Bill > A4779

Introduced Session

This bill expands the current requirement that a public utility or a cable television company (collectively, "utility company") accommodate and relocate facilities when necessary for transportation infrastructure projects, at the direction of the Department of Transportation ("department"). The bill defines facilities as a utility company's tracks, pipes, mains or laterals, conduits, access manholes or chambers, cables, wires, towers, poles, telecommunications equipment, data transmissions systems, or other equipment, appliances, or apparatus, but not including any railroad. The bill creates a process whereby the department and a utility company establish and assign responsibility for the relocation of utility facilities within the limits of construction projects. The bill permits the department to manage utility relocations through its construction contract, and allows the department's contractor to control the project's construction schedule and the timing for utility facilities relocation work. Where appropriate, the department may assign responsibility for the utility relocation to a utility company. The bill's provisions allow the department to hold a utility company liable for delaying the department or its contractor for failure to provide necessary data and support during the design process, or failure to relocate their facilities according to the construction schedule when the utility company accepts responsibility for relocating their facilities. The bill maintains current practice by not requiring the utility company to pay relocation costs, but does require the utility company to pay for costs associated with pre-engineering, field location testing, engineering design and review, and any costs attributable to the utility company from its delay in the relocation of its facilities. Delays in relocating utility facilities typically delay other construction activities that are dependent on their relocation, thereby affecting the overall construction schedule. Construction delays can increase material costs, which can increase over time, and labor costs as personnel must be retained on a construction project for a longer period of time. Additionally, the general public may be inconvenienced by longer construction periods. The bill is intended to considerably reduce delays and costs when a utility company's facilities are not relocated in accordance with the construction schedule.

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Harold Wirths (R)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee (on 12/06/2018)