SB 119
Page 3
SENATE RULES COMMITTEEOffice of Senate Floor Analyses
(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) 327-4478 / SB 119
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 119
Author: Hill (D)
Amended: 9/4/15
Vote: 21
SENATE BUS, PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMMITTEE: 8-0, 4/6/15
AYES: Hill, Bates, Berryhill, Block, Galgiani, Jackson, Mendoza, Wieckowski
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hernandez
SENATE GOVERNMENTAL ORG. COMMITTEE: 9-2, 4/14/15
AYES: Hall, Berryhill, Block, Galgiani, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso, Lara, McGuire
NOES: Gaines, Vidak
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 5-1, 4/28/15
AYES: Jackson, Hertzberg, Leno, Monning, Wieckowski
NOES: Anderson
NO VOTE RECORDED: Moorlach
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 5/28/15
AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza
NOES: Bates, Nielsen
SENATE FLOOR: 24-11, 6/2/15
AYES: Allen, Beall, Block, De León, Galgiani, Glazer, Hall, Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Pavley, Wieckowski, Wolk
NOES: Anderson, Bates, Cannella, Fuller, Gaines, Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen, Nielsen, Roth, Vidak
NO VOTE RECORDED: Berryhill, Huff, Pan, Runner, Stone
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 74-3, 9/8/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Protection of subsurface installations
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill, the Dig Safe Act of 2015, modifies laws governing excavations near subsurface installations.
Assembly Amendments change the California Underground Facilities Safe Excavation Authority to an Advisory Committee (Advisory Committee), housed under the Contractors State License Board (CSLB), designate the Advisory Committee to develop standards that clarify best safe excavation practices, exempt flood control facilities from the definition of excavation, require the Department of Food and Agriculture, to make recommendations, from a study, that address the long term treatment of agricultural activities in relation to subsurface excavation, and add sewer lateral language for residential and non-residential buildings into the Health and Safety Code. The amendments also make other various technical and clarifying changes.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1) Licenses and regulates more than 300,000 contractors under the Contractors State License Law (Contractors Law) by CSLB within the Department of Consumer Affairs. The CSLB is under the direction of the registrar of contractors. (Business and Professions Code (BPC) § 7000 et seq.)
2) Requires all owners of subsurface infrastructure (such as gas, oil, and water pipes, electrical and telecommunications conduits, etc.—except the Department of Transportation) to participate in and fund regional notification (“one-call”) centers. (Government Code (GC) § 4216.1)
3) Exempts owners of non-pressurized sewer lines and storm drains from needing to become members of the one-call centers. (GC § 4216)
4) Requires persons performing excavations to call one-call centers to have the locations of underground facilities marked before starting an excavation (GC § 4216.2), but exempts homeowners and other private property owners from this requirement for excavations on their own property. (GC § 4216.8)
5) Requires owners of subsurface installations to mark their underground facilities within two working days of receiving a notification. (GC § 4216.3)
6) Requires excavators to use hand tools within two feet on each side of a marked line indicating a subsurface facility to determine where that facility is before using any power excavating equipment. (GC § 4216.4)
7) Provides that an excavator or operator who violates excavation requirements to be subject to the following:
a) A civil penalty up to $10,000 for negligent violations.
b) A civil penalty up to $50,000 for knowing and willful violations.
c) Additional civil remedies provided for in law for personal injury and property damages.
d) Any actions brought forth by the Attorney General (AG), district attorney, or local or state agency that issued the excavation permit, to enforce the civil penalties listed above. (GC § 4216.6)
8) States that operators and excavators are liable for damages caused from violations of the one-call law, and that operators who fail to participate in the one-call centers cannot claim damages from an excavator who has complied with the law. (GC § 4216.7)
9) Authorizes CSLB to issue a citation for a violation of Contractors Law in lieu of license denial, suspension, or revocation. (BPC § 7099, 16 CCR § 884)
10) Requires CSLB to initiate a disciplinary action against a licensee within 30 days of receipt of a certified copy of the Labor Commissioner’s finding of a willful or deliberate violation of the Labor Code by a licensee. (BPC § 7110.5).
This bill:
1) Establishes the California Underground Facilities Safe Excavation Advisory Committee, within CSLB, to investigate violations of the state's excavation and subsurface installation laws, to coordinate education and outreach, and develop standards.
2) Creates a Safe Energy Infrastructure and Excavation Fund - to cover administrative costs of the Advisory Committee, an education program, and a workforce training program - to be funded by fines levied on gas and electric companies for safety violations, grants, fees charged to regional notification center members, filing fees from complaint hearings, and any other source.
3) Authorizes the CSLB, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), and the Office of the State Fire Marshal to accept, amend, or reject the recommendations of the Advisory Committee to enforce specific provisions related to operators and excavators whose activities or business falls within the agency's statutorily defined enforcement jurisdiction.
4) Requires an excavator to delineate the area to be excavated before notifying the regional notification center, as specified.
5) Provides that in an action for reimbursement or indemnification for a claim arising from damage to a subsurface installation in which a court finds that the excavator complied with the requirements of the law, the excavator may be awarded reasonable attorney’s fees and expenses.
6) Requires, if the operator of a high-priority subsurface installation finds that the depth of the subsurface installation subject to agricultural activities is insufficient to safely perform those activities, the operator must send notification of the potential hazard to the landowner by registered mail. Within specified days of that notification, the operator must go to the site at a time mutually agreed upon by both parties, and identify the location and depth of the high-priority subsurface installation with permanent markers.
7) Requires each gas company to collect data to inform its outreach activities, including:
a) Damages to underground PUC-regulated pipeline facilities that occur during the performance of landscaping activities from the day of enactment of this bill until January 1, 2020,
b) All claims filed by a gas company against an excavator for damage to a PUC-regulated pipeline facility, and
c) Any other information that the PUC may require.
