811 Locate Exemption For County Road Maintenance

Current law requires an individual or entity to notify the statewide notification association of all owners and operators of underground facilities of its intent to engage in excavation so that any underground facilities, such as water and sewer pipes, gas lines, and electric or cable lines, that the excavation might affect can be located and marked before excavation begins. Underground facilities are often located beneath county gravel and dirt roads, normally at a depth of at least 18 inches below the road surface. Counties maintain the profile and surface condition of such county roads and county road rights-of-way by engaging in routine and emergency maintenance activities that do not disturb more than 6 inches in depth. These maintenance activities currently trigger the excavation notification requirement, and the related requirement that the location of underground facilities be marked, even though they occur above the levels where underground facilities are located. To prevent such activities from triggering the excavation notification requirement, the bill specifies that "excavation" does not include routine or emergency maintenance of right-of-way on county-owned gravel or dirt roads performed by county employees that:

• Does not lower the existing grade or elevation of the road, shoulder, and ditches; and
• Does not disturb more than 6 inches in depth during maintenance operations.
  (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)