BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 661|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 661
Author: Hill (D)
Amended: 1/4/16
Vote: 21
PRIOR VOTE NOT RELEVANT
SENATE BUS, PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMMITTEE: 8-0, 1/11/16
AYES: Hill, Bates, Berryhill, Block, Galgiani, Hernandez,
Jackson, Wieckowski
NO VOTE RECORDED: Mendoza
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 5-1, 1/12/16
AYES: Jackson, Hertzberg, Leno, Monning, Wieckowski
NOES: Moorlach
NO VOTE RECORDED: Anderson
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 6-1, 1/21/16
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza
NOES: Nielsen
SUBJECT: Protection of subsurface installations
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill modifies "call before you dig" laws governing
excavations near subsurface installations. Among other things,
this bill enhances the existing enforcement powers of specified
state entities, revises liability provisions that apply to the
pre-excavation notification and subsurface installation marking
requirements for operators and excavators, and establishes the
California Underground Facilities Safe Excavation Advisory
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Committee to enforce laws relating to the protection of
underground infrastructure, as specified.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1) Licenses and regulates more than 300,000 contractors under
the Contractors State License Law (Contractors Law) by the
Contractors State License Board (CSLB) within the Department
of Consumer Affairs. The CSLB is under the direction of the
registrar of contractors. (Business and Professions Code
(BPC) § 7000 et seq.)
2) Requires all owners of subsurface infrastructure, such as
gas, oil, and water pipes, electrical and telecommunications
conduits, etc., (except the Department of Transportation) to
participate in and fund regional notification ("one-call")
centers. (Government Code (GC) § 4216.1)
3) Exempts owners of non-pressurized sewer lines and storm
drains from needing to become members of the one-call
centers. (GC § 4216)
4) Requires persons performing excavations to call one-call
centers to have the locations of underground facilities
marked before starting an excavation (GC § 4216.2), but
exempts homeowners and other private property owners from
this requirement for excavations on their own property. (GC
§ 4216.8)
5) Requires owners of subsurface installations to mark their
underground facilities within two working days of receiving a
notification. (GC § 4216.3)
6) Requires excavators to use hand tools within two feet on
each side of a marked line indicating a subsurface facility
to determine where that facility is before using any power
excavating equipment. (GC § 4216.4)
7) Provides that an excavator or operator who violates
excavation requirements to be subject to the following:
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a) A civil penalty up to $10,000 for negligent
violations.
b) A civil penalty up to $50,000 for knowing and willful
violations.
c) Additional civil remedies provided for in law for
personal injury and property damages.
d) Any actions brought forth by the Attorney General,
district attorney, or local or state agency that issued
the excavation permit, to enforce the civil penalties
listed above. (GC § 4216.6)
1) States that operators and excavators are liable for damages
caused from violations of the one-call law, and that
operators who fail to participate in the one-call centers
cannot claim damages from an excavator who has complied with
the law. (GC § 4216.7)
2) Authorizes CSLB to issue a citation for a violation of
Contractors Law in lieu of license denial, suspension, or
revocation. (BPC § 7099, 16 CCR § 884)
3) Requires CSLB to initiate a disciplinary action against a
licensee within 30 days of receipt of a certified copy of the
Labor Commissioner's finding of a willful or deliberate
violation of the Labor Code by a licensee. (BPC § 7110.5)
This bill:
1) Establishes the California Underground Facilities Safe
Excavation Advisory Committee (the Advisory Committee),
within the CSLB, to investigate violations of the state's
excavation and subsurface installation laws, to coordinate
education and outreach, and develop standards.
2)Creates a Safe Energy Infrastructure and Excavation Fund to
cover administrative costs of the Advisory Committee, an
education program, and a workforce training program. The
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administrative costs and programs will be funded by fines
levied on gas and electric companies for safety violations,
grants, fees charged to regional notification center members,
filing fees from complaint hearings, and any other source.
3)Authorizes the CSLB, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC),
and the Office of the State Fire Marshal to accept, amend, or
reject the recommendations of the Advisory Committee to
enforce specific provisions related to operators and
excavators whose activities or business falls within the
agency's statutorily defined enforcement jurisdiction.
4)Requires an excavator to delineate the area to be excavated
before notifying the regional notification center, as
specified.
