Department of Transportation: highways and roads: recycled plastics study and specifications.

The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 requires the Director of Transportation, upon consultation with the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, to review and modify all bid specifications relating to the purchase of paving materials and base, subbase, and pervious backfill materials using certain recycled materials. Existing law requires the specifications to be based on standards developed by the Department of Transportation for recycled paving materials and for recycled base, subbase, and pervious backfill materials. Existing law requires a local agency that has jurisdiction over a street or highway to either adopt these standards developed by the Department of Transportation or to discuss at a public hearing why the standards are not being adopted. Existing law requires the State Procurement Officer, when purchasing materials to be used in paving or paving subbase for use by the Department of Transportation and any other state agency that provides road construction and repair services, to contract for those items that use recycled material in those materials, unless the Director of Transportation determines that the use of the materials is not cost effective. This bill would authorize the department to conduct a study to assess the feasibility, cost effectiveness, and life-cycle environmental benefits and detrimental impacts of including recycled plastics in asphalt used as a paving material in the construction, maintenance, or rehabilitation of a highway or road. If the department conducts the study, the bill would require the Ocean Protection Council to review the study design and findings to determine how including recycled plastics in asphalt for use as a paving material will impact the ocean's health and would require the department to assess, as part of the study, any life-cycle environmental benefits or detrimental impacts identified by the council. If the department determines that this use of recycled plastics is feasible and that recycled plastics can be included in asphalt in a manner that is cost effective and provides life-cycle environmental benefits, the bill would authorize the department to establish specifications for including recycled plastics in asphalt used as a paving material in the construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation of a highway or road. The bill would require the department to prepare and submit, on or before January 1 of each year, commencing January 1, 2023, an analysis to the Assembly Committee on Transportation and the Senate Committee on Transportation on its progress studying recycled plastics and its progress toward establishing specifications for including recycled plastics in asphalt, as described above. The bill would require a local agency that has jurisdiction over a street or highway to either adopt the specifications established by the Department of Transportation or discuss at a public hearing why the specifications are not being adopted. By increasing the duties of local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.