8) Requires real property owners, as specified, to call a regional call center when excavating on their property and using any tools other than hand tools, regardless of whether the work being performed requires a permit. Provides that a person complying with the notification provisions is not relieved of his or her duty to perform any excavation with reasonable care to prevent damage to subsurface installations.
9) Makes numerous findings and declarations regarding the efficiency of regional notification centers, including among others, more effective methods of coordination and communication to increase safety, timely responses to request for field markings, and better coordination with the Department of Transportation.
10) Revises definitions of terms used regarding excavation and subsurface installation.
11) Titles the bill the "Dig Safe Act of 2015."
12) Adds an exemption to the definition of excavation for removal of sediment in a flood control facility operated by a city, county, or flood control district.
13) Sunsets all exemptions to the definition of excavation on January 1, 2020.
14) Clarifies that an excavator and operator may mutually agree to a different notice and start date for an excavation.
15) Provides that liquidated damages, liability, losses, costs, and expenses may be awarded to an excavator for an operator's non-compliance only if the operator did not have a reasonable basis for the non-compliance.
16) Clarifies that a homeowner, when using the 8-1-1 service, may use the 8-1-1 service at any time in advance of an excavation, but should do so at least two working days before beginning the excavation.
17) Clarifies that the PUC may not use training funds to fulfill existing requirements or fund ongoing operations.
18) Adds sewer lateral language for residential and non-residential buildings into the Health and Safety Code.
19) Rewrites Caltrans-related findings and declarations to find communication imperative, but not specify what should be included in the communication.
20) Strikes redundant sentences regarding remarking and redelineation.
21) States that hand tools need to be used around facilities in conflict with the excavation within the tolerance zone (similar to existing law), and require the Advisory Committee to clarify best practices for extra hand digging beyond the depth of excavation and beyond the identification of the facility, as specified.
22) States that, in developing standards for using tracer wire in sewer laterals and other drain lines, a lateral is something that flows either into the public right-of-way or into a utility easement.
23) Includes the two one-call centers – one from the north and one from the south – instead of just one as nonvoting ex officio members of the Advisory Committee.
24) Exempts gas utility notification of schools and hospitals three days before excavation when that excavation is being performed to locate and mark a line within two working days.
Background
Rationale. According to the author, roughly 7,000 of California's natural gas pipelines are hit accidentally every year during subsurface excavation. It is estimated that roughly half of the accidents occur because the excavator failed to use the free 8-1-1 service to locate and mark pipes digging.
Although existing law requires excavators to call regional "one call" centers to have the locations of underground facilities located and marked before starting an excavation, many fail to do so.
This past April, a frontloader in Fresno came into contact with a 12-inch high pressure natural gas pipe, causing an explosion that killed one person and injured 14.
This bill seeks to improve enforcement, clarify the law, and develop strategies for improving excavation safety.
Regulation of underground infrastructure. Both the National Transportation Safety Board and the federal pipeline safety regulator, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), have identified call-before-you-dig laws as a means of improving excavation safety. PHMSA, in adopting regulations requiring distribution pipeline companies to develop comprehensive risk-based pipeline safety programs, explored best practices in excavation enforcement, and its working group found in 2005 that the states that have had the most success house enforcement in a centralized enforcement agency recommending the agency responsible for pipeline safety.
California relies on the AG and district attorneys to enforce the one-call law, though regulatory authorities such as the PUC, the Office of the State Fire Marshal, and CSLB have broad jurisdiction over gas pipeline and electric operators, hazardous liquid operators, and contractors, respectively, and thus have the ability to enforce safe operations on those entities within their jurisdictions.
However, according to the author, existing authorities have rarely been used except for a recent PUC investigation into PG&E recordkeeping practices on its distribution system, which explores excavation issues.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes
According the Assembly Appropriations Committee:
1) Increased initial costs for CSLB of $2.5 million (Contractors License Fund) for staff support, information technology, board meeting and member expenses, and complaint inspections associated with the establishment of the Advisory Committee. Ongoing annual costs of $2.1 million (Contractors License Fund).
2) Estimated costs increases of $1.2 to $1.3 million for CSLB cases referred to the AG for investigation and prosecution (Contractors License Fund).
3) Minor, absorbable costs for the PUC and State Fire Marshal.
SUPPORT: (Verified 9/8/15)
Associated General Contractors of California
AT&T
California Business Properties Association
California Landscape Contractors Association
California Legislative Conference of the Plumbing, Heating, and Piping Industry
California Professional Firefighters
California State Council of Laborers
California-Nevada Conference of Operating Engineers
Construction Employers Association
International Union of Operating Engineers
National Electric Contractors Association
San Diego Gas and Electric Company
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Southern California Contractors Association
Southern California Edison
Southern California Gas Company
United Contractors
Western Line Constructors
OPPOSITION: (Verified 9/8/15)
Civil Justice Association of California
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: Supporters of this bill argue that changes to the states' "call-before-you-dig" laws ensure safe excavation near subsurface installations. Specifically, this bill will enhance the existing enforcement authority of several state entities, revise liability provisions that apply to the pre-excavation notification and marking requirements, and establish the California Underground Facilities Safe Excavation Advisory Committee.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: Opponents argue that the bill would impose one sided liability with attorney’s fees and cost awards in “dig in” incidents during excavations.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 74-3, 9/8/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NOES: Travis Allen, Dahle, Gallagher
NO VOTE RECORDED: Chávez, Grove, Mathis
Prepared by: Mark Mendoza / B., P. & E.D. / (916) 651-4104
9/8/15 21:59:40
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