5)Provides that in an action for reimbursement or
indemnification for a claim arising from damage to a
subsurface installation in which a court finds that the
excavator complied with the requirements of the law, the
excavator may be awarded reasonable attorney's fees and
expenses.
6)Requires, if the operator of a high-priority subsurface
installation finds that the depth of the subsurface
installation subject to agricultural activities is
insufficient to safely perform those activities, the operator
must send notification of the potential hazard to the
landowner by registered mail. Within specified days of that
notification, the operator must go to the site at a time
mutually agreed upon by both parties, and identify the
location and depth of the high-priority subsurface
installation with permanent markers.
7)Requires each gas company to collect data to inform its
outreach activities, including:
a) Damages to underground PUC-regulated pipeline facilities
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that occur during the performance of landscaping activities
from the day of enactment of this bill until January 1,
2020,
b) All claims filed by a gas company against an excavator
for damage to a PUC-regulated pipeline facility,
c) Any other information that the PUC may require.
1)Requires real property owners, as specified, to call a
regional call center when excavating on their property and
using any tools other than hand tools, regardless of whether
the work being performed requires a permit. Provides that a
person complying with the notification provisions is not
relieved of his or her duty to perform any excavation with
reasonable care to prevent damage to subsurface installations.
2)Makes numerous findings and declarations regarding the
efficiency of regional notification centers, including among
others, more effective methods of coordination and
communication to increase safety, timely responses to request
for field markings, and better coordination with the
Department of Transportation (Caltrans).
3) Revises definitions of terms used regarding excavation and
subsurface installation.
4) Titles this bill the "Dig Safe Act of 2016."
5) Adds an exemption to the definition of excavation for
removal of sediment in a flood control facility operated by a
city, county, or flood control district.
6) Sunsets all exemptions to the definition of excavation on
January 1, 2020.
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7) Clarifies that an excavator and operator may mutually agree
to a different notice and start date for an excavation.
8) Provides that liquidated damages, liability, losses, costs,
and expenses may be awarded to an excavator for an operator's
non-compliance only if the operator did not have a reasonable
basis for the non-compliance.
9) Clarifies that a homeowner, when using the 8-1-1 service,
may use the 8-1-1 service at any time in advance of an
excavation, but should do so at least two working days before
beginning the excavation.
10)Clarifies that the PUC may not use training funds to fulfill
existing requirements or fund ongoing operations.
11)Adds sewer lateral language for residential and
non-residential buildings into the Health and Safety Code
that requires indication of the location of the sewers.
12)Rewrites Caltrans-related findings and declarations and
states that Caltrans actively communicate with excavators
where infrastructure is located.
13)Strikes redundant sentences regarding remarking and
redelineation.
14)States that hand tools need to be used around facilities in
conflict with the excavation within the tolerance zone
(similar to current law), and requires the Advisory Committee
to clarify best practices for extra hand digging beyond the
depth of excavation and beyond the identification of the
facility, as specified.
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15)States that, in developing standards for using tracer wire
in sewer laterals and other drain lines, a lateral is
something that flows either into the public right-of-way or
into a utility easement.
16)Includes the two one-call centers - one from the north and
one from the south - instead of just one as nonvoting ex
officio members of the Advisory Committee.
17)Exempts gas utility notification of schools and hospitals
three days before excavation when that excavation is being
performed to locate and mark a line within two working days.
Background
Excavation Safety: A Reoccurring Issue. It is difficult to
determine the scope of the problem from a collection of tragic
anecdotes, but California has recently had a number of near-miss
incidents, the following of which are a sampling that have
attracted media attention:
On November 6, 2011, PG&E was conducting a water pressure test
on the gas pipeline that had exploded a year earlier, south of
the San Bruno explosion site in nearby Woodside. The pipe
ruptured, causing a mudslide that shut down I-280 for four
hours. A dent was found at the point of rupture, caused by an
unknown, unreported excavation accident.
On June 28, 2012, power pole work in San Joaquin County caused
the severing of an underground fiber optic cable, resulting in
a 911 outage as well as internet, land line, and cellular
service disruption in Amador County. Full system function
wasn't restored for more than 24 hours.
