BILL NUMBER: AB 1514	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Bonnie Lowenthal and Dickinson

                        JANUARY 13, 2012

   An act to amend Section 4216.6 of the Government Code, relating to
public works.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1514, as introduced, Bonnie Lowenthal. Public works:
excavations: violations.
   Existing law generally requires any person planning to conduct an
excavation to contact a regional notification center prior to
excavation, and, if practical, to delineate the areas to be
excavated. Existing law authorizes the Attorney General, a district
attorney, or the state or a local agency that issued a permit to
excavate to bring an action for the enforcement of a civil penalty
against an operator or excavator who negligently or knowingly and
willfully violates these and related provisions.
   This bill would also authorize the Public Utilities Commission to
bring an action for enforcement pursuant to the provisions described
above.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 4216.6 of the Government Code is amended to
read:
   4216.6.  (a) (1) Any operator or excavator who negligently
violates this article is subject to a civil penalty in an amount not
to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
   (2) Any operator or excavator who knowingly and willfully violates
any of the provisions of this article is subject to a civil penalty
in an amount not to exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000).
   (3) Except as otherwise specifically provided in this article,
this section is not intended to affect any civil remedies otherwise
provided by law for personal injury or for property damage, including
any damage to subsurface installations, nor is this section intended
to create any new civil remedies for those injuries or that damage.
   (4) This article shall not be construed to limit any other
provision of law granting governmental immunity to state or local
agencies or to impose any liability or duty of care not otherwise
imposed by law upon any state or local agency.
   (b) An action may be brought by the Attorney General, the district
attorney,  the Public Utilities Commission,  or the local
or state agency which issued the permit to excavate, for the
enforcement of the civil penalty pursuant to this section. If
penalties are collected as a result of a civil suit brought by a
state or local agency for collection of those civil penalties, the
penalties imposed shall be paid to the general fund of the agency. If
more than one agency is involved in enforcement, the penalties
imposed shall be apportioned among them by the court in a manner that
will fairly offset the relative costs incurred by the state or local
agencies, or both, in collecting these fees.