AB830 - State highways: encroachment permits: relocating or removing encroachments: public utility districts: County of Mendocino.

Enrolled September 10, 2025 Passed IN Senate September 04, 2025 Passed IN Assembly September 08, 2025 Amended IN Senate August 29, 2025 Amended IN Assembly May 23, 2025 Amended IN Assembly April 09, 2025 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Assembly Bill No. 830 Introduced by Assembly Member Rogers February 19, 2025 An act to amend, repeal, and add Section 673 of the Streets and Highways Code, relating to streets and highways. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 830, Rogers. State highways: encroachment permits: relocating or removing encroachments: public utility districts: County of Mendocino. 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. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. Section 673 of the Streets and Highways Code is amended to read: 673. (a) Any permit issued to a permittee of the class specified in Section 678 shall 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. In that event, the department shall serve on the permittee its written demand specifying the place of relocation, or that the encroachment is to be removed from the highway, and specifying a reasonable time within which the work of relocation is to be commenced. The permittee shall commence the relocation or removal within the time specified in that demand and thereafter diligently prosecute until completion. (b) All permits, other than those issued to permittees of the class specified in Section 678 or the class specified in Section 680, are revocable on five days’ notice and the encroachment shall be removed or relocated as may be specified by the department in the notice revoking the permit and within the time specified by the department, which time shall not be less than five days, unless the permit so provides. (c) The department may waive the requirement of subdivision (a) that the permittee bear the sole expense of relocating or removing an encroachment, if the encroachment consists of a track or roadway that serves as an exclusive public mass transit guideway owned, operated, and maintained by a publicly owned mass transit authority. (d) (1) Subdivision (a) shall not apply if the permittee is a public utility district in the County of Mendocino with a ratepayer base of 5,000 or fewer and, in that case, the department shall 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. (2) The department shall notify a public utility district described in paragraph (1) at each stage of a project that necessitates the relocation or removal of the public utility district’s encroachment. (3) For purposes of this subdivision, “public utility district” means a public utility district formed pursuant to Division 7 (commencing with Section 15501) of the Public Utilities Code. (e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2031, and as of that date is repealed. SEC. 2. Section 673 is added to the Streets and Highways Code, to read: 673. (a) Any permit issued to a permittee of the class specified in Section 678 shall 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. In that event, the department shall serve on the permittee its written demand specifying the place of relocation, or that the encroachment is to be removed from the highway, and specifying a reasonable time within which the work of relocation is to be commenced. The permittee shall commence the relocation or removal within the time specified in that demand and thereafter diligently prosecute until completion. (b) All permits, other than those issued to permittees of the class specified in Section 678 or the class specified in Section 680, are revocable on five days’ notice and the encroachment shall be removed or relocated as may be specified by the department in the notice revoking the permit and within the time specified by the department, which time shall not be less than five days, unless the permit so provides. (c) The department may waive the requirement of subdivision (a) that the permittee bear the sole expense of relocating or removing an encroachment, if the encroachment consists of a track or roadway that serves as an exclusive public mass transit guideway owned, operated, and maintained by a publicly owned mass transit authority. (d) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2031. SEC. 3. The Legislature finds and declares that a special statute is necessary and that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because the unique geography and rural nature of the County of Mendocino, combined with a state highway dividing many communities throughout the county, place unique burdens on local governmental entities in the County of Mendocino when relocating utilities for transportation projects.