Utilities, Utility Districts

Plain English Breakdown

The bill's impact on existing infrastructure and safety measures remains uncertain.

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 allowed for excavation or demolition work after a notice is given, requiring an additional notice if not completed within this extended period.
• Adds 'dredging' as a type of excavation activity covered by existing laws.
• Allows operators to use digital maps and images to show underground utility locations in response to design locate requests.
• Exempts vacuum excavation from the usual notification requirements when used for locating or protecting underground facilities.

Who It Names or Affects

• People who need to dig, dredge, or demolish in Tennessee.
• Utility companies and other organizations that own underground facilities.
• One-call services that handle notifications about planned excavation activities.

Terms To Know

Digital locating

Using digital maps to show the location of underground utilities.

Vacuum excavation

A method of digging that uses air or water pressure and a vacuum system to remove soil without damaging underground facilities.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how the extended time period will be enforced.
• It is unclear if there are any penalties for failing to comply with the 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

HOUSE BILL 2024
By Marsh

SENATE BILL 2152
By Walley
SB2152
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.