Department of Transportation and local agencies: streets and highways: recycled materials.

Assembly Member Hoover’s measure advances a durable shift in how local agencies manage pavement material specifications by requiring standard specifications that allow recycled materials at least at the Department of Transportation’s current level for listed categories, with no sunset. At the same time, it removes the previous directive that local agencies and the DOT use advanced technologies and low-emission approaches to reduce costs and greenhouse gas emissions in maintenance and rehabilitation work.

The bill anchors the requirement to three material areas: recycled base and subbase materials; reclaimed asphalt pavement and other asphalt materials; and reclaimed aggregate, fly ash, returned plastic concrete, and related materials in concrete, with the DOT’s current specifications serving as the floor. If a local agency determines that matching the DOT level is infeasible, a bidder on a contract may request the reason for that determination, and the agency must respond to the bidder’s official contact via email. Agencies are permitted to exceed the DOT levels if they choose, and the bill narrows the universe of subject jurisdictions by excluding smaller cities and counties and certain special districts.

Fiscal and implementation considerations include a mandate-reimbursement mechanism: if the state mandates costs on local agencies, reimbursements would proceed under the existing framework for state-mandated local programs. The bill does not specify an appropriation or timeline for implementation, and the geographic scope is limited by population-based exclusions, which means the policy applies to a subset of local jurisdictions.

In context, the proposal codifies a long-running preference for recycled materials in procurement while altering the environmental technology requirement that accompanied prior policy. It creates a formal channel for transparency in feasibility determinations by bidders and clarifies that local agencies may pursue higher standards, thereby shaping procurement practices and material choices across eligible street and highway projects.