HB3654 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB096 06209 MJR 16291 b

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2009 and 2010
HB3654

Introduced 2/24/2009, by Rep. Mike Fortner

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

220 ILCS 50/10

from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 1610

Amends the Illinois Underground Utility Facilities Damage Prevention Act. Provides that after the effective date all new or replaced underground utility lines must be marked with detectable underground warning tape, which is able to be traced by inductive locating. Requires that the marking shall be a minimum of 6 inches and be buried as close to the ground surface as possible, or between 4 and 6 inches deep. Provides that the warning tape shall be American Public Works Association color-coded to match the type of utility line it is protecting.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning regulation.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Illinois Underground Utility Facilities Damage Prevention Act is amended by changing Section 10 as follows:

(220 ILCS 50/10) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 1610)

Sec. 10. Record of notice; marking of facilities.

(a) After the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly, all new or replaced underground utility lines must be marked with detectable underground warning tape that is able to be traced by inductive locating. The marking shall be a minimum of 6 inches and be buried as close to the ground surface as possible, or between 4 and 6 inches deep.

The warning tape shall be American Public Works Association color-coded to match the type of utility line it is protecting.

(b) Upon notice by the person engaged in excavation or demolition, the person owning or operating underground utility facilities or CATS facilities in or near the excavation or demolition area shall cause a written record to be made of the notice and shall mark, within 48 hours of receipt of notice, the approximate locations of such facilities so as to enable the person excavating or demolishing to establish the location of the underground utility facilities or CATS facilities. Owners and operators of underground sewer facilities that are located outside the boundaries of a municipality having a population of at least 1,000,000 inhabitants shall be required to respond and mark the approximate location of those sewer facilities when the excavator indicates, in the notice required in Section 4, that the excavation or demolition project will exceed a depth of 7 feet. "Depth", in this case, is defined as the distance measured vertically from the surface of the ground to the top of the sewer facility. Owners and operators of underground sewer facilities that are located outside the boundaries of a municipality having a population of at least 1,000,000 inhabitants shall be required at all times to locate the approximate location of those sewer facilities when: (1) directional boring is the indicated type of excavation work being performed within the notice; (2) the underground sewer facilities owned are non-gravity, pressurized force mains; or (3) the excavation indicated will occur in the immediate proximity of known underground sewer facilities that are less than 7 feet deep. Owners or operators of underground sewer facilities that are located outside the boundaries of a municipality having a population of at least 1,000,000 inhabitants shall not hold an excavator liable for damages that occur to sewer facilities that were not required to be marked under this Section, provided that prompt notice of the damage is made to the State-Wide One-Call Notice System and the utility owner as required in Section 7.

All persons subject to the requirements of this Act shall plan and conduct their work consistent with reasonable business practices. Conditions may exist making it unreasonable to request that locations be marked within 48 hours. It is unreasonable to request owners and operators of underground utility facilities and CATS facilities to locate all of their facilities in an affected area upon short notice in advance of a large or extensive nonemergency project, or to request extensive locates in excess of a reasonable excavation or demolition work schedule, or to request locates under conditions where a repeat request is likely to be made because of the passage of time or adverse job conditions. Owners and operators of underground utility facilities and CATS facilities must reasonably anticipate seasonal fluctuations in the number of locate requests and staff accordingly.

If a person owning or operating underground utility facilities or CATS facilities receives a notice under this Section but does not own or operate any underground utility facilities or CATS facilities within the proposed excavation or demolition area described in the notice, that person, within 48 hours after receipt of the notice, shall so notify the person engaged in excavation or demolition who initiated the notice, unless the person who initiated the notice expressly waives the right to be notified that no facilities are located within the excavation or demolition area. The notification by the owner or operator of underground utility facilities or CATS facilities to the person engaged in excavation or demolition may be provided in any reasonable manner including, but not limited to, notification in any one of the following ways: by face-to-face communication; by phone or phone message; by facsimile; by posting in the excavation or demolition area; or by marking the excavation or demolition area. The owner or operator of those facilities has discharged the owner's or operator's obligation to provide notice under this Section if the owner or operator attempts to provide notice by telephone or by facsimile, if the person has supplied a facsimile number, but is unable to do so because the person engaged in the excavation or demolition does not answer his or her telephone or does not have an answering machine or answering service to receive the telephone call or does not have a facsimile machine in operation to receive the facsimile transmission. If the owner or operator attempts to provide notice by telephone or by facsimile but receives a busy signal, that attempt shall not serve to discharge the owner or operator of the obligation to provide notice under this Section.

A person engaged in excavation or demolition may expressly waive the right to notification from the owner or operator of underground utility facilities or CATS facilities that the owner or operator has no facilities located in the proposed excavation or demolition area. Waiver of notice is only permissible in the case of regular or nonemergency locate requests. The waiver must be made at the time of the notice to the State-Wide One-Call Notice System. A waiver made under this Section is not admissible as evidence in any criminal or civil action that may arise out of, or is in any way related to, the excavation or demolition that is the subject of the waiver.

For the purposes of this Act, underground facility operators may utilize a combination of flags, stakes, and paint when possible on non-paved surfaces and when dig site and seasonal conditions warrant. If the approximate location of an underground utility facility or CATS facility is marked with stakes or other physical means, the following color coding shall be employed:

(Source: P.A. 93-430, eff. 8-5-03; 94-623, eff. 8-18-05.)