SENATE BILL 597
49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2009
INTRODUCED BY
Carlos R. Cisneros
AN ACT
RELATING TO UTILITIES; AMENDING SECTIONS OF CHAPTER 62, ARTICLE 14 NMSA 1978 TO CLARIFY CONDITIONS FOR A PERSON OWNING OR OPERATING AN UNDERGROUND FACILITY TO LOCATE AND MARK ON THE SURFACE THE ACTUAL HORIZONTAL LOCATION OF THE UNDERGROUND FACILITY TO A PERSON INTENDING TO EXCAVATE.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. Section 62-14-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1973, Chapter 252, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:
"62-14-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in Chapter 62, Article 14 NMSA 1978:
A. "advance notice" means two working days;
B. "blasting" means the use of an explosive to excavate;
C. "cable television lines and related facilities" means the facilities of any cable television system or closed-circuit coaxial cable communications system or other similar transmission service used in connection with any cable television system or other similar closed-circuit coaxial cable communications system;
D. "commission" means the public regulation commission;
E. "emergency excavation" means an excavation that must be performed due to circumstances beyond the excavator's control and that affects public safety, health or welfare;
F. "excavate" means the movement or removal of earth using mechanical excavating equipment or blasting and includes augering, backfilling, digging, ditching, drilling, grading, plowing in, pulling in, ripping, scraping, trenching, tunneling and directional boring;
G. "excavator" means a person that excavates;
H. "means of location" means a mark such as a stake, a flag, whiskers or paint that is conspicuous in nature and that is designed to last at least ten working days if not disturbed;
I. "mechanical excavating equipment" means all equipment powered by any motor, engine or hydraulic or pneumatic device used for excavating and includes trenchers, bulldozers, backhoes, power shovels, scrapers, draglines, clam shells, augers, drills, cable and pipe plows or other plowing-in or pulling-in equipment;
J. "one-call notification system" means a communication system in which an operation center provides telephone services or other reliable means of communication for the purpose of receiving excavation notice information and distributing that information to owners and operators of pipelines and other underground facilities;
K. "person" means the legal representative of or an individual, partnership, corporation, joint venture, state, subdivision or instrumentality of the state or an association;
L. "pipeline" means a pipeline or system of pipelines and appurtenances for the transportation or movement of any oil or gas, or oil or gas products and their byproducts subject to the jurisdiction of federal law or regulation;
M. "reasonable efforts" means notifying the appropriate one-call notification center or underground facility owner or operator of planned excavation;
N. "underground facility" means any tangible property described in Subsections C, L and O of this section that is underground, regardless of ownership, but does not include residential sprinklers or low-voltage lighting; and
O. "underground utility line" means an underground conduit or cable, including fiber optics, and related facilities for transportation and delivery of electricity, telephonic or telegraphic communications or water, sewer and fire protection lines."
Section 2. Section 62-14-5 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1973, Chapter 252, Section 5, as amended) is amended to read:
"62-14-5. MARKING OF FACILITIES.--
A. [Every] A person owning or operating, including up to a client's or customer's point of use, an underground facility shall, upon the request of a person intending to commence an excavation and upon advance notice, locate and mark on the surface the actual horizontal location, within twelve inches by some means of location, of the underground facilities in or near the area of the excavation, regardless of ownership, so as to enable the person engaged in excavation work to locate the facilities in advance of and during the excavation work.
B. If the owner or operator of the underground facility finds [he] that the owner or operator has no underground facilities in the proposed area of excavation, the owner or operator shall contact the appropriate one-call notification center or mark in the appropriate color code as specified in Section 62-14-5.1 NMSA 1978, marking the area as "Clear" or "No Underground Facilities". If the area is not marked as "Clear" or "No Underground Facilities", the excavator shall contact the one-call notification system operating in the intended excavation area or the owners or operators of any existing underground facility in and near the excavation area that are not members of the local one-call notification center in order to verify the area as "Clear" or "No Underground Facilities".
C. If the owner or operator fails to correctly mark the underground facility after being given advance notice and such failure to correctly mark the facility results in additional costs to the person doing the excavating, then the owner or operator shall reimburse the person engaging in the excavation for the reasonable costs incurred.
D. An owner of an underground facility shall not move or obliterate markings made pursuant to Chapter 62, Article 14 NMSA 1978 or fabricate markings in an unmarked location for the purpose of concealing or avoiding liability for a violation of or noncompliance with the provisions of Chapter 62, Article 14 NMSA 1978."
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