HSB 538 (LSB 5443YC (1) 90)

HOUSE FILE _____ 

BY  (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE BILL BY CHAIRPERSON LUNDGREN)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to required timing for notices regarding underground facility excavations.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 480.1, Code 2024, is amended by adding the following new subsection:
   NEW SUBSECTION.  5A.  “Forty-eight-hour period” means a period of forty-eight consecutive hours beginning at 6:00 a.m. the next business day from the day the notification center receives a notice and excludes Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays.
    Sec. 2.  Section 480.4, subsection 1, paragraph a, Code 2024, is amended to read as follows:
   a.  Except as otherwise provided in this section, prior to any excavation, an excavator shall contact the notification center and provide notice of the planned excavation occurring after a forty-eight-hour period. This notice must be given at least forty-eight hours prior to the commencement of the excavation, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays. Notices received after 5:00 p.m. shall be processed as if received at 8:00 a.m. the next business day. The notice shall be valid for twenty calendar days from the date beginning on the day the notice was provided to the notification center forty-eight-hour period concludes. If all locating and marking of underground facilities is completed prior to the expiration of the forty-eight-hour period, the excavator may proceed with excavation upon being notified by the notification center that the locating and marking of all underground facilities is complete. The notification center shall establish a toll-free telephone number to allow excavators to provide the notice required pursuant to this subsection.
    Sec. 3.  Section 480.4, subsection 3, paragraph a, subparagraph (1), Code 2024, is amended to read as follows:
   (1)  An operator who receives notice from the notification center shall mark the horizontal location of the operator’s underground facility and the excavator shall use due care in excavating in the marked area to avoid damaging the underground facility. The operator shall complete such locating and marking, and shall notify the notification center that the marking is complete within forty-eight hours after receiving the notice, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, the forty-eight-hour period unless otherwise agreed by the operator and the excavator. No later than the expiration of the forty-eight-hour period, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, the notification center shall notify the excavator of the underground facility locating and marking status, or the failure of the operator to notify the center that the locating and marking is complete. The locating and marking of the underground facilities shall be completed at no cost to the excavator. If, in the opinion of the operator, the planned excavation requires that the precise location of the underground facilities be determined, the excavator, unless otherwise agreed upon between the excavator and the operator, shall hand dig test holes to determine the location of the facilities unless the operator specifies an alternate method.
    Sec. 4.  Section 480.4, subsection 3, paragraph b, Code 2024, is amended to read as follows:
   b.  An operator who receives notice from the notification center and who determines that the operator does not have any underground facility located within the proposed area of excavation shall notify the notification center concerning this determination within forty-eight hours after receiving the notice, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays the forty-eight-hour period. No later than the expiration of the forty-eight-hour period, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, the notification center shall notify the excavator that the operator does not have any underground facilities within the proposed area of excavation.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill relates to required timing for notices regarding underground facility excavations.
   The bill modifies the requirement for an excavator or an operator to provide notice to the notification center prior to a planned excavation, after locating and marking the area for excavation, or when no underground facility is located in the proposed area. A notice for a planned excavation initiates a 48-hour period and other required notices must occur within the 48-hour period. A “forty-eight-hour period” is defined in the bill as 48 consecutive hours beginning at 6:00 a.m. the next business day after the notification center receives a notice and excludes Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays. The bill strikes language relating to the treatment of notices received by the notification center after 5:00 p.m. being processed as if received at 8:00 a.m. the following day.
   The bill provides that notice shall be valid for 20 calendar days after the conclusion of the 48-hour period. Current law provides that notice is valid for 20 calendar days from the date the notice was provided to the notification center.