As Introduced
136th General Assembly
Regular Session H. B. No. 227
2025-2026
Representatives Robb Blasdel, Johnson
Cosponsor: Representative Daniels
To amend sections 3781.25, 3781.26, 3781.27,
3781.271, and 3781.28 of the Revised Code to
modify excavation requirements.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That sections 3781.25, 3781.26, 3781.27,
3781.271, and 3781.28 of the Revised Code be amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 3781.25. As used in sections 3781.25 to 3781.38 of
the Revised Code:
(A) "Protection service" means a notification center, but
not an owner of an individual utility, that exists for the
purpose of receiving notice from persons that prepare plans and
specifications for or that engage in excavation work, that
distributes this information to its members and participants,
and that has registered by March 14, 1989, with the secretary of
state and the public utilities commission of Ohio under former
division (F) of section 153.64 of the Revised Code as it existed
on that date.
(B) "Underground utility facility" includes any item
buried or placed below ground or submerged under water for use
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in connection with the storage or conveyance of water or sewage;
electronic, or telephonic communications; television signals;
electricity; crude oil; petroleum products; artificial or
liquefied petroleum; manufactured, mixed, or natural gas;
synthetic or liquefied natural gas; propane gas; coal; steam;
hot water; or other substances. "Underground utility facility"
includes all operational underground pipes, sewers, tubing,
conduits, cables, valves, lines, wires, worker access holes, and
attachments, owned by any person, firm, or company. "Underground
utility facility" does not include a private septic system in a
one-family or multi-family dwelling utilized only for that
dwelling and not connected to any other system.
(C) "Utility" means any owner or operator, or an agent of
an owner or operator, of an underground utility facility,
including any public authority, that owns or operates an
underground utility facility. "Utility" does not include the
owners of the following types of real property with respect to
any underground utility facility located on that property:
(1) The owner of a single-family or two-, three-, or four-
unit residential dwelling;
(2) The owner of an apartment complex;
(3) The owner of a commercial or industrial building or
complex of buildings, including but not limited to, factories
and shopping centers;
(4) The owner of a farm;
(5) The owner of an exempt domestic well as defined in
section 1509.01 of the Revised Code.
(D) "Approximate location" means the immediate area within
the perimeter of a proposed excavation site where the
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underground utility facilities are located.
(E) "Tolerance zone" means the site of the underground
utility facility including the width of the underground utility
facility plus eighteen inches on each side of the facility.
(F) "Working days" excludes Saturdays, Sundays, begin at
midnight, end at eleven fifty-nine p.m. on the same date, and
exclude weekends and legal holidays as defined in section 1.14
of the Revised Code and "hours" excludes hours on Saturdays,
Sundays, weekends and legal holidays.
(G) "Designer" means an engineer, architect, landscape
architect, contractor, surveyor, or other person who develops
plans or designs for real property improvement or any other
activity that will involve excavation.
(H) "Developer" means the person for whom the excavation
is made and who will own or be the lessee of any improvement
that is the object of the excavation.
(I) "Excavation" means the use of hand tools, powered
equipment, or explosives to move earth, rock, or other materials
in order to penetrate or bore or drill into the earth, or to
demolish any structure whether or not it is intended that the
demolition will disturb the earth. "Excavation" includes such
agricultural operations as the installation of drain tile, but
excludes agricultural operations such as tilling that do not
penetrate the earth to a depth of more than twelve inches.
"Excavation" excludes any activity by a governmental entity
which does not penetrate the earth to a depth of more than
twelve inches. "Excavation" excludes coal mining and reclamation
operations regulated under Chapter 1513. of the Revised Code and
rules adopted under it. "Excavation" excludes all of the
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following activities when performed in the public right-of-way:
(1) Milling and grinding of asphalt road surfaces without
penetrating the earth to a depth greater than four inches,
except for pulverizing activities, activities at signalized
intersections, and activities where signal or environmental
sensors may be present;
(2) Utility wood pole inspection utilizing hand tools to
excavate to a depth that does not penetrate the earth more than
twelve inches and working on the clear side of poles, greater
than ninety degrees from any risers;
(3) Tilling for sowing of grass and wildflower coverings
to a depth that does not penetrate the earth more than four
inches for erosion control or beautification purposes;
(4) Placement of temporary signage, without penetrating
the earth more than four inches.
(J) "Excavation site" means the area within which
excavation will be performed.
