Impacts of Senate Bill 9 and House Bill 476
 Background on 2012-2013 Legislative Working Group
 What impact did the passage of Senate Bill 9 have on
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stakeholder responsibilities?
How the revised Underground Utility Safety and
Damage Prevention Act affects stakeholders
Mandatory Requirements
Exemptions
Enforcement
 Representative Mike Hager sponsored the Bill
 Began meeting in August of 2012
 Working group included a primary and secondary
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from Gas Distribution, Gas Transmission, Power,
Communications, Contract Locator, Excavator,
Municipal, NCDOT and the Electric Cooperatives
Group used SC law as a starting place for language
Met face to face every few weeks in Raleigh
Expanded group to include Surveyors in 2013
Introduced March 28, 2013…and then…
 Senate Bill 9 was introduced January 30, 2013
 Bill is an amendment to the existing Ch. 556
 Addresses Survey/Design tickets and obligates a
response from owner/operators
 Although the requirements of SB 9 were essentially
part of HB 476, the sponsor determined that the
provision was needed more immediately and therefore
refused to withdraw the bill.
 Senate Bill 9…
 Went into effect July 15th 2013.
(c) Each utility owner or designated representative or association, other than a small
water or wastewater utility owner, notified of an intent to survey under subsection (a) of this
section shall, before the proposed start of the survey, unless another period is agreed to by the
surveyor and the utility owner or designated representative or association provide at least one
of the following to the surveyor to the extent the information is reflected by records in the
possession of and reasonably available to the utility owner:
(1) The location and description of all of the underground utilities within the
area to be surveyed.
(2) The best available description of all underground utilities in the area of the
proposed survey, which may include drawings marked with a scale,
dimensions, and reference points for underground utilities already built in
the area or other facility records that are maintained by the utility owner.
(3) Allowing the surveyor or any other authorized person to inspect the
drawings or other records for all underground utilities within the area to be
surveyed at a location that is acceptable to both parties.
 Surveyors can request design tickets
 Owners must either locate, provide best available drawings or
allow access to the drawings on site.
 NC 811 created new positive response codes to accommodate
the design tickets.
 Code 90 will mean "SURVEY DESIGN REQUEST ‐ Facility
Has been Marked in the Field"
Code 92 will mean "SURVEY DESIGN REQUEST ‐No
Facilities in the Area"
Code 94 will mean "SURVEY DESIGN REQUEST ‐ Facility
Records Provided"
Code 98 will mean "SURVEY DESIGN REQUEST ‐ Access to
Facility Records Provided."
 No major increase in requests at this time
 Larger sized locates being requested
 New response requirements
 Subaqueous (underwater) locates
 Larger tolerance zone – 15 feet either side (§87-117 (22))
 Still must respond within 3 full days through positive
response that subaqueous facilities exist. (§87-121 (d))
 10 full days to meet complete response requirements (§87-121
(b)(2))
 Positive response will include a subaqueous code
 New ticket type requirements
 Short Notice Ticket(§87-122 (c)(6))
 If excavator waits the full three days and has received no
response, they may call in a short notice ticket
 Members have 3 hours to respond
 New ticket type requirements
 Survey Design Ticket (§87-127)
 10 full business days for a response by members
 Members must respond with one of the three methods:
 Marks on the ground (designation)
 Provision of facility maps (best available)
 Access provided to the facility maps
 Tickets no larger than ¼ mile or 5 contiguous
addresses (no greater than ¼ mile). (§87-122 (b)(5))
 Extraordinary Circumstances Declared
 If a member declares extraordinary circumstances they
must indicate the date and time that a ticket will receive
a response (§87-121 (e))
 Declared through the notification center
 Notification center will alert the excavator if the
conditions exist for a member
 Excavator must wait to proceed until the time provided
by the member (§87-122 (c)(2))
 (3) full business day response (§87-122 (a)) (not a
practical change as the full day will start the day
following the request)
 Tolerance zone – 24 inches (§87-122 (c)(10))
 Mandatory training for locators and professional
excavators (§87-123 (d))
 Pre-Marking (White lining) included
 If an excavator cannot adequately describe the area in
which the work is to take place, the area must be
designated in white paint, flags or stakes. (§ 87-122
(c)(1))
 Membership in Notification Center (§87-120 (b))
 Large operators must comply before October 1, 2014
 Defined as greater than 50,000 customers or owners of
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1,000 miles or greater of facility.
Medium operators must comply before October 1, 2015
Defined as greater than 25,000 customers or owners of
500 miles or greater of facility
All other owners must comply before October 1, 2016
All NCDOT engineering divisions must be members
before October 1, 2016 (bringing them online now)
 Positive Response
 All members are required to provide a positive response
to the notification center (§87-121 (c))
 Excavators are required to check the positive response
before proceeding with their work (§87-122 (c)(2))
 This can be done via web site, through the app or will be
provided at the end of three business days if an email is
provided by the excavator
 Excavators Required to Notify Before They Dig (§87-
122 (a))
 Exceptions will be covered in the exemptions section
 Reporting of Damages (§87-126 (a))
 Must still notify the facility owner when a damage
occurs
 Must also notify the notification center
 Excavation or demolition performed by the owner of a
single family residential property on his or her own
land that does not encroach on any operator’s right-of
way, easement or permitted use. (§87-124 (1))
 Use of non mechanized equipment on same property
is exempted even if that land encroaches. (§87-124 (2))
 Tilling of soil for agricultural purposes (§87-124 (3))
 Agricultural excavation (using mechanized tools) that
does NOT encroach on operator’s right-of-way,
easement or permitted use.(§86-124 (4))
 Excavation or demolition performed by the DOT, a
local government, special purpose district or public
service district for the purpose of maintenance
activities within the right-of-way. (§87-124 (6))
 Activities exempted include resurfacing, milling,
emergency replacement of signs critical for
maintaining safety, or reshaping of shoulders and
ditches to original road profile. (§87-124 (6))
 Activities NOT exempted include initial installation of
traffic signs, traffic control equipment, or guardrails.
