UTILITIES-EXCAVATION

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104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
HB4731

Introduced , by Rep. Lawrence "Larry" Walsh, Jr.

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

220 ILCS 50/2

from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 1602

Amends the Illinois Underground Utility Facilities Damage Prevention
Act. Provides that "excavation" does not include an excavation for the
purpose of connecting a communications service customer's home or business
to the communications service provider's own communications network that
is performed: (i) only with a hand tool, (ii) by a communications service
provider, and (iii) to a depth not greater than 12 inches. Effective
immediately.
LRB104 18437 AAS 31879 b

A BILL FOR

HB4731
LRB104 18437 AAS 31879 b
1

AN ACT concerning regulation.

2

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3
represented in the General Assembly:

4

Section 5.
The Illinois Underground Utility Facilities
5
Damage Prevention Act is amended by changing Section 2 as
6
follows:

7

(220 ILCS 50/2)

(from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 1602)
8

Sec. 2.
Definitions.
As used in this Act, unless the
9
context clearly otherwise requires, the terms specified in
10
this Section have the meanings ascribed to them in this
11
Section.
12

"Approximate location" means the location of the marked
13
facility that lies entirely within the tolerance zone.
14

Circumstances that are "beyond the reasonable control" of
15
a party include, but are not limited to, severe weather,
16
unforeseen mechanical issues, or site conditions. As used in
17
Section 11, "beyond the reasonable control" also includes, but
18
is not limited to, notice volumes or dig site notification
19
areas that exceed historical averages, as determined by the
20
reasonable control measurement, created as a result of
21
underground utility facility owners or operators or their
22
contractors or subcontractors' non-emergency requests for
23
utility excavation work for underground utility facility

HB4731
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LRB104 18437 AAS 31879 b
1
owners or operators, that is not part of a large project that
2
has provided at least 60 days' notice, and only applies to the
3
requests submitted by underground utility facility owners or
4
operators or their contractors or subcontractors'
5
non-emergency utility excavation work for underground utility
6
facility owners or operators.
7

"Damage" means the contact or dislocation of a facility
8
during excavation or demolition that necessitates immediate or
9
subsequent repair by the underground utility facility owner or
10
operator due to any partial or complete destruction of the
11
facility, including, but not limited to, the protective
12
coating, tracer wire, lateral support, cathodic protection, or
13
housing for the line or device of the facility.
14

"Damage notification" means a notification through JULIE
15
to the underground utility facility owner or operator that
16
damage to a facility has occurred in the area of the excavation
17
or demolition.
18

"Day" means any day, beginning at 12:00 a.m. and ending at
19
11:59 p.m. "Day" does not include holidays recognized by
20
JULIE, Saturdays, Sundays, and the day of the actual notice.
21

"Demolition" means the wrecking, razing, rending, moving,
22
or removing of a structure by means of any power tool, power
23
equipment (exclusive of transportation equipment), or
24
explosives.
25

"Emergency request" means a request involving a condition
26
(1) that constitutes an imminent danger to life, health, or

HB4731
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LRB104 18437 AAS 31879 b
1
property or a utility service outage (2) and that requires
2
repair or action before the expiration of 2 days.
3

