STAND. COM. REP. 2542

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: S.B. No. 2678

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing and Science, Arts, and Technology, to which was referred S.B. No. 2678 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO A ONE CALL CENTER,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish, fund, and provide for the governance of a One Call Center to coordinate the location of subsurface installations and provide notification to subsurface installation operators of proposed excavation work.

Testimony in favor of this measure was received from the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii, Building Industry Association Hawaii, General Contractors Association of Hawaii, Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc., Verizon Hawaii, The Gas Company, and Hidano Construction, Inc. The Consumer Advocate, Public Utilities Commission, and Department of Transportation expressed concerns about the measure. The City and County of Honolulu opposed the measure.

This measure creates a One Call Center Board (Board) and requires the Board to establish a One Call Center (Center) by January 1, 2005. The purpose of the Center is to receive notification from excavators of proposed excavation work and to provide notification of the same to the operators of subsurface installations that may be affected by the excavation. The measure establishes requirements for timely notification to and by the Center, marking of excavation sites, identification of subsurface installations by operators, commencement of excavation, re-marking of installations, and excavation procedures. Additionally, the measure establishes penalties for violation of the above requirements.

Your Committees find that the establishment of a One Call Center will facilitate the identification of subsurface installations to avoid or minimize damage to facilities and the environment, minimize the disruption of service to operator customers, and enhance the safety of excavators.

Your Committees have amended this measure to:

(1) Exempt from the definition of "excavator" a subsurface installation operator whose employees are performing maintenance work on the operator's subsurface installation;

(2) Limit the use of funds from the Public Utilities Commission Special Fund to the initial establishment of the One Call Center; and

(3) Require an operator with subsurface installations that may be affected by a proposed excavation to provide the excavator with either an approximate location of the installation or the location and field markings of the installation in conformance with the American Public Works Association Uniform Color Code, but not both.

Additionally, your Committees made technical, nonsubstantive changes to the measure for purposes of clarity and style.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing and Science, Arts, and Technology that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2678, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2678, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing and Science, Arts, and Technology,

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DAVID Y. IGE, Chair

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RON MENOR, Chair