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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 950
January Session, 2021
LCO No. 3970
Referred to Committee on ENERGY AND TECHNOLOGY
Introduced by:
(ET)
AN ACT CONCERNING TH E REPLACEMENT OF PUB LIC UTILITY
POLES AND REVISING VEGETATION MANAGEMENT IN UTILITY
PROTECTION ZONES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2021) (a) For purposes of this 1
section, "emergency" has the same meaning as provided in subdivision 2
(1) of subsection (a) of section 16-32e of the general statutes and "public 3
service company" has the same meaning as provided in section 16-1 of 4
the general statutes. 5
(b) Not later than ninety days after (1) the occurrence of an emergency 6
requiring the replacement of a public utility pole, or (2) a preplanned 7
replacement of a public utility pole, each public service company shall 8
place all lines, conduits, cables, wires and other equipment owned or 9
operated by such company on the replaced public utility pole. 10
Sec. 2. Subsection (a) of section 16-234 of the general statutes is 11
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 12
2021): 13 Raised Bill No. 950
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(a) As used in this section: 14
(1) "Utility" means a telephone, telecommunications or electric 15
distribution company, each as defined in section 16-1; 16
(2) "Utility protection zone" means any rectangular area extending 17
horizontally for a distance of eight feet from any outermost electrical 18
conductor or wire installed from pole to pole and vertically from the 19
ground to the sky; 20
(3) "Hazardous tree" means any tree or part of a tree that is (A) dead, 21
(B) extensively decayed, or (C) structurally weak, which, if it falls, 22
would endanger utility infrastructure, facilities or equipment; 23
(4) "Vegetation management" means the retention of trees and shrubs 24
that are compatible with the utility infrastructure and the pruning or 25
removal of trees, shrubs or other vegetation that pose a risk to the 26
reliability of the utility infrastructure. Until such time as the Department 27
of Energy and Environmental Protection issues standards for 28
identifying such compatible trees and shrubs, the standards and 29
identification of such compatible trees and shrubs shall be as set forth in 30
the 2012 final report of the State Vegetation Management Task Force; 31
(5) "Pruning" means the selective removal of plant parts to meet 32
specific utility infrastructure reliability goals and objectives, when 33
performed according to current professional tree care standards and in 34
a manner that retains the structural integrity and health of the 35
vegetation; 36
(6) "Abutting property owner" means the owner of the property 37
abutting or adjacent to that portion of a public road, public highway or 38
public grounds where the tree or shrub that the utility proposes to 39
remove or prune is located; [and] 40
(7) "Private property owner" means the owner of the property where 41
a tree or shrub the utility proposes to remove or prune is located, which 42
may include municipally owned land; [.] 43 Raised Bill No. 950
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(8) "Three phase main" means the segment of a circuit which 44
originates directly from a substation and is protected by a circuit breaker 45
or a recloser-type device. 46
Sec. 3. Subsection (e) of section 16-234 of the general statutes is 47
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 48
2021): 49
(e) (1) No utility shall be required to obtain a permit pursuant to 50
subsection (f) of section 23-65 or provide notice under subsection (c) of 51
this section to prune or remove a tree, as necessary, if any part of a tree 52
is in direct contact with an energized electrical conductor or has visible 53
signs of burning. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to 54
require a utility to prune or remove a tree. 55
(2) No utility shall be required to obtain a permit pursuant to 56
subsection (f) of section 23-65 or obtain consent under subsection (c) of 57
this section to prune or remove a tree, as necessary, if any part of a tree 58
(A) is located in the utility protection zone for a three phase main, or (B) 59
is part of a hazardous tree that could endanger any three phase main. 60
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2021 New section
Sec. 2 July 1, 2021 16-234(a)
Sec. 3 July 1, 2021 16-234(e)
ET Joint Favorable