(K) "Excavator" means the person or persons responsible
for making the actual excavation.
(L) "Interstate gas pipeline" means an interstate gas
pipeline subject to the "Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of
1968," 82 Stat. 720, 49 U.S.C. 1671, as amended.
(M) "Interstate hazardous liquids pipeline" means an
interstate hazardous liquids pipeline subject to the "Hazardous
Liquid Pipeline Safety Act of 1979," 93 Stat. 1003, 49 U.S.C.
2002, as amended.
(N) "Special notification requirements" means requirements
for notice to an owner of an interstate hazardous liquids
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pipeline or an interstate gas pipeline that must be made prior
to commencing excavation and pursuant to the owner's public
safety program adopted under federal law.
(O) "Commercial excavator" means any excavator, excluding
a utility as defined in this section, that satisfies both of the
following:
(1) For compensation, performs, directs, supervises, or is
responsible for the excavation, construction, improvement,
renovation, repair, or maintenance on a construction project and
holds out or represents oneself as qualified or permitted to act
as such;
(2) Employs tradespersons who actually perform excavation,
construction, improvement, renovation, repair, or maintenance on
a construction project.
(P) "Person" has the same meaning as in section 1.59 of
the Revised Code and also includes a public authority.
(Q) "Positive response system" means an automated system
facilitated by a protection service allowing a utility to
communicate to an excavator the presence or absence of any
conflict between the existing underground utility facilities and
the proposed excavation site.
(R) "One-call notification system" means the software or
communications system used by a protection system to notify its
membership of proposed excavation sites.
(S) "Project" means any undertaking by a private party of
an improvement requiring excavation.
(T) "Public authority" has the same meaning as in section
153.64 of the Revised Code.
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(U) "Improvement" means any construction, reconstruction,
improvement, enlargement, alteration, or repair of a building,
highway, drainage system, water system, road, street, alley,
sewer, ditch, sewage disposal plant, water works, and all other
structures or works of any nature.
(V) "Emergency" means an unexpected occurrence causing a
disruption or damage to an underground utility facility that
requires immediate repair or a situation that creates a clear
and imminent danger that demands immediate action to prevent or
mitigate loss of or damage to life, health, property, or
essential public services.
(W) "Nondestructive manner" means using low-impact, low-
risk technologies such as hand tools, or hydro or air vacuum
excavation equipment.
(X) "Cable service provider" has the same meaning as in
section 1332.01 of the Revised Code.
(Y) "Electric cooperative" and "electric utility" have the
same meanings as in section 4928.01 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 3781.26. (A) Each utility that owns or operates
underground utility facilities shall participate in and register
the location of its underground utility facilities with a
protection service that serves the area where the facilities are
located. A utility may elect to participate in the service on a
limited basis and if it does so, it shall register the location
of its underground utility facilities by identifying the
municipal corporations, and outside the limits of a municipal
corporation, the townships by county and, where applicable, the
immediate geographic area in which it has facilities. The
service shall establish reasonable fees for limited basis
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participants.
(B) Protection services, utilities, commercial excavators,
excavation equipment dealers, the public utilities commission of
Ohio, the board of building standards, local law enforcement
agencies, and fire departments should publicize the importance
of ascertaining the location of underground utility facilities
before excavating and the use of protection services to
ascertain that information.
(C) A protection service shall maintain records of
notifications received from developers, designers, and
excavators, and of its notifications made to utilities,
developers, designers, and excavators, under sections 3781.27
and 3781.28 of the Revised Code. The records of a protection
service shall identify by reference number, the notifications it
received regarding a proposed excavation site, the notifications
it provided regarding a proposed excavation site, and the date
and time of each notification.
(D) Each utility fully participating in a protection
service pursuant to this section shall also participate in its
affiliated positive response system. Each utility participating
in a protection service on a limited basis shall directly
communicate to the excavator the presence or absence of any
conflict between the existing underground utility facilities and
the proposed excavation site.
Sec. 3781.27. (A) In order to ascertain the name of each
utility with underground utility facilities located at the
proposed excavation site and the types and tolerance zones of
those facilities based on current records of the utility, any
developer who is planning a project that will require excavation
or the designer employed by the developer for the project shall
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notify a protection service of the location of the proposed
excavation site.