On August 2, 2012, an excavator clipped a gas line with a
backhoe at the same intersection which had erupted in the
September 2010 explosion in San Bruno, prompting evacuations.
The contractor had failed to use proper excavation techniques.
On March 12, 2013, a Berkeley homeowner hired a day laborer to
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do sewer work, who hit the gas line with a pick, igniting the
gas and burning the front of a home and a van parked outside.
No call was made to have gas lines marked.
On March 15, 2013, a subcontractor punctured a steel pipe in
Fresno, causing the evacuation of over 300 homes and
businesses. Excavation was faulty for numerous reasons.
On April 24, 2013, a pavement recycling vehicle hit a 3-inch
natural gas line in Bakersfield, causing an explosion that
engulfed the vehicle in flames. No one was injured. The
excavator appeared to follow applicable laws and protocols,
but the gas line was much closer to the road surface than
expected. The pipeline operator maintains that hand-digging
was required to locate the pipe depth.
On October 24, 2014, a farmer who was ripping a field
southwest of Bakersfield struck one of PG&E's backbone
transmission lines causing the fire department to create an
eight-square-mile "exclusion zone" that temporarily closed
schools and required sheltering-in-place.
On November 13, 2015, an agricultural contractor hit one of
PG&E's two main transmission lines that run from the Arizona
border into its Bakersfield service territory. The operator of
the heavy machinery was killed, and two people nearby suffered
serious burns.
PG&E has also reported that its underground facilities were
struck 1,878 times in 2014, or just over five per day.
Between 2011 and 2013, CSLB received 13 complaints from
operators. However, in 2014, they received 100 complaints.
Regional Notification Centers. Current law requires an
individual or entity wishing to perform an excavation and dig,
drill, or bore below the ground to inform the regional
notification center of a planned excavation to ensure that
owners of underground facilities in the area can mark their
facilities and prevent excavators from damaging their property.
Regional notification centers in California include the
Underground Service Alert - Northern California, and the
Underground Service Alert - Southern California.
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CSLB describes a regional notification center as "an association
of owners and operators of subsurface installations (water, gas,
electric, telephone, sewer, oil lines, etc.). Damage to
underground structures may result in the disruption of essential
services and pose a threat to workers, the public and
environmental safety. The purpose of the center is to provide a
single telephone number that excavators can use to give the
center's members advance notification of their intent to
excavate. The operators of the underground installations are
then responsible for providing information about the locations
of the facility, or marking or staking the approximate location
of their facility, or advising the excavator of clearance. The
operators are only responsible for any facility they own."
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, this bill will
result in: 1) unknown penalty revenues, in the millions
annually, from the General Fund to the Safe Energy
Infrastructure and Excavation Fund, 2) initial costs of
approximately $2.4 million, with ongoing costs of approximately
$2.1 million to fund the Advisory Committee, 3) costs of
approximately $190,000 initially, and $175,000 annually ongoing
for CSLB staff time to administer disciplinary actions of the
Advisory Committee, and 4) one-time costs in the range of
$110,000 to $190,000 for the Building Standards Commission staff
to develop and adopt non-residential building standards for the
installation of tracer wire or tape for nonpressurized sewers.
Also, the Senate Appropriations Committee mentions minor and
absorbable costs for the Fire Marshal and PUC.
SUPPORT: (Verified1/22/16)
Associated General Contractors
AT&T
California Council of Laborers
California Labor Federation
California Landscape Contractors Association
California Legislative Conference on the Plumbing, Heating, and
Piping Industry
National Electrical Contractors Association
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Southern California Contractors Association
Underground Service Alert of Southern California
United Contractors
Western Line Constructors Chapter, Inc.
OPPOSITION: (Verified1/22/16)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: Proponents of this bill underscore that
"in order for an excavation safety program to work properly,
contractors and facility owners must be active participants and
equally accountable for safe excavation practices around
underground facilities. Contractors must notify the One Call
Centers of their intent to excavate, when required, and the
facility operators must mark their facilities correctly and in a
timely manner. Therefore, we feel that the following provisions,
taken together and not separately, are vital to promoting safe
excavation in California."
Prepared by:Mark Mendoza / B., P. & E.D. / (916) 651-1868
1/25/16 16:16:49
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