"Excavation" means:
4

(1) any operation in which earth, rock, or other
5

material in or on the ground is moved, removed, or
6

otherwise displaced by means of any tools, power equipment
7

or explosives, and includes, without limitation, grading,
8

trenching, digging, ditching, drilling, augering, boring,
9

tunneling, scraping, cable or pipe plowing, saw cutting or
10

roadway surface milling when penetrating into the base or
11

subbase of a paved surface, and driving, but does not
12

include:
13

(A) farm tillage operations;
14

(B) railroad right-of-way maintenance;
15

(C) coal mining operations regulated under the
16

federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of
17

1977 or any State law or rules or regulations adopted
18

under the federal statute;
19

(D) land surveying operations as defined in the
20

Illinois Professional Land Surveyor Act of 1989 when
21

not using power equipment;
22

(E) roadway surface milling;
23

(F) manually inserting, without the use of power
24

equipment, a temporary round-tipped ground or probe
25

rod as part of facility locating;
26

(G) manually inserting, without the use of power

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1

equipment, a temporary round-tipped probe rod for bar
2

holing to determine the area of a potential leak from a
3

facility transporting hazardous gases or liquids;
or
4

(H) manually inserting, without the use of power
5

equipment, a round-tipped ground rod for the purpose
6

of grounding utility equipment when an emergency
7

exists and no other ground source is available
; or

.
8

(I) an excavation for the purpose of connecting a
9

communications service customer's home or business to
10

the communications service provider's own
11

communications network that is performed: (i) only
12

with a hand tool, (ii) by a communications service
13

provider, and (iii) to a depth not greater than 12
14

inches.
15

(2) An exclusion to this Section in no way prohibits a
16

request from being made for the marking of facilities.
17

(3) Any exception to excavation contained within this
18

Section is not intended to remove liability that may be
19

imposed against an individual or entity because of damage
20

caused to a facility.
21

"Excavator" means any person or legal entity, public or
22
private, that engages in excavation or demolition work.
23

"Exposed notification" means a notification through JULIE
24
to the underground utility facility owner or operator that an
25
unmarked facility has been exposed in the area of the
26
excavation or demolition but has not been damaged.

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LRB104 18437 AAS 31879 b
1

"Extension" means a request made by an excavator, to
2
extend the expiration date of a normal notice to allow
3
additional time to continue or complete the excavation or
4
demolition project.
5

(1) An extension request may be made no earlier than
6

the 20th day from the initial normal notice request or
7

latest extension request.
8

(2) An extension request shall extend the expiration
9

of the initial normal notice request or latest extension
10

request by 25 days.
11

(3) An extension request may not be made simply to
12

keep a prior notice open without continued excavation
13

occurring within the period of that subsequent notice.
14

"Geographic information system data" means data to be
15
applied to JULIE software to facilitate a more clearly defined
16
notification area for notices sent to the system underground
17
utility facility owners or operators. "Geographic information
18
system data" includes, but is not limited to:
19

(1) address points with site addresses;
20

(2) parcels with site addresses;
21

(3) road center lines with names and address range;
22

(4) city limits with names;
23

(5) political townships with names;
24

(6) railroads with names;
25

(7) streams with names; and
26

(8) water bodies with names.

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LRB104 18437 AAS 31879 b
1

"Historical averages" are used to determine benchmark
2
notice volumes or dig site notification areas for a particular
3
place. The notice volume is calculated for new and updated
4
requests requiring an underground utility facility owner or
5
operator response. It shall not include notices with a header
6
of no show, incomplete, or no re-mark. The dig site
7
notification area is calculated using the dig site polygon on
8
the notice. The 7-day look back shall be calculated once daily
9
at the conclusion of the previous calendar day. "Historic
10
averages" shall be determined by comparing notice volumes or
11
dig site notification areas over the immediate past 7 calendar
12
days to the same 7 calendar day period for the past 5 years. A
13
5-year trimmed mean, removing the highest and lowest years,
14
and averaging the remaining 3 years, shall be the final
15
determinant of this measurement. The official measurement of
16
the notice volumes or dig site notification areas shall be
17
provided by JULIE.
18

"Incomplete request" means a notice initiated by an
19
excavator through JULIE to the underground utility facility
20
owners or operators notified in a prior request that such
21
underground utility facility owners or operators, as
22
identified by the excavator and confirmed, through the
23
positive response system once implemented, in accordance with
24
subsection (a) of Section 5.1, did not completely mark the
25
entire extent or the entire segment of the proposed
26
excavation, as identified on the prior notice or as previously

HB4731
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LRB104 18437 AAS 31879 b
1
documented and mutually agreed upon.
2

"Joint meet notification" means a notice of a meeting held
3
prior to the excavation phase to discuss projects that cannot
4
be adequately communicated within a normal notice request. The
5
meeting is intended to allow the exchange of maps, plans, or
6
schedules. It is not a locating session and shall be held at or
7
near the excavation site, or through electronic means, if
8
available and agreed to by all parties. "Joint meet
9
notification" are not to be used in lieu of valid normal notice
10
requests and are required for, but not limited to, large
11
projects.
12

