Vehicles: off-highway vehicle recreation: City of Needles.

Existing law authorizes an off-highway motor vehicle that has been issued a plate or device to be operated or driven upon a highway under certain circumstances. Existing law authorizes various public entities, and the Director of Parks and Recreation, to designate a highway, or portion thereof, for the combined use of regular vehicular traffic and off-highway motor vehicles if certain requirements are met, including a prohibition on a designation of greater than 3 miles. Existing law, until January 1, 2025, authorizes the County of Inyo to operate a pilot project that exempts specified combined-use highways in the unincorporated area in the County of Inyo from this prohibition to link together existing roads in the unincorporated portion of the county to existing trails and trailheads on federal Bureau of Land Management or United States Forest Service lands in order to provide a unified linkage of trail systems for off-highway motor vehicles, as prescribed. Existing law requires the County of Inyo to prepare and submit to the Legislature reports evaluating the effectiveness and environmental impacts of the pilot project, as specified. This bill would authorize, until January 1, 2028, a similar pilot program in the City of Needles. The bill would also require the City of Needles, in conjunction with specified state agencies, to prepare and submit to the Legislature reports evaluating the effectiveness and environmental impacts of the pilot project by January 1, 2027, as specified.