Excavations: subsurface installations.

Existing law, the Dig Safe Act of 2016, creates the California Underground Facilities Safe Excavation Board within the Office of the State Fire Marshal. The act subjects the board to review by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature. This bill would provide that the board is also known as the "Dig Safe Board" and would make conforming changes to references in the act. The bill would require the board, on and after January 1, 2022, to be within the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety within the Natural Resources Agency, as established pursuant to the California Energy Infrastructure Safety Act. The bill would require policy committee review at least once every 3 years. The act requires the board to perform various duties relating to the protection of subsurface installations. The act generally requires an operator of a subsurface installation to become a member of, participate in, and share in the costs of, a regional notification center. The act requires a record of all notifications by an excavator or operator to the regional notification center to be maintained for a period of not less than 3 years and available for inspection as specified. The act requires an operator to maintain certain records on subsurface installations. The act establishes prescribed notification procedures for an excavator who discovers or damages a subsurface installation. This bill would require a regional notification center to provide notification records to the board quarterly and provide notifications of damage to the board within 5 business days of receipt at the regional notification center. The bill would require that, commencing January 1, 2023, all new subsurface installations, except for specified oil and gas flowlines 3 inches or less in diameter that are located within the administrative boundaries of an oil field, be mapped using a geographic information system and maintained as permanent records of the operator. The bill would require the excavator to notify the regional notification center within 48 hours of discovering or causing damage. The act subjects any operator or excavator who violates the act to a civil penalty. The act authorizes enforcement by certain entities, including specified agencies following a recommendation of the board against contractors, telephone corporations, gas corporations, electrical corporations, water corporations, operators of hazardous liquid pipeline facilities, and local agencies, as specified. The act authorizes the board to enforce its provisions on prescribed persons not subject to enforcement by the specified agencies, commencing on July 1, 2020. This bill would also authorize enforcement of the act by the specified agencies through their own investigations. The bill would authorize the board to collect penalties imposed on persons subject to its jurisdiction. The act requires the board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to grant the use of the moneys in the Safe Energy Infrastructure and Excavation Fund to fund prescribed public education and outreach programs designed to promote excavation safety around subsurface installations. This bill would delete those education and outreach program provisions and, instead, require the board, for violations that are neither egregious nor persistent, to offer violators the option of completing an educational course in lieu of paying a fine. The bill would make moneys in the fund available to the board to fund the educational course, subject to appropriation by the Legislature.