"JULIE, Inc." or "JULIE" means the communication system
13
known as "JULIE, Inc." or "JULIE", utilized by excavators,
14
designers, or any other entities covered by this Act to notify
15
underground utility facility owners or operators of their
16
intent to perform excavation or demolition or similar work as
17
defined by this Act and shall include all underground utility
18
facilities owned or operated outside the city limits of the
19
City of Chicago.
20

"Large project" means a single excavation that exceeds the
21
expiration date of a normal notice request, or involves a
22
series of repetitive, related-scope excavations.
23

"Normal notice request" means a notification made by an
24
excavator, through JULIE, in advance of a planned excavation
25
or demolition.
26

(1) The notification shall be made at least 2 days,

HB4731
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LRB104 18437 AAS 31879 b
1

but no more than 10 days, before beginning the planned
2

excavation or demolition.
3

(2) Excavation or demolition on a normal notice
4

request is valid for 25 days from the date of the initial
5

request unless a subsequent extension request is made.
6

(3) Normal notice requests shall be limited to one
7

quarter of a contiguous mile within a municipality and one
8

contiguous mile within any unincorporated area, which
9

includes townships.
10

(4) Normal notice requests are valid for a single
11

right-of-way with an exception for intersecting
12

rights-of-way of 250 feet in all directions. Any
13

excavation continuing beyond 250 feet on a connecting
14

right-of-way shall require an additional request.
15

"No show request" means a notice initiated by an excavator
16
through JULIE to the underground utility facility owners or
17
operators notified in the prior notice that such underground
18
utility facility owners or operators, as identified by the
19
excavator and confirmed, once implemented, in accordance with
20
subsection (a) of Section 5.1, either failed to mark their
21
facilities or to communicate their non-involvement with the
22
excavation prior to the dig start date and time on the notice.
23

"Notice" means any record transmitted to an underground
24
utility facility owner or operator of JULIE which shall
25
include, but not be limited to, cancel, damage, emergency,
26
exposed, extension, incomplete, joint meet, no show, normal,

HB4731
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LRB104 18437 AAS 31879 b
1
planning design, or re-mark.
2

"Open cut utility locate" means a method of locating
3
facilities that requires excavation by the underground utility
4
facility owner or operator, or their contractor or
5
subcontractor.
6

"Place" means any incorporated city, village or town, or
7
unincorporated township or road district, listed within the
8
JULIE database.
9

"Planning design request" means the process prior to the
10
excavation phase of a project where information is gathered
11
and decisions are made regarding the route or location of a
12
proposed excavation. The use of the information that is
13
obtainable pursuant to this Section is intended to minimize
14
delays of future construction projects and not for imminent
15
excavation. The underground utility facility owner or operator
16
may indicate any portion of the information that is
17
proprietary and require the planner or designer to protect the
18
proprietary information.
19

"Positive response system" means an automated system
20
facilitated by JULIE allowing underground utility facility
21
owners or operators to communicate to an excavator the
22
presence, absence, or response status of any conflict between
23
the existing facilities in or near the area of excavation or
24
demolition on each notice received.
25

"Pre-mark" means the use of white paint, chalk, lathe,
26
whiskers, flags, or electronic white lining using lines or

HB4731
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LRB104 18437 AAS 31879 b
1
polygons to delineate the work area at the site of the proposed
2
excavation or demolition. Unless otherwise stated on the
3
request, all pre-marks are considered a request for a 5-foot
4
radius of an above ground fixed structure or single point
5
pre-mark, or a 10-foot-wide path for linear work.
6

(1) Physical pre-marking for the area of the planned
7

excavation or demolition shall be accomplished prior to
8

notifying JULIE if the area of excavation cannot be
9

clearly and adequately identified in the normal notice
10

request.
11

(2) Electronic white lining may be used when
12

available. Electronic white lining provides an alternative
13

method where an excavator may indicate their defined dig
14

area visually by electronic data entry, including lines or
15

polygons, without the need for a physical site visit. The
16

technology allows the excavator to identify for the
17

underground utility facility owner or operator a clear
18

delineation of their proposed excavation area.
19

(3) A verbal or written pre-mark is adequate when the
20

scope requested to be marked is narrow and explicit enough
21

to prevent marking beyond the actual area of excavation or
22

demolition. An existing above ground fixed structure may
23

be referenced as a verbal or written pre-mark.
24

"Project owner" means the person or legal entity, public
25
or private, that is financially responsible for the
26
undertaking of a project that involves excavation or