(B) Except in the case of limited basis participants, the
The protection service shall provide notice of the proposed
excavation to each participant in the service that has
underground utility facilities in the area of the proposed
excavation site. Except as provided in section 3781.271 of the
Revised Code, in the case of limited basis participants, the
protection service shall notify the developer or the designer
employed by the developer of the name of each limited basis
participant with underground utility facilities within the
municipal corporation or township and county of the proposed
excavation site, and the developer or designer shall contact
that utility.
(C)(1) Each utility that has any underground utility
facilities in the area of the proposed excavation site shall
notify the developer or the designer employed by the developer
of the locations and description of the utility's underground
utility facilities located at the proposed excavation site in
accordance with division (C)(2) of this section. The utility
shall make this notification within ten working days of
receiving a notice under division (B) of this section or by a
later date acceptable to the developer or designer and utility.
If the proposed project is within six hundred sixty feet of the
center point of an interstate hazardous liquid pipeline or an
interstate gas pipeline, the utility shall provide written
notice to the developer or designer of any special notification
requirements and identify its primary contact person for the
project area.
(2) If requested by the developer or the designer employed
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by the developer, each utility shall do one of the following in
order to comply with the notification requirements of division
(C)(1) of this section:
(a) Mark the location of the underground utility
facilities, other than those facilities serving single-family or
two-, three-, or four-unit dwellings, at the proposed excavation
site in accordance with the marking standards described in
division (C) of section 3781.29 of the Revised Code;
(b) Provide digital or paper drawings, or both, that meet
both of the following requirements:
(i) They are drawn to scale and include locatable items.
Locatable items may include poles, pedestals, back of curb,
sidewalk, edge of pavement, centerline of ditch, property lines,
and other similar items.
(ii) They depict the location of the underground utility
facilities.
(3) In the case of an interstate hazardous pipeline and an
interstate gas pipeline, the utility shall also provide the
location and description of any right-of-way associated with the
underground utility facilities as well as pipeline location
information, such as providing documents reflecting the actual
location of the pipeline, marking facilities on design drawings,
and providing maps.
Compliance with divisions (C)(2) and (3) of this section
does not relieve a utility from compliance with the marking
requirements of section 3781.29 of the Revised Code.
(D) The utility shall determine if any relocation,
support, or removal, or protective steps beyond those described
in divisions (A)(1) to (5) of section 3781.30 of the Revised
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Code are required in order to prevent disturbance or
interference with the underground utility facilities during
excavation. The utility shall determine whether it will permit
the developer or the designer employed by the developer to make
those adjustments, and, if the adjustments are to be made by the
utility, a reasonable amount of time necessary to make those
adjustments.
(E)(1) Based on the information provided pursuant to
division (C) of this section, the developer or the designer
employed by the developer shall indicate the approximate
locations of underground utility facilities either on or with
the plans prepared for the project. The developer or designer
shall include with the plans the names, addresses, and telephone
numbers of utilities with underground facilities at the
excavation site, indicating which utilities are limited basis
participants; the name and telephone number of any appropriate
protection service; and any required adjustments as described in
division (D) of this section, including the reasonable time
necessary for the utility to make those adjustments. In the case
of an interstate hazardous liquid pipeline or an interstate gas
pipeline, the developer or designer also shall include all of
the following:
(a) Any special notification requirements;
(b) The name and contact information of the primary
contact person for each pipeline operator who has provided
notice to the developer or designer under division (C)(1) of
this section;
(c) Notice stating that the developer or designer has
utilized reasonable means to contact the pipeline operator to
verify the location of the pipeline and pipeline rights-of-way.
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Developers and designers who provide notice to the protection
service in accordance with division (A) of this section are
deemed to have complied with the notification requirement under
this division.
(d) Notice that the developer or designer has reviewed, or
attempted to review, preliminary information about the proposed
development with the pipeline operator and incorporated
requested adjustments into the plans.
(2)(a) Except as otherwise provided in division (E)(2)(b)
of this section, the developer or designer shall provide the
plans to the commercial excavator prior to entering into a
contract that involves such excavation. If the developer does
not prepare written plans or have any written plans prepared,
the developer shall otherwise provide the approximate locations,
identifying information on the utilities, information on
required adjustments, and any special notification requirements
to the commercial excavator before excavation begins.
(b) When the developer is a utility, the utility shall
provide either the plans or the approximate locations,
identifying information on the utilities, information on
required adjustments, and any special notification requirements
to the excavator before excavation begins.
(3) The developer or designer shall design the project
taking into account the approximate location of existing
underground utility facilities in order to prevent, as far as is
practicable, disturbance or interference with those facilities.
