Bill Text: CT HB05118 | 2014 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: An Act Concerning The Underground Damage Prevention Program.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-02-14 - Public Hearing 02/20 [HB05118 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2014-HB05118-Introduced.html

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General Assembly		Raised Bill No. 5118
February Session, 2014		LCO No. 981
		*00981_______ET_*
Referred to Committee on ENERGY AND TECHNOLOGY
Introduced by:
(ET)

AN ACT CONCERNING THE UNDERGROUND DAMAGE PREVENTION PROGRAM.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. Section 16-345 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2015):

As used in this chapter:

[(a)] (1) "Person" means an individual, partnership, corporation, limited liability company or association, including a person engaged as a contractor by a public agency but excluding a public agency.

[(b)] (2) "Public agency" means the state or any political subdivision thereof, including any governmental agency.

[(c)] (3) "Public utility" means the owner or operator of underground facilities for furnishing electric, gas, telephone, telegraph, communications, pipeline, sewage, water, community television antenna, steam, [or] traffic signal, fire signal or similar service, including a municipal or other public owner or operator. A public utility does not include the owner of facilities for utility service solely for such owner's private residence.

[(d)] (4) "Central clearinghouse" means the [group of] organization organized and operated by public utilities [formed] pursuant to section 16-348, as amended by this act, for the purposes of receiving and giving notice of excavation, discharge of explosives and demolition activity within the state.

[(e)] (5) "Excavation" means an operation for the purposes of movement or removal of earth, rock or other materials in or on the ground, or otherwise disturbing the subsurface of the earth, by the use of powered or mechanized equipment, including but not limited to digging, blasting, auguring, back filling, test boring, drilling, pile driving, grading, plowing-in, hammering, pulling-in, trenching, [and] tunneling, dredging, reclamation processes and milling; excluding [the movement of earth by tools manipulated only by human or animal power and] the tilling of soil for agricultural purposes.

[(f)] (6) "Demolition" means the wrecking, razing, rending, moving or removing of any structure.

[(g)] (7) "Damage" includes, but is not limited to, the substantial weakening of structural or lateral support of a utility [line] facility such that the continued integrity of such utility facility is or is likely to be imperiled, penetration or destruction of any utility [line] facility protective coating, housing or other protective device or the severance, partial or complete, of any utility [line] facility.

[(h)] (8) ["Approximate location of underground facilities"] "Approximate location of an underground utility facility" means a strip of land not more than three feet wide centered on the actual location of an underground utility facility or a strip of land extending not more than one and one-half feet on either side of the actual location of an underground [facilities] utility facility.

Sec. 2. Section 16-346 of the 2014 supplement to the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2015):

No person, public agency or public utility shall engage in excavation, [or] discharge of explosives [at or near the location of a public utility underground facility or demolish a structure located at or near or containing a public utility facility] or demolition without having first ascertained the location of all underground facilities of public utilities in the area of such excavation, discharge or demolition in the manner prescribed in this chapter and in such regulations as the [authority] Public Utilities Regulatory Authority shall adopt pursuant to section 16-357.

Sec. 3. Section 16-347 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2015):

A public utility shall [file] register with the [Public Utilities Regulatory Authority the location of its] central clearinghouse the geographic areas in which it owns or operates underground facilities, [except facilities for storm sewers,] by reference to a standard [grid] mapping system, to be established by the [authority] central clearinghouse, and the title, address and telephone number of its representative designated to receive the notice required by section 16-349, as amended by this act.

Sec. 4. Section 16-348 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2015):

The public utilities of the state shall, under the direction of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, organize and operate a central clearinghouse within the state for receiving and giving the notices required by section 16-349, as amended by this act. The authority shall apportion the cost of this service equitably among the public utilities, [for those underground facilities registered with the authority, as provided in section 16-347, except sanitary sewer or water facilities owned or operated by] except a city, town or borough that owns or operates only a sanitary sewer or water facilities.

Sec. 5. Section 16-349 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2015):

Except as provided in section 16-352, as amended by this act, a person, public agency or public utility responsible for excavating, [or] discharging explosives [at or near the location of public utility facilities] or demolishing a structure [containing a public utility facility] shall notify the central clearinghouse of such proposed excavation, discharge or demolition [, orally or in writing, at least two full days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, but not more than thirty days before commencing such excavation, demolition or discharge of explosives] in a manner as prescribed by regulations adopted pursuant to section 16-357. Such notice shall include the name, address and telephone number of the [entity giving notice, the name of the] person, public agency or public utility performing the [work] excavation, discharge of explosives or demolition and the date, location and type of excavation, demolition or discharge of explosives. The central clearinghouse shall immediately transmit such information to the public utilities whose facilities may be affected. In the event the proposed excavation, demolition or discharge of explosives has not [commenced] been completed within [thirty days] the allotted time frame prescribed by regulation of such notification, or the excavation, demolition or discharge of explosives will be expanded outside of the location originally specified in such notification, the person, public agency or public utility responsible for such excavation, demolition or discharge of explosives shall again notify the central clearinghouse [at least two full days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, but not more than thirty days before commencing or expanding such excavation, demolition or discharge of explosives] in a manner as prescribed by regulations adopted pursuant to section 16-357.

