HB4731 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB104 18437 AAS 31879 b

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
HB4731

Introduced , by Rep. Lawrence "Larry" Walsh, Jr.

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

220 ILCS 50/2

from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 1602

Amends the Illinois Underground Utility Facilities Damage Prevention Act. Provides that "excavation" does not include an excavation for the purpose of connecting a communications service customer's home or business to the communications service provider's own communications network that is performed: (i) only with a hand tool, (ii) by a communications service provider, and (iii) to a depth not greater than 12 inches. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning regulation.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Illinois Underground Utility Facilities Damage Prevention Act is amended by changing Section 2 as follows:

(220 ILCS 50/2) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 1602)

Sec. 2. Definitions. As used in this Act, unless the context clearly otherwise requires, the terms specified in this Section have the meanings ascribed to them in this Section.

"Approximate location" means the location of the marked facility that lies entirely within the tolerance zone.

Circumstances that are "beyond the reasonable control" of a party include, but are not limited to, severe weather, unforeseen mechanical issues, or site conditions. As used in Section 11, "beyond the reasonable control" also includes, but is not limited to, notice volumes or dig site notification areas that exceed historical averages, as determined by the reasonable control measurement, created as a result of underground utility facility owners or operators or their contractors or subcontractors' non-emergency requests for utility excavation work for underground utility facility owners or operators, that is not part of a large project that has provided at least 60 days' notice, and only applies to the requests submitted by underground utility facility owners or operators or their contractors or subcontractors' non-emergency utility excavation work for underground utility facility owners or operators.

"Damage" means the contact or dislocation of a facility during excavation or demolition that necessitates immediate or subsequent repair by the underground utility facility owner or operator due to any partial or complete destruction of the facility, including, but not limited to, the protective coating, tracer wire, lateral support, cathodic protection, or housing for the line or device of the facility.

"Damage notification" means a notification through JULIE to the underground utility facility owner or operator that damage to a facility has occurred in the area of the excavation or demolition.

"Day" means any day, beginning at 12:00 a.m. and ending at 11:59 p.m. "Day" does not include holidays recognized by JULIE, Saturdays, Sundays, and the day of the actual notice.

"Demolition" means the wrecking, razing, rending, moving, or removing of a structure by means of any power tool, power equipment (exclusive of transportation equipment), or explosives.

"Emergency request" means a request involving a condition (1) that constitutes an imminent danger to life, health, or property or a utility service outage (2) and that requires repair or action before the expiration of 2 days.

"Excavation" means:

(1) any operation in which earth, rock, or other material in or on the ground is moved, removed, or otherwise displaced by means of any tools, power equipment or explosives, and includes, without limitation, grading, trenching, digging, ditching, drilling, augering, boring, tunneling, scraping, cable or pipe plowing, saw cutting or roadway surface milling when penetrating into the base or subbase of a paved surface, and driving, but does not include:

(A) farm tillage operations;

(B) railroad right-of-way maintenance;

(C) coal mining operations regulated under the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 or any State law or rules or regulations adopted under the federal statute;

(D) land surveying operations as defined in the Illinois Professional Land Surveyor Act of 1989 when not using power equipment;

(E) roadway surface milling;

(F) manually inserting, without the use of power equipment, a temporary round-tipped ground or probe rod as part of facility locating;

(G) manually inserting, without the use of power equipment, a temporary round-tipped probe rod for bar holing to determine the area of a potential leak from a facility transporting hazardous gases or liquids; or

(H) manually inserting, without the use of power equipment, a round-tipped ground rod for the purpose of grounding utility equipment when an emergency exists and no other ground source is available; or .

(I) an excavation for the purpose of connecting a communications service customer's home or business to the communications service provider's own communications network that is performed: (i) only with a hand tool, (ii) by a communications service provider, and (iii) to a depth not greater than 12 inches.

(2) An exclusion to this Section in no way prohibits a request from being made for the marking of facilities.

(3) Any exception to excavation contained within this Section is not intended to remove liability that may be imposed against an individual or entity because of damage caused to a facility.

"Excavator" means any person or legal entity, public or private, that engages in excavation or demolition work.

"Exposed notification" means a notification through JULIE to the underground utility facility owner or operator that an unmarked facility has been exposed in the area of the excavation or demolition but has not been damaged.

"Extension" means a request made by an excavator, to extend the expiration date of a normal notice to allow additional time to continue or complete the excavation or demolition project.