(4) When a project includes installation of new
underground utility facilities, the developer or designer shall
attempt to design the installation so that at least a twelve-
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inch clearance is provided between the facilities. No facility
shall be installed with less than a twelve-inch clearance unless
the owners of existing facilities are notified, in writing,
prior to installation.
(F)(1) This section does not apply in the case of a
utility making emergency repair to its own underground utility
facility.
(2) This section does not apply in the case of the owner
of the types of real property identified in divisions (C)(1) to
(4) of section 3781.25 of the Revised Code, unless the owner
employs a designer to make written plans for work that will
involve excavation. If the owner employs a designer, the
designer shall contact a protection service and utilities that
are limited basis participants in accordance with divisions (A)
and (B) of this section, and shall include in or with the plans
the information required under division (E) of this section. The
owner shall provide that information to the excavator.
(G) A public authority, as defined in section 153.64 of
the Revised Code, may withhold approval to a project until the
requirements of this section have been satisfied by the
developer and utility, as applicable. A public authority may
rely solely upon the notice submitted under division (E) of this
section when determining whether the requirements of this
section have been satisfied for purposes of granting final
approval of such development. A public authority is immune from
liability related to the approval or construction of such
development when the approval is based upon information as
provided in this division.
Sec. 3781.271. Beginning on July 1, 2013, each protection
service shall reasonably modify its one-call notification system
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so as to permit the reasonable identification of the location of
a proposed excavation site in a manner in which the protection
service may then notify any potentially affected limited basis
participants. Each member of a protection service , including
limited basis participants, shall be responsible for providing
current contact information to the protection service.
Sec. 3781.28. (A) Except as otherwise provided in
divisions (C), (D), (E), and (F) of this section, at least
forty-eight hours but not more than ten working days before
commencing excavation, at least two working days, not including
the day of the notification, but not more than sixteen calendar
days before commencing excavation, the excavator shall notify a
the protection service of the location of the excavation site
and the date on which excavation is planned to commence.
(B) On receipt of notice under division (A) of this
section, the protection service shall provide to each utility
with underground utility facilities located at the excavation
site, notice of the proposed excavation.
(C) In the case of an interstate hazardous liquids
pipeline or interstate gas pipeline, the excavator shall comply
with the special notice requirements of the public safety
program of the owner of the pipeline as indicated in the plans
or otherwise provided to the excavator in accordance with
division (E) or (F)(2) of section 3781.27 of the Revised Code.
(D) If it has been determined pursuant to division (D) of
section 3781.27 of the Revised Code that relocation, support,
removal, or protective steps are necessary, the excavator shall
provide earlier notice to the utility in order to provide the
utility with reasonable time to coordinate making the
adjustments with actual excavation.
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(E) If an excavation will cover a large area and will
progress from one area to the next over a period of time, the
excavator shall provide written notice of excavation with
projected timelines for segments of the excavation as the
excavation progresses in order to coordinate the marking of
underground utility facilities with actual excavation schedules.
Under such circumstances, the utility and excavator shall
determine a mutually agreed upon marking schedule based on the
project schedule. Once such a schedule is established, the
marking and notification requirements set forth in division (A)
(1) of section 3781.29 of the Revised Code shall not apply.
(F)(1) In the case of a utility that is making an
emergency repair to its own underground utility system or a
governmental entity making an underground emergency repair to
traffic control devices, as defined in section 4511.01 of the
Revised Code, used on any street or highway under the entity's
jurisdiction, the utility or governmental entity shall notify a
protection service and each limited basis participant of the
excavation site. This notice need not occur before commencing
excavation.
(2) In the case of an excavation at the site of real
property of the type described in divisions (C)(1) to (4) of
section 3781.25 of the Revised Code:
(a) If the owner of the property is the excavator, this
section does not apply unless the excavation is planned for an
area where a utility easement is located, a public right-of-way,
or where utility facilities are known to serve the property.
(b) If the owner of the property employs an excavator, the
excavator shall comply with the requirements of this section. If
the owner did not employ a designer to make written plans, the
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excavator shall provide the notice required under this section
to a protection service and to each utility that is a limited
basis participant in a protection service that has underground
utility facilities within the municipal corporation or township
and county of the excavation site, as indicated by the
protection service.
Section 2. That existing sections 3781.25, 3781.26,
3781.27, 3781.271, and 3781.28 of the Revised Code are hereby
repealed.
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