Senate Bill 18-167 Summary

• Creates the Underground Damage Prevention Safety Commission in the Department of Labor and Employment to review complaints and enforce Colorado's underground facility location laws with authority to issue fines up to $5,000 for initial violations and up to $75,000 for subsequent violations within 12 months.

• Establishes new standards for subsurface utility engineering (SUE) on certain public construction projects, requiring licensed professional engineers to meet or exceed ASCE 38 standards for identifying underground facilities and notify the call-before-you-dig association.

• Requires underground facility owners to respond to locate requests within two business days with marked facility locations and documentation; expands definition of damage to include denting of underground facilities and requires marking standards established by the Safety Commission.

• Transitions all underground facility owners and operators to full membership in the notification association by January 1, 2021, with electronic notifications available at no cost through that date.

• Appropriates $81,841 for the 2018-19 fiscal year to establish the Safety Commission and provide legal services for enforcement of underground damage prevention requirements.