HF 4203 Summary

• Defines "locate" as the approximate horizontal location of underground facilities determined using American Society of Civil Engineers guidelines (CI/ASCE 38-02).

• Requires utility operators to be certified through nationally-accredited training programs with established minimum oversight and benchmark standards to train locators.

• Mandates the notification center provide quarterly performance reports to utility operators including notification counts by type, percentage of normal tickets, and damages categorized by cause.

• Requires persons conducting excavation to hold preliminary design meetings and preconstruction meetings with affected facility operators to communicate project scope, timeline, and coordinate utility relocation.

• Requires operators to use GPS or equivalent technology to record newly installed, improved, and repaired facilities and prohibits excavation contracts that require excavators to pay for utility downtime delays when the excavator is not at fault.