BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 661
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB
661 (Hill)
As Amended August 19, 2016
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE: 35-3
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|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, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
SB 661
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| | |Eduardo Garcia, Quirk, | |
| | |Santiago, Weber, Wood, | |
| | |McCarty | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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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.
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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)OFSM 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.
7)Defines terms used in the article in statute.
8)Establish an "area of continual excavation" ticket of one year
in length for areas in which excavation is the business of the
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property, including agriculture and flood control facilities.
9)Direct the Board to determine through regulation how to
address "area of continual excavation" ticket renewal in areas
in which no subsurface installations are present.
10)Prohibit the regional notification centers from charging an
excavator to provide a ticket.
11)Provide that, during a meeting between an excavator and an
operator before digging near a high priority subsurface
installation, the information that the operator shall provide
to the excavator to verify the installation's location shall
be discussed.
12)State that the CPUC existing authority over a public utility
is not affected.
13)State the CSLB is the enforcement entity for a telephone
corporation, when the telephone corporation is acting as
contractor.
14)Provide that one Governor appointee of the Board shall have
an agricultural background, and that the locator position is a
Senate appointee.
15)Provide that excavation using pneumatic hand tools for the
purpose of locating a gas facility does not require three day
notification if in the vicinity of a school or hospital.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
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Committee:
1)Unknown diversion of penalty revenues, in the millions
annually, from the General Fund (GF) to the Safe Energy
Infrastructure and Excavation Fund, created by this bill.
2)Increased first-year costs of $5.8 million (23 Personnel Year)
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. CLSB 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
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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
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, OFSM, 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
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technical expertise and funds and should be given
full authority to enforce and regulate excavation
activities near subsurface installations.
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:
0004719