(§87-124 (6))
 Excavation or demolition performed by a railroad entirely
on land which the railroad owns or operates or, in the event
of an emergency, on adjacent land. (§87-124 (7))
 None of the facilities owned or operated by the railroad are
included in the provisions of the Act therefore they are
exempted from membership of these facilities. (§87-124
(7))
 Excavation for purpose of graves, installation of a
monument or memorial at a grave space or placement of a
temporary structure or tent by a cemetery that does NOT
encroach on any operator’s right-of way, easement, or
permitted use. (§87-124 (8))
 Gravity fed sanitary sewers and storm water facilities
are exempt from locating (§87-121 (j)) HOWEVER
 All future installation of these facilities must be made
locatable (§87-121 (g)) and
 “Neither the excavator nor the person financially
responsible for the excavation shall be held liable for any
damage to an unmarked gravity fed sanitary sewer or
unmarked water facility if the person doing the
excavation exercises due care to protect existing facilities
when there is evidence of the existence of those facilities
near the proposed excavation site.” (§87-121 (j))
 Complaint driven – any portion of the Article
 Complaints received through a web portal housed at
the notification center
 Notification center provides notice to alleged violator
within 10 days (§87-120 (e))
 Complaints reviewed by a Board of 15 people
appointed by the Governor (§87-129)
 North Carolina DOT
 Facility Contract Locator
 Notification Center
 Electric Public Utility
 Telecommunications Industry
 Natural Gas Utility
 Hazardous Liquid Transmission Pipeline Company
 League of Municipalities
 Highway Contractor who does not own facilities
 Public Utilities Contractor who does not own facilities
 Surveyor
 Rural Water System
 Investor Owned Water System
 Electric Membership Cooperative
 Cable Company
 Board meets minimum quarterly (§87-129 (b))
 Board can recommend training and education, a fine
of $1000 plus training or a fine of $2500 plus training
depending on the severity per incident when a party is
found to be in violation (§87-129 (1)(2)(3))
 All monies received go to state education per NC
Constitution
 Board passes recommendations to Utilities
Commission (§87-129 (b))
 Appeal may be made through an arbitration process
(§87-129 (c))
Locate Requests
Total Tickets = 829.068
5.4% increase vs. 2012
Transmissions
Transmissions = 3,956,892
5.6% increase vs. 2012
Homeowners &
Month
Contractor
Residents
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Total
% Total
Municipality,
Utility,
Government Other
& Public
Totals
3,611
4,205
6,611
10,259
8,685
6,663
7,228
6,704
66,390
65,614
74,963
81,553
83,195
76,498
87,755
85,044
16,932
14,847
16,091
17,372
17,755
16,164
18,798
19,160
469
494
463
675
611
641
712
696
1,216
1,328
1,435
1,567
1,756
1,437
1,756
1,715
88,618
86,488
99,563
111,426
112,002
101,403
116,249
113,319
53,966
6.51%
621,012
74.90%
137,119
16.54%
4,761
0.57%
12,210
1.47%
829,068
100.00%
Surveys for 01/01/2013 through 08/31/2013 from 250847 new tickets
Category
Contractor or Locator
Just knew to call
Friend/Neighbor/Word of Mouth/Just knew to call
Utility Company
Website
Phonebook
Billboard
Word of Mouth
TV
Town Planning Department/Utility Commission/City Hall
Friend
Pedestal/Utility Box
Municipality
Bumper stickers/Pamphlet
Base Property
Manual came w/Installation for fence/Lowes
Neighbor
Radio
Fuel Tanks
Lease Agreement HOA/Realtor
Newspaper
Magazine
Race Car
Total
Percent Count
19.00%
10516
18.80%
10403
17.32%
9582
13.19%
7300
6.61%
3656
4.56%
2524
3.27%
1811
3.01%
1667
2.16%
1198
2.08%
1150
1.81%
1000
1.56%
863
1.41%
781
1.14%
631
0.85%
469
0.83%
457
0.79%
439
0.44%
246
0.42%
234
0.35%
196
0.17%
96
0.12%
64
0.10%
56
100%
55339
Monthly Volume Statistics
Total
Tickets
In-House
Tickets
RTE Tkts
RTE %
Volume
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
88,618
86,488
99,563
111,426
112,002
101,403
116,249
113,319
39,001
36,805
42,708
51,254
50,051
43,169
48,312
48,227
49,617
49,683
56,855
60,172
61,951
58,234
67,937
65,092
55.99%
57.44%
57.10%
54.00%
55.31%
57.43%
58.44%
57.44%
YTD
829,068
359,527
469,541
56.63%
Month