The department shall have full possession and control of all state highways and all property and rights in property acquired for state highway purposes. The department is authorized and directed to lay out and construct all state highways between the termini designated by law and on the locations as determined by the commission.

The powers and duties enumerated in this section are intended to give the department broader authority to recruit and retain qualified civil engineers.

which may be paid from funds available to the department from the State Highway Account.

salary range within the appropriate classification, as specified in the agreement entered into by the department and Professional Engineers in California Government on May 3, 1991. Movement within this range remains subject to performance criteria.

thousand dollars ($5,000) per student for tuition, room, board, and expenses directly related to school attendance, to students enrolled in land surveying or Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) certified structural and civil engineering curriculums. While these loans are intended to help recruit new engineers into the department, the director is not precluded from offering student loans to permanent state employees, at the discretion of the director. The student or employee shall be obligated to repay the entire loan to the department. However, for the first two years the employee works for the department, or the first two additional years an employee agrees to stay with the department, five hundred dollars ($500) of the loan shall be forgiven. For every additional year of employment after the first two or additional two years, one thousand dollars ($1,000) of the loan shall be forgiven. If the employee voluntarily leaves the employment of the department prior to the entire loan being

forgiven, the employee shall pay the remaining portion of the loan in accordance with a proportionate repayment policy adopted by the director. Criteria shall be established by the director to administer this program.

The department shall improve and maintain the state highways, including all traversable highways which have been adopted or designated as state highways by the commission, as provided in this code.

quality assurance audits. The construction inspection duties and responsibilities of the

department shall include a direct reporting relationship between the inspectors and senior department engineers responsible for all inspectors and construction inspection services. The senior department engineer responsible for construction inspection services shall be responsible for the acceptance or rejection of the work.

the state highway right-of-way, including, but not limited to, work performed that includes lane closures, signing, work performed at night, detours, dust control, temporary pavement quality, crash cushions, temporary railings, pavement transitions, falsework, shoring, and delineation. The department shall regularly inspect the job sites for safety compliance and any possible deficiencies. If any deficiency is observed, a written notice shall be sent by the department to the regional transportation agency’s designated resident engineer to correct the deficiency. Once the deficiency is corrected, a written notice describing the resolution of the deficiency shall be sent to the department and documented.

in subdivisions (a) and (b), consistent with Article XXII of the California Constitution. Department employee and consultant resources necessary for the performance of those services, including personnel requirements, shall be included in the department’s capital outlay support program for workload purposes in the annual Budget Act.

tribal lands, parks, pathways, transit centers, and other public spaces.

criteria and program evaluation metrics, to implement the program. The guidelines shall be exempt from the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code).

limited to, disadvantaged communities, as identified pursuant to Section 39711 of the Health and Safety Code, and low-income communities, as defined in paragraph (2) of subdivision (d) of Section 39713 of the Health and Safety Code. A project eligible pursuant to this process shall clearly demonstrate a benefit to an underserved community or be directly located in an underserved community.

demonstrated need of the applicant to address the goals of the program as described in subdivision (b).

(ii) The potential for the project to enhance and beautify a public space or spaces.

(iii) The potential for greening to provide shade, reduce the urban heat island effect, and use native, low-water plants.

(iv) The potential for abatement of litter and debris that improves access to use of a public space or spaces.

(vi) The benefit to underserved communities.

(D) Project types eligible for funding pursuant to the program

that include, but are not limited to, both of the following:

(ii) Greening and landscaping projects.

(E) A limit of five million dollars ($5,000,000) maximum per grant awarded pursuant to the program.

(F) A prohibition on grants that fund projects that displace persons experiencing homelessness.

(G) A funding distribution that takes into account the population that each project is intended to benefit relative to the total population that all projects awarded grants pursuant to the program will benefit, and

the needs of underserved communities.

to beautify and improve public spaces.

as described in subdivision (b).

include, but need not be limited to, disadvantaged communities, as identified pursuant to Section 39711 of the Health and Safety Code, and low-income communities, as defined in paragraph (2) of subdivision (d) of Section 39713 of the Health and Safety Code.