Sec. 6. Section 16-351 of the 2014 supplement to the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2015):

A public utility receiving notice pursuant to section 16-349, as amended by this act, shall inform the person, public agency or public utility proposing to excavate, discharge explosives or demolish [a structure] of the approximate location of its underground facilities in the area in such manner as will enable such person, public agency or public utility to establish the [precise] actual location of the underground facilities, and shall provide such other assistance in establishing the [precise] actual location of the underground facilities as the authority may require by [regulation] regulations adopted pursuant to section 16-357. Such person, public agency or public utility shall designate the area of the proposed excavation, demolition or discharge of explosives as the authority may prescribe by [regulation] regulations adopted pursuant to section 16-357. The public utility receiving notice shall mark the approximate location of its underground facilities in such manner and using such methods, including color coding, as the authority may prescribe by [regulation] regulations adopted pursuant to section 16-357. If the [precise] actual location of the underground facilities cannot be established, the person, public agency or public utility shall so notify the public utility whose facilities may be affected, which shall provide such further assistance as may be needed to determine the [precise] actual location of the underground facilities in advance of the proposed excavation, discharge of explosives or demolition.

Sec. 7. Section 16-352 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2015):

(a) In case of emergency involving danger to life, health or property or which requires immediate correction to continue the operation of a major industrial plant, or to assure the continuity of public utility service, excavation or demolition without explosives may be made without [the two day] notice required by section 16-349, as amended by this act, provided notice thereof [by telephone] is given as soon as reasonably possible.

(b) In case of an emergency involving an immediate and substantial danger of death or serious personal injury, explosives may be discharged if notice thereof is given at any time before discharge.

Sec. 8. Section 16-354 of the 2014 supplement to the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2015):

A person, public agency or public utility responsible for excavating, discharging explosives or demolition shall exercise reasonable care when working in proximity to the underground facilities of any public utility and shall comply with such safety standards and other requirements as the authority shall prescribe by [regulation] regulations adopted pursuant to section 16-357. If the facilities are likely to be exposed, such support shall be provided as may be reasonably necessary for protection of the facilities. If [gas facilities are likely to be exposed] excavation is within the approximate location of facilities containing combustible or hazardous fluids or gases, only hand digging or soft digging shall be employed. As used in this section, "soft digging" means a nonmechanical and nondestructive process used to excavate and evacuate soils at a controlled rate, using high pressure water or air jet to break up the soil, often used in conjunction with a high power vacuum unit to extract the soil without damaging the facilities.

Sec. 9. Section 16-355 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2015):

When any contact is made with or any damage is suspected or done to any underground facility of a public utility, the person, public agency or public utility responsible for the operations causing the contact, suspected damage or damage shall immediately notify the public utility whose facilities have been affected, which shall dispatch its own personnel as soon as reasonably possible to inspect the underground facility and, if necessary, effect temporary or permanent repairs. If a serious electrical short is occurring or if dangerous fluids or gas are escaping from a broken line, the person, public agency or public utility responsible for the operations causing the damage shall alert all persons within the danger area and take all feasible steps to insure the public safety pending the arrival of repair personnel. As used in this section, "contact" includes, without limitation, the striking, scraping or denting, however slight, of any underground utility facility, [the structural or lateral support of an underground utility line and] including any underground utility [line] facility protective coating, housing or other protective device. Contact does not include damage, as defined in section 16-345, as amended by this act.

Sec. 10. Section 16-356 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2015):

Any person, public agency or public utility which the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority determines, after notice and opportunity for a hearing as provided in section 16-41, to have failed to comply with any provision of this chapter or any regulation adopted under section 16-357 shall forfeit and pay to the state a civil penalty of not more than forty thousand dollars, provided any violation involving the failure of a public utility to mark [the] any approximate location of an underground [facilities] utility facility correctly or within the timeframes prescribed by regulation, which violation did not result in any property damage or personal injury and was not the result of an act of gross negligence on the part of the public utility, shall not result in a civil penalty of more than one thousand dollars. Notwithstanding the provisions contained in subsection (d) of section 16-41, the person, public agency or public utility receiving a notice of violation pursuant to subsection (c) of section 16-41 shall have thirty days from the date of receipt of the notice in which to deliver to the authority a written application for a hearing.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1	October 1, 2015	16-345
Sec. 2	October 1, 2015	16-346
Sec. 3	October 1, 2015	16-347
Sec. 4	October 1, 2015	16-348
Sec. 5	October 1, 2015	16-349
Sec. 6	October 1, 2015	16-351
Sec. 7	October 1, 2015	16-352
Sec. 8	October 1, 2015	16-354
Sec. 9	October 1, 2015	16-355
Sec. 10	October 1, 2015	16-356

Statement of Purpose:

To update statutes relating to the Call Before You Dig program to reflect current practices and technologies.

[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]