BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 661
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB
661 (Hill)
As Amended August 15, 2016
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE: 35-3
------------------------------------------------------------------
|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Utilities |10-2 |Gatto, Burke, Eggman, |Patterson, Dahle |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Cristina Garcia, | |
| | |Hadley, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Roger Hernández, | |
| | |Quirk, Santiago, | |
| | |Ting, Williams | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |12-1 |Gonzalez, Bloom, |Obernolte |
| | |Bonilla, Bonta, | |
| | |Chang, Eggman, | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
SB 661
Page 2
| | |Quirk, Santiago, | |
| | |Weber, Wood, McCarty | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Enacts the Dig Safe Act of 2016 to modify laws
governing excavations near subsurface installations. Among
other things, this bill:
1)Requires a person planning to conduct an excavation to contact
the appropriate regional notification center prior to
commencing the excavation regardless of whether it will be
conducted in an area that is known, or reasonably should be
known, to contain subsurface installations.
2)Requires an excavator to delineate the area to be excavated
before notifying the regional notification center. Specifies
the amount of time required for notification prior to an
excavation.
3)Prohibits an excavator who damages a subsurface installation
due to an inaccurate field mark by an operator from being
liable for damages and other specified costs and expenses.
4)Establishes the California Underground Facilities Safe
Excavation Advisory Board (the Board), within the Office of
the State Fire Marshall (OSFM), to investigate violations of
the state's excavation and subsurface installation laws,
coordinate education and outreach, and develop standards. The
board may obtain funding for its operational expenses from:
a) A federal or state grant.
SB 661
Page 3
b) A fee charged to members of the regional notification
centers.
c) Any other source.
5)Authorizes the Contractor's State Licensing Board (CSLB), the
California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the OSFM, and
local governments to accept, amend, or reject the
recommendations of the Board to enforce specific provisions
related to operators and excavators whose activities or
business fall within the agency's statutorily defined
enforcement jurisdiction as follows:
a) The Registrar of Contractors of the CSLB enforces
violations by licensed contractors.
b) The CPUC enforces violations by investor-owned electric
and gas operators, telecommunication companies, and water
corporations.
c)OSFM enforces violations by operators of hazardous liquid
pipeline facilities.
d)Local governments may enforce against local agencies under
their jurisdictions.
6)Creates a Safe Energy Infrastructure and Excavation Fund and
requires penalties to be deposited in the fund, for
appropriation by the Legislature, for operational expenses and
education and outreach, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)Unknown diversion of penalty revenues, in the millions
annually, from the General Fund (GF) to the Safe Energy
SB 661
Page 4
Infrastructure and Excavation Fund, created by this bill.
2)Increased first-year costs of $5.8 million (23 Personnel Year
(PY)) and ongoing costs of $3.6 million for OSFM/California
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to support the
Board with potential minor offsets from fee revenue generated
from regional notification centers (GF/Special Fund).
3)Increased CSLB first year costs of $190,000 and ongoing annual
costs of $175,000 to process Advisory Committee
recommendations for disciplinary actions. CSLB notes there
will also be increased Attorney General (AG) costs to
prosecute the most egregious actions. Using the current
referral rate to the AG of 3% (approximately 150 cases) and
$5,000 per case, estimated annual ongoing costs are $750,000.
4)Minor, absorbable CPUC costs.
COMMENTS:
1)Background: According to the author, roughly 7,000 of
California's natural gas pipelines are hit every year, and it
is estimated that roughly half of them occur because the
excavator failed to use the free 8-1-1 service so that pipes
can be located and marked before digging.
Both the National Transportation Safety Board and the federal
pipeline safety regulator, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration (PHMSA), have identified
call-before-you-dig laws as a means of improving excavation
safety. PHMSA, in adopting regulations requiring distribution
pipeline companies to develop comprehensive risk-based
pipeline safety programs, explored best practices in
SB 661
Page 5
excavation enforcement. In 2005, its working group found the
states that have had the most success house enforcement in a
centralized agency responsible for pipeline safety.
California relies on the AG and district attorneys to enforce
the one-call law, though regulatory authorities such as the
CPUC, OSFM, and CSLB have broad jurisdiction over gas pipeline
and electric operators, hazardous liquid operators, and
contractors, respectively, and thus have the ability to
enforce safe operations on those entities within their
jurisdictions.
However, according to the author, existing authorities have
rarely been used, except for a recent CPUC investigation into
PG&E recordkeeping practices on its distribution system, which
explores excavation issues.
2)Prior Legislation: Last year, the Governor vetoed SB 119
(Hill) of 2015 that would have created the California
Underground Facilities Safe Excavation Advisory Committee,
within CSLB, to enforce existing and new provisions related to
safe excavation. The Governor's veto message included the
following:
I understand that the telecommunications and cable
companies have resisted providing explicit enforcement
authority to the Public Utilities Commission over
excavation safety. However, it is the Public
Utilities Commission, and not the Contractors' State
Licensing Board, that has the technical expertise and
funds and should be given full authority to enforce
and regulate excavation activities near subsurface
installations.
SB 661
Page 6
This is a matter of public safety, and I look forward
to working closely with the author to achieve our
mutual goal.
Analysis Prepared by:
Sue Kateley / U. & C. / (916) 319-2083 FN:
0004219