By: Springer H.B. No. 3284
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the applicability of underground facility damage
prevention and safety requirements to certain activities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 251.002(5), Utilities Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(5) "Excavate" means to use explosives or a motor,
engine, hydraulic or pneumatically powered tool, or other
mechanized equipment of any kind and includes auguring,
backfilling, boring, compressing, digging, ditching, drilling,
dragging, dredging, grading, mechanical probing, plowing-in,
pulling-in, ripping, scraping, trenching, and tunneling to remove
or otherwise disturb soil to a depth of 10 [16] or more inches.
SECTION 2. Section 251.004, Utilities Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 251.004. APPLICABILITY [APPLICATION] TO CERTAIN
CONTRACTORS AND STATE EMPLOYEES. [(a)] This chapter does not apply
to excavation by an employee of [a contractor working in the public
right-of-way under a contract with] the Texas Department of
Transportation performing the following activities in a public
right-of-way in which the department has an interest:
(1) sampling and repair of pavement, base, and
subgrade;
(2) repairing a roadway embankment that is adjacent to
pavement structure;
(3) reshaping unpaved shoulders and drop-offs; or
(4) hand digging for the department's archeological
program.
[(b) Excavation by an employee of the Texas Department of
Transportation on a segment of the state highway system is not
subject to this chapter if the excavation is more than 10 feet from
the right-of-way line.]
SECTION 3. Section 251.156(a), Utilities Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) Section 251.151 does not apply to:
(1) interment operations of a cemetery;
(2) operations at a secured facility if:
(A) the excavator operates each underground
facility at the secured facility, other than those within a
third-party underground facility easement or right-of-way; and
(B) the excavation activity is not within a
third-party underground facility or right-of-way;
(3) routine railroad maintenance within 15 feet of
either side of the midline of the track if the maintenance will not
disturb the ground at a depth of more than 18 inches;
(4) the movement of earth by tillage not to exceed a
depth of 16 inches [activities performed on private property in
connection with agricultural operations];
(5) operations associated with the exploration or
production of oil or gas if the operations are not conducted within
an underground facility easement or right-of-way; or
(6) excavations by or for a person that:
(A) owns, leases, or owns a mineral leasehold
interest in the real property on which the excavation occurs; and
(B) operates all underground facilities located
at the excavation site[; or
[(7) routine maintenance by a county employee on a
county road right-of-way to a depth of not more than 24 inches].
SECTION 4. Section 251.156(c), Utilities Code, is repealed.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.