Final report of Dig Law workgroup released

During the 2019 legislative session, the Legislature directed the Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) to convene a workgroup on preventing underground utility damage. Stakeholders included the state’s 811 service provider, cities, counties, public and private utility companies, public utility districts, construction and excavator companies, water/sewer districts, and UTC personnel. Stakeholder participants identified the following recommendations:

• Change the makeup of the safety committee by dropping the insurance seat and adding a seat to be occupied by a water/sewer district representative, leaving the total membership of the safety committee at thirteen;
• Change the makeup of complaint review panels, which will continue to have three to five members, by requiring each panel to have at least one excavator representative and one facility owner/operator representative, and no mandate to have a pipeline representative or an insurance representative on each panel;
• Add language to the definition of “marking” providing that “locate marks do not require the depth of facilities to be indicated;” and
• Add language requiring excavators to notify 911 if they damage an underground facility in addition to notifying 811 and making a reasonable attempt to notify the owner of the buried facility.

The workgroup agreed to take advantage of the momentum gained during the facilitated workshops and will continue the stakeholder discussions on their own. The group has identified and prioritized specific issues for further discussion for future workgroup sessions. View the workgroup’s final report.