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AB-220 Highways: deicing.(1991-1992)

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AB220:v93#DOCUMENT

Assembly Bill No. 220
CHAPTER 318

An act to add Section 95.6 to the Streets and Highways Code, relating to highways.

[ Filed with Secretary of State  August 05, 1991. Approved by Governor  August 05, 1991. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 220, Hauser. Highways: deicing.
Under existing law, the Department of Transportation is required to improve and maintain the state highways.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations relative to the use of salt as a highway deicing agent. The bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 1992, to adopt and implement a state highway deicing policy which would be contained in a plan and method required to be submitted to the Legislature, as specified.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a)  The use of deicing salt on some California state highways has resulted in environmental damage to trees and other roadside vegetation.
(b)  Deicing salt causes corrosion problems to public infrastructure and private automobiles.
(c)  Reduced use of deicing materials increases the number of vehicular accidents and results in additional delays in the movement of interstate transportation.
(d)  The Department of Transportation, pursuant to Resolution Chapter 157 of the Statutes of 1989, evaluated the use of a deicing salt substitute on state highways and reported its findings and recommendations to the Legislature and the Governor.
(e)  Where environmental damage from salt use is considered too great, it is necessary to develop a snow and ice removal policy that does not compromise the safety of the motoring public.
(f)  It is the intent of the Legislature that the use of salt as a primary deicing agent on state highways be reviewed on a route-by-route basis, with priority being given to areas already damaged by the cumulative effect of the drought and road salt, including, but not limited to, the Lake Tahoe Basin, with the objective that the use of salt be reduced from the yearly average use during the period 1976 to 1988, inclusive, or replaced with an environmentally safe deicing method.

SEC. 2.

 Section 95.6 is added to the Streets and Highways Code, to read:

95.6.
 (a)  The department shall adopt and implement, on or before July 1, 1992, a deicing policy for state highways. The policy shall be set forth in a plan and method for deicing state highways, using all appropriate deicing technologies, while at the same time maintaining highway safety.
(b)  The plan shall be submitted to the Legislature on or before July 1, 1992. All or part of the elements of the plan shall be incorporated in the department’s budget proposal for the 1992–93 fiscal year and budget proposals for subsequent fiscal years. The department shall examine all possible funding sources.
(c)  The plan shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:
(1)  A review of research conducted in California and other states on the use of deicing salt substitutes and deicing technologies.
(2)  When available, the incorporation of applicable technical findings of the ongoing study by the Transportation Research Board of the National Research Council which will analyze the costs to the public and private sectors, including, but not limited to, damage to vegetation, highway structures, and motor vehicles, of using salt as a deicing agent as compared with the use of commercially available substitute deicing materials or techniques.
(3)  A plan for reducing or eliminating the use of salt as a primary deicing agent on specified routes, including, but not limited to, State Highway Routes 28, 50, 80, and 89 in the Lake Tahoe Basin, and substituting environmentally safe deicing techniques where significant environmental damage has already occurred, in accordance with the legislative intent expressed in subdivision (f) of Section 1 of the act which added this section.
(4)  An analysis of the direct cost to each state transportation district for both initial capital costs, including repair of road salt’s environmental damage, and annual costs to convert to an environmentally safe deicing policy.