SB315 Summary

• Amends Alabama's "One-Call Notification System" law governing excavation and demolition near underground utilities by updating definitions, notification procedures, and marking requirements for underground facility locations.

• Requires certain underground facility operators (those with more than 25,000 customers or 500 miles of facilities) to join the One-Call Notification System within one year, and smaller operators within two years; existing members must remain.

• Creates the Underground Damage Prevention Authority with a 17-member board representing various stakeholder industries, funded by civil penalties rather than state appropriations, to enforce chapter requirements and review penalty provisions.

• Revises civil penalty structure: first violation up to $500 (or training), second violation up to $1,000, third+ violation up to $3,000, and gross negligence/willful noncompliance up to $10,000; penalties paid into Underground Damage Prevention Fund for authority operations.

• Establishes complaint and hearing procedures allowing violators 14 days to respond and 30 days to request a hearing before the authority board, with appeal rights to circuit court; effective January 1, 2020.