Governor Gavin Newsom ordered state agencies to clear homeless encampments from their properties last summer, holding up the California Department of Transportation as an example of how it should be done.

In the more than nine months since, cities up and down the state have complained that Caltrans isn't doing enough.

As cities push unhoused people off their downtown sidewalks and out of their parks, people often resort to sleeping on Caltrans' land, alongside highway off-and-on ramps, on medians, or under overpasses.

City officials and staff say the state agency is slow, sometimes taking months to respond to their requests to clear an encampment.

They complain the agency doesn't consistently tell them when it plans to clear a camp, and for the most part, city workers are barred from going onto Caltrans' property to do the job themselves.

Senate Bill 569 is making its way through the legislature.

The bill would require the state agency to hire a liaison to communicate with local governments, and it would lay out timelines that make it clear when Caltrans should respond after a city asks it to clear an encampment.

The bill also would make it easier for cities to go onto Caltrans' prop.. and use their own resources and personnel to remove encampments and offer services.

It would allow, but not require, Caltrans to reimburse cities for those efforts.

Caltrans spent more than $51 million addressing encampments in the 2023-24 fiscal year, according to an analysis of Blakespear's bill by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

If the bill passes, Caltrans told the committee it would cost about $200,000 per year to hire the liaison tasked with overseeing communication between the state agency and local governments.

Caltrans refused an interview request and did not respond to emailed questions about its process for working with cities to clear encampments or about the Senate bill.

The agency hasn't publicly endorsed or opposed the bill.

For CalMatters, I'm Marisa Kendall.