(1) An extension request may be made no earlier than the 20th day from the initial normal notice request or latest extension request.

(2) An extension request shall extend the expiration of the initial normal notice request or latest extension request by 25 days.

(3) An extension request may not be made simply to keep a prior notice open without continued excavation occurring within the period of that subsequent notice.

"Geographic information system data" means data to be applied to JULIE software to facilitate a more clearly defined notification area for notices sent to the system underground utility facility owners or operators. "Geographic information system data" includes, but is not limited to:

(1) address points with site addresses;

(2) parcels with site addresses;

(3) road center lines with names and address range;

(4) city limits with names;

(5) political townships with names;

(6) railroads with names;

(7) streams with names; and

(8) water bodies with names.

"Historical averages" are used to determine benchmark notice volumes or dig site notification areas for a particular place. The notice volume is calculated for new and updated requests requiring an underground utility facility owner or operator response. It shall not include notices with a header of no show, incomplete, or no re-mark. The dig site notification area is calculated using the dig site polygon on the notice. The 7-day look back shall be calculated once daily at the conclusion of the previous calendar day. "Historic averages" shall be determined by comparing notice volumes or dig site notification areas over the immediate past 7 calendar days to the same 7 calendar day period for the past 5 years. A 5-year trimmed mean, removing the highest and lowest years, and averaging the remaining 3 years, shall be the final determinant of this measurement. The official measurement of the notice volumes or dig site notification areas shall be provided by JULIE.

"Incomplete request" means a notice initiated by an excavator through JULIE to the underground utility facility owners or operators notified in a prior request that such underground utility facility owners or operators, as identified by the excavator and confirmed, through the positive response system once implemented, in accordance with subsection (a) of Section 5.1, did not completely mark the entire extent or the entire segment of the proposed excavation, as identified on the prior notice or as previously documented and mutually agreed upon.

"Joint meet notification" means a notice of a meeting held prior to the excavation phase to discuss projects that cannot be adequately communicated within a normal notice request. The meeting is intended to allow the exchange of maps, plans, or schedules. It is not a locating session and shall be held at or near the excavation site, or through electronic means, if available and agreed to by all parties. "Joint meet notification" are not to be used in lieu of valid normal notice requests and are required for, but not limited to, large projects.

"JULIE, Inc." or "JULIE" means the communication system known as "JULIE, Inc." or "JULIE", utilized by excavators, designers, or any other entities covered by this Act to notify underground utility facility owners or operators of their intent to perform excavation or demolition or similar work as defined by this Act and shall include all underground utility facilities owned or operated outside the city limits of the City of Chicago.

"Large project" means a single excavation that exceeds the expiration date of a normal notice request, or involves a series of repetitive, related-scope excavations.

"Normal notice request" means a notification made by an excavator, through JULIE, in advance of a planned excavation or demolition.

(1) The notification shall be made at least 2 days, but no more than 10 days, before beginning the planned excavation or demolition.

(2) Excavation or demolition on a normal notice request is valid for 25 days from the date of the initial request unless a subsequent extension request is made.

(3) Normal notice requests shall be limited to one quarter of a contiguous mile within a municipality and one contiguous mile within any unincorporated area, which includes townships.

(4) Normal notice requests are valid for a single right-of-way with an exception for intersecting rights-of-way of 250 feet in all directions. Any excavation continuing beyond 250 feet on a connecting right-of-way shall require an additional request.

"No show request" means a notice initiated by an excavator through JULIE to the underground utility facility owners or operators notified in the prior notice that such underground utility facility owners or operators, as identified by the excavator and confirmed, once implemented, in accordance with subsection (a) of Section 5.1, either failed to mark their facilities or to communicate their non-involvement with the excavation prior to the dig start date and time on the notice.

"Notice" means any record transmitted to an underground utility facility owner or operator of JULIE which shall include, but not be limited to, cancel, damage, emergency, exposed, extension, incomplete, joint meet, no show, normal, planning design, or re-mark.

"Open cut utility locate" means a method of locating facilities that requires excavation by the underground utility facility owner or operator, or their contractor or subcontractor.

"Place" means any incorporated city, village or town, or unincorporated township or road district, listed within the JULIE database.

"Planning design request" means the process prior to the excavation phase of a project where information is gathered and decisions are made regarding the route or location of a proposed excavation. The use of the information that is obtainable pursuant to this Section is intended to minimize delays of future construction projects and not for imminent excavation. The underground utility facility owner or operator may indicate any portion of the information that is proprietary and require the planner or designer to protect the proprietary information.

