize the California Transportation Commission to relinquish any portion of a state highway within a county or city to that county or city, subject to an agreement between the department and the local agency, without requiring a legislative enactment deleting the state highway segment from the state highway system. The bill would also require the department to expeditiously consider and respond to each request it receives from a city or county relative to an agreement relating to the proposed relinquishment of a state highway segment within the jurisdiction of the entity making the request, and would require the department, from time to time, to recommend to the Legislature any revisions to the statutory descriptions of state highway routes occasioned by relinquishments approved by the commission. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. The Governor issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on July 1, 2009. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared by the Governor by proclamation issued on July 1, 2009, pursuant to the California Constitution.