HB4731
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LRB104 18437 AAS 31879 b
1
demolition.
2

"Reasonable control measurement" shall use the historical
3
averages and add to the calculation either of the following
4
conditions that shall be met for the place to be considered
5
beyond the reasonable control of the underground utility
6
facility owner or operator:
7

(1) the total notice volume count over the previous 7
8

calendar days shall increase by more than 15% of the
9

historic average, and increase by not less than 25
10

additional notices over the previous 7 calendar days; or
11

(2) the total dig site notification area over the
12

previous 7 calendar days shall increase by more than 15%
13

of the historic average, and not less than 0.4 additional
14

square miles over the previous 7 calendar days.
15

The official measurement shall be provided by JULIE.
16

"Residential property owner" means any individual or
17
entity that owns or leases real property that is used by the
18
individual or entity as its residence or dwelling. Residential
19
property owner does not include any persons who own or lease
20
residential property for the purpose of holding or developing
21
such property or for any other business or commercial
22
purposes.
23

"Roadway surface milling" means the removal of a uniform
24
pavement section by rotomilling, grinding, saw cutting, or
25
other means that does not penetrate into the roadway base or
26
subbase.

HB4731
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LRB104 18437 AAS 31879 b
1

"Service lateral" means underground facilities located in
2
a public right-of-way or utility easement that connects an end
3
user's building or property to an underground utility facility
4
owner's or operator's facility.
5

"Submerged" means any facility installed below the surface
6
of a lake, river, or navigable waterway.
7

"Tolerance zone" means:
8

(1) if the diameter of the underground utility
9

facility is indicated, the distance of one-half of the
10

known diameter plus one and one-half feet on either side
11

of the designated center line of the underground utility
12

facility marking;
13

(2) if the diameter of the underground utility
14

facility is not indicated, one and one-half feet on either
15

side of the outside edge of the underground utility
16

facility marking; or
17

(3) if submerged, a distance of 30 feet on either side
18

of the indicated facility.
19

The underground utility facility markings provided
20

shall not indicate that the width of the marked
21

underground utility facility is any greater than the
22

actual width of the underground utility facility or 2
23

inches, whichever is greater. The tolerance zone shall
24

also apply to visible utility structures, including, but
25

not limited to, poles with overhead to underground
26

transitions, pedestals, transformers, meters, hydrants,

HB4731
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LRB104 18437 AAS 31879 b
1

and valve boxes. There shall be a one and one-half foot
2

tolerance zone horizontally around such facilities.
3

"Underground utility facility" or "facility" means and
4
includes wires, ducts, fiber optic cable, conduits, pipes,
5
sewers, and cables and their connected appurtenances installed
6
or existing beneath the surface of the ground or submerged and
7
either owned, operated, or controlled by:
8

(1) a public utility as defined in the Public
9

Utilities Act;
10

(2) a municipally owned or mutually owned utility
11

providing a similar utility service;
12

(3) a pipeline entity transporting gases, crude oil,
13

petroleum products, or other hydrocarbon materials within
14

the State;
15

(4) a telecommunications carrier as defined in the
16

Universal Telephone Service Protection Law of 1985, or by
17

a company described in Section 1 of the Telephone Company
18

Act;
19

(5) a community antenna television system, as defined
20

in the Illinois Municipal Code or the Counties Code;
21

(6) a holder or broadband service, as those terms are
22

defined in the Cable and Video Competition Law of 2007;
23

(7) any other entity owning or operating underground
24

facilities that transport or generate electrical power to
25

other utility owners or operators;
26

(8) an electric cooperative as defined in the Public

HB4731
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LRB104 18437 AAS 31879 b
1

Utilities Act; and
2

(9) any other active member of JULIE.
3
(Source: P.A. 103-614, eff. 1-1-25; 104-417, eff. 8-15-25.)

4

Section 99.
Effective date.
This Act takes effect upon
5
becoming law.

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