Utilities, Utility Districts

Plain English Breakdown

Checked against official source text during the last sync.

Changes to Underground Utility Damage Prevention

This bill amends Tennessee's laws regarding underground utility damage prevention by extending notice periods and adding new requirements for digital locating and vacuum excavation.

What This Bill Does

• Extends from 15 to 20 calendar days the time a person has after giving notice of excavation or demolition work before needing to give another notice if the work is not done yet.
• Adds 'dredging' as an activity that requires notification, similar to digging and ditching.
• Allows for digital locating methods to show where underground utilities are located in response to design locate requests.
• Exempts vacuum excavation from certain notice requirements when used by or on behalf of a member operator to find or protect their underground facilities.

Who It Names or Affects

• People who need to dig, dredge, or demolish near streets, highways, public spaces, or private easements in Tennessee.
• Operators with underground utilities and facilities that may be affected by excavation or demolition work.

Terms To Know

Digital locating

Using visual indicators on digital imagery or electronic maps to show the location of underground utilities.

Vacuum excavation

A non-destructive method that uses high-pressure air or water and a vacuum system to safely dig near underground facilities.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how the extended notice period will be enforced.
• It is unclear if there are specific penalties for failing to comply with these new requirements.

Official Summary Text

Present law prohibits a person from excavating a street, a highway, a public space, or a private easement within 100 feet of the edge of a street or highway, or demolishing a building, without giving notice at least three days prior to beginning work. I
f the work is not completed within 20 calendar days from the date specified in the notice, then this bill requires the person responsible for excavation or demolition to serve an additional notice at least three days prior to the expiration of time on the
2
0th calendar day. Further, this bill clarifies that excavation includes dredging.

Present law requires the notice described above to contain the name, address, telephone number, and email address of the person filing the notice and the person responsible for the excavation or demolition. It must also include the start date and antici
pating duration of the work, the type of work to be conducted, the specific location of the work, and whether or not explosives will be used.

EXCEPTION TO MARKING REQUIREMENTS

Present law generally requires an area being excavated or demolished to be marked with "safety white" color-coded stakes, with white paint, or with electronic white lining. This bill provides an exception to the marking requirement if the person respons
ible for the excavation or demolition and all operators with underground facilities in the area have had a meeting prior to the beginning of the work for the exchange of information.

EXEMPTION TO NOTICE REQUIREMENTS

This bill exempts the use of vacuum excavation by or on behalf of a member operator for locating or protecting the member operator's underground facilities from the above described notice requirements.
Vacuum excavation,
also referred to as
"soft digging," is a non-destructive, precision excavation method that uses high-pressure air or water to loosen soil, which is then removed by a powerful vacuum system into a debris tank.

DESIGN LOCATE REQUESTS

Present law authorizes a person to submit a design locate request to the one-call service. The facility owner or operator must respond to such a request within 15 working days by one of the prescribed methods. This bill allows an operator to respond to
such a request by providing to the person submitting the request the best available description of all utility facilities and sewer laterals, which might include drawings of utility facilities and sewer laterals already built in the area, digital locatin
g,
or other facility records. As used in this bill, "digital locating" means
the application of a visual indicator to digital imagery or an electronic map to indicate the location of underground utilities
.

Current Bill Text

SENATE BILL 2152
By Walley

HOUSE BILL 2024
By Marsh
HB2024
012014
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 65,
Chapter 31, Part 1, relative to underground utility
damage prevention.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 65-31-102(12)(A), is amended by
deleting "digging, ditching" and substituting "digging, dredging, ditching".
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 65-31-102, is amended by adding
the following as a new subdivision:
( ) "Digital locating" means the application of a visual indicator to digital imagery
or an electronic map to indicate the location of underground utilities;
SECTION 3. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 65-31-106(a)(1), is amended by
deleting "fifteen (15) calendar days" and substituting "twenty (20) calendar days", and by
deleting "fifteenth calendar day" and substituting "twentieth calendar day".
SECTION 4. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 65-31-106(b), is amended by
deleting subdivisions (1), (2), (3), and (4), and by deleting "electric white lining, unless:" and
substituting:
electric white lining, unless the person responsible for the excavation or demolition and
all operators with underground facilities in the proposed area of excavation have had a
meeting prior to the beginning of the excavation or demolition for the exchange of
information on the location of the proposed excavation or demolition.
SECTION 5. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 65-31-106(e), is amended by adding
the following as a new subdivision:

- 2 - 012014

(3) The use of vacuum excavation by or on behalf of a member operator for
locating or protecting the member operator's underground facilities once notified in
accordance with the requirements of this section.
SECTION 6. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 65-31-118(b)(1)(B), is amended by
deleting "area, or other facility records" and substituting "area, digital locating, or other facility
records".
SECTION 7. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.