"Positive response system" means an automated system facilitated by JULIE allowing underground utility facility owners or operators to communicate to an excavator the presence, absence, or response status of any conflict between the existing facilities in or near the area of excavation or demolition on each notice received.

"Pre-mark" means the use of white paint, chalk, lathe, whiskers, flags, or electronic white lining using lines or polygons to delineate the work area at the site of the proposed excavation or demolition. Unless otherwise stated on the request, all pre-marks are considered a request for a 5-foot radius of an above ground fixed structure or single point pre-mark, or a 10-foot-wide path for linear work.

(1) Physical pre-marking for the area of the planned excavation or demolition shall be accomplished prior to notifying JULIE if the area of excavation cannot be clearly and adequately identified in the normal notice request.

(2) Electronic white lining may be used when available. Electronic white lining provides an alternative method where an excavator may indicate their defined dig area visually by electronic data entry, including lines or polygons, without the need for a physical site visit. The technology allows the excavator to identify for the underground utility facility owner or operator a clear delineation of their proposed excavation area.

(3) A verbal or written pre-mark is adequate when the scope requested to be marked is narrow and explicit enough to prevent marking beyond the actual area of excavation or demolition. An existing above ground fixed structure may be referenced as a verbal or written pre-mark.

"Project owner" means the person or legal entity, public or private, that is financially responsible for the undertaking of a project that involves excavation or demolition.

"Reasonable control measurement" shall use the historical averages and add to the calculation either of the following conditions that shall be met for the place to be considered beyond the reasonable control of the underground utility facility owner or operator:

(1) the total notice volume count over the previous 7 calendar days shall increase by more than 15% of the historic average, and increase by not less than 25 additional notices over the previous 7 calendar days; or

(2) the total dig site notification area over the previous 7 calendar days shall increase by more than 15% of the historic average, and not less than 0.4 additional square miles over the previous 7 calendar days.

The official measurement shall be provided by JULIE.

"Residential property owner" means any individual or entity that owns or leases real property that is used by the individual or entity as its residence or dwelling. Residential property owner does not include any persons who own or lease residential property for the purpose of holding or developing such property or for any other business or commercial purposes.

"Roadway surface milling" means the removal of a uniform pavement section by rotomilling, grinding, saw cutting, or other means that does not penetrate into the roadway base or subbase.

"Service lateral" means underground facilities located in a public right-of-way or utility easement that connects an end user's building or property to an underground utility facility owner's or operator's facility.

"Submerged" means any facility installed below the surface of a lake, river, or navigable waterway.

"Tolerance zone" means:

(1) if the diameter of the underground utility facility is indicated, the distance of one-half of the known diameter plus one and one-half feet on either side of the designated center line of the underground utility facility marking;

(2) if the diameter of the underground utility facility is not indicated, one and one-half feet on either side of the outside edge of the underground utility facility marking; or

(3) if submerged, a distance of 30 feet on either side of the indicated facility.

The underground utility facility markings provided shall not indicate that the width of the marked underground utility facility is any greater than the actual width of the underground utility facility or 2 inches, whichever is greater. The tolerance zone shall also apply to visible utility structures, including, but not limited to, poles with overhead to underground transitions, pedestals, transformers, meters, hydrants, and valve boxes. There shall be a one and one-half foot tolerance zone horizontally around such facilities.

"Underground utility facility" or "facility" means and includes wires, ducts, fiber optic cable, conduits, pipes, sewers, and cables and their connected appurtenances installed or existing beneath the surface of the ground or submerged and either owned, operated, or controlled by:

(1) a public utility as defined in the Public Utilities Act;

(2) a municipally owned or mutually owned utility providing a similar utility service;

(3) a pipeline entity transporting gases, crude oil, petroleum products, or other hydrocarbon materials within the State;

(4) a telecommunications carrier as defined in the Universal Telephone Service Protection Law of 1985, or by a company described in Section 1 of the Telephone Company Act;

(5) a community antenna television system, as defined in the Illinois Municipal Code or the Counties Code;

(6) a holder or broadband service, as those terms are defined in the Cable and Video Competition Law of 2007;

(7) any other entity owning or operating underground facilities that transport or generate electrical power to other utility owners or operators;

(8) an electric cooperative as defined in the Public Utilities Act; and

(9) any other active member of JULIE.

(Source: P.A. 103-614, eff. 1-1-25; 104-417, eff. 8-15-25.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.