(ii) Gateway community identification projects.

(iii) Enhanced infrastructure safety measures.

not be used to displace persons experiencing homelessness.

as the department may require.

out the purchase of vehicles, equipment, or other products as needed to implement the department’s supplemental Fleet Acquisition Plan Fiscal Year 2021–22 for the acquisition of 269 medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and equipment to support litter abatement.

department rules and regulations concerning signs.

The department shall, within its maintenance programs relating to litter cleanup and abatement, assign a high priority to litter deposited along state highway segments adjoining storm drains, streams, rivers, waterways, beaches, the ocean, and other environmentally sensitive areas. The department may use litter traps in drains and any other effective technology in carrying out these responsibilities.

safety purposes.

carcasses.

and electrical transmission and distribution facilities.

or leasing, granting easements over, or entering into joint-use agreements with public utilities or other entities for facility development within department-owned rights-of-way.

storage facilities.

including consideration of

existing laws, safety, suitability, and other priorities that the department has identified for the department-owned rights-of-way.

and energy storage capacity on the various types of department-owned rights-of-way that

could feasibly be developed to achieve the goals stated in Section 454.53 of the Public Utilities Code.

the various types of department-owned rights-of-way for the development of needed electrical transmission and distribution facilities. The evaluation of suitability shall consider and prioritize the need for increased electrical transmission and distribution capacity as identified by the Public Utilities Commission, the Independent System Operator, or other balancing

authorities.

identified for the department-owned rights-of-way.

obtaining an easement or joint-use agreement for land within department-owned rights-of-way to operate and build a renewable energy generation facility, an energy storage facility, or an electrical transmission or distribution facility to apply to the department for land use agreements under terms that reasonably encompass the useful life of the project.

development of renewable energy generation facilities, energy storage facilities, and electrical transmission and distribution facilities on department-owned rights-of-way.

The department may do any act necessary, convenient or proper for the construction, improvement, maintenance or use of all highways which are under its jurisdiction, possession or control.

stakeholders, including, but not limited to, construction labor groups, contractors, utilities, local agencies, and community organizations.

optional safety device in conformance with the department’s guidance.

Where practical or desirable, the department shall, along any highway under its jurisdiction, possession, or control, replace trees that have been destroyed or removed because of projects undertaken to widen the highway.

Money from the State Highway Account available for the widening of highways shall also be available for the planting of trees pursuant to this section.

increase any hazard to vehicles on the freeway or create unreasonable problems of highway maintenance and repair.

public utility holds the department harmless for any liability caused by a disruption of service to other users of the recycled water and will defend the department in any resulting legal action and pay any damages awarded as a result of that disruption.

or water public utility has furnished the department a list of other recycled water users and information on any backup system or other source of water available for use in case of a service disruption.

means any local public agency that transmits or supplies recycled water to others.

Where a city street or county road abuts upon real property acquired by the state for freeway purposes, the department may contribute toward the cost of construction of the half of such street or road that directly fronts or abuts upon such property if such street or road was established, but not yet constructed, at the time when the location of such freeway was established by the commission.

The department shall install, in all tunnels and underpasses on state highways within metropolitan areas where the tunnel or underpass is of sufficient length to impede radio reception, wires, or other devices which will sustain reception of broadcasts by radios in vehicles traveling through the tunnels and underpasses.

The Legislature declares that the installation of such devices in state highway tunnels and underpasses is an improvement of highways within the meaning of Section 1 of Article XIX of the California Constitution since it will assist law enforcement officers in their patrol duties by enabling them to

receive essential radio calls and also will increase the enjoyment of the people in the use of the state highways.

At such locations as shall be determined by the department to be appropriate, screening shall be installed and maintained on state freeway overpasses on which pedestrians are allowed, in order to prevent objects from being dropped or thrown upon vehicles passing underneath. First consideration shall be given to freeway overpasses in urban areas.

documents pursuant to this subdivision shall be as determined by the department to be appropriate.

experts, and other relevant stakeholders in implementing this section.