STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2733

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3078

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 3078 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ADVANCE WARNING FOR EXCAVATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to apply the existing advance warning requirements to excavators operating on residential properties and clarify various excavation requirements and reporting procedures.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Public Utilities Commission, Hawaiian Electric, Hawai‘i Gas, Hawaiian Telcom, and Hawaii Pest Control Association.

Your Committee finds that most excavators are required to call the One Call Center to provide the opportunity to check for pipelines or similar infrastructure prior to commencing excavation. Existing law, however, does not require excavators operating on residential properties to contact the One Call Center prior to excavating. Consequently, in 2020, approximately sixty-eight percent of subsurface utility infrastructure strikes occurred on residential properties. This exemption poses significant risk for homeowners and community members who use shared infrastructure. This measure extends the advance warning requirements to residential properties to reduce avoidable infrastructure damage and the risks of outages and other injuries to excavators.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting certain language in the definition of "excavation" to clarify excavators are exempt from the advance warning requirements when their activities on residential properties do not involve excavation of more than twelve inches below the surface of the ground; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3078, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3078, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection,

________________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair