H247 - Underground Safety Revisions. (SL 2025-21)

Overview: S.L. 2025-21 (House Bill 247) does all of the following with regard to marking of underground utilities:

• Specifies that nonmechanized equipment includes soft dig technologies, defined as an excavation method that uses air or water pressure to break up soil and remove it with vacuum extraction.
• Provides that, where practical, when a facility operator makes facilities the painted surface marks must be long enough to distinguish them from dots.
•  Adjusts response times for requests for marking of a facility as follows:
  • For a facility, an operator must provide information within three working days prior to the work start date rather than three working days after the day an excavator provided notice of a proposed excavation or demolition.
  • For an emergency request, the operator must make initial contact with an excavator within 3 hours.
  • For a request of an unmarked facility, the operator must arrange for the facility to be marked within three hours of the time the Notification Center receives the additional notice.
• Shortens the notice period for projects not involving subaqueous facilities from between three to twelve full working days before the proposed commencement date to not less than three full working days before the proposed commencement date.
• Extends notice validity from 15 days to 28 days.
• Limits the area of facility location requests of proposed excavation or demolition to an area that the excavator reasonably believes may be completed with 28 calendar days from the work start date.
• Provides that safe excavation practices must be used within the tolerance zone of a pipeline.
• Amends exemptions from requirements for notice before commencing an excavation.
• Clarifies that the venue for all actions arising from actual and consequential damages occurring in this State is the county where the damages occurred.
• Creates a rebuttable presumption that an excavator has exercised due care in certain circumstances.
• Makes changes to the Underground Damage Prevention Review Board (Board) concerning vacancies and quorum, and allow an informal conference process to request that the Board reverse or modify its determinations concerning violations of the Underground Utility Safety and Damage Prevention Act.

This act became effective October 1, 2025.