Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 443, Sec. 1. (AB 978) Effective January 1, 2026.
(a)A local agency that has jurisdiction over a street or highway shall, to the extent feasible and cost effective, apply standard specifications that allow for the use of recycled materials in streets and highways.
(b)The standard specifications described in subdivision (a) shall allow recycled materials at a level no less than the level allowed in the department’s standard specifications, as those standard specifications may be amended or updated from time to time, for all of the following:
(1)Recycled base and subbase materials as set forth in Sections 25-1.02 and 26-1.02 of the department’s standard specifications.
(2)Reclaimed
asphalt pavement and other materials in asphalt as set forth in Section 39-2.02B of the department’s standard specifications.
(3)Reclaimed aggregate, fly ash, returned plastic concrete, and other materials in concrete as set forth in Sections 90-1.02, 90-2.02, and 90-9 of the department’s standard specifications.
(c)If a local agency’s standard specifications do not allow for the use of recycled materials at a level that is equal to or greater than the level allowed in the department’s standard specifications, as described in subdivision (b), on the basis that the use of those recycled materials at those levels is not feasible, a person bidding on a contract advertised by the local agency to supply materials subject to those specifications may request the local agency to provide the reason for that determination. The local agency shall provide the reason for that determination
via email correspondence to the person’s official point of contact specified in the request.
(d)This section does not prohibit a local agency that has jurisdiction over a street or highway from exceeding the maximum level allowed in the department’s standard specifications for the use of materials described in subdivision (b).
(e)For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1)“Department” means the Department of Transportation.
(2)“Local agency that has jurisdiction over a street or highway” does not include any special district, any city whose population, according to the most recent census, is equal to or less than 25,000 people, or any county whose population, according to the most recent census, is equal to or less than
100,000 people.
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