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from the desk of
Fred Johnson
I’m writing this right after being notified by Sandy Sanford, Lobbyist for the Mississippi Damage Prevention Committee (MDPC) that the Governor has just signed S.B. 2603 into law. This is a major step for the Mississippi Regulation of Excava- tions (Dig law).
With this legislation, our law has been updated to include language dealing with guidelines for horizontal drilling and how it should be done to avoid damage to existing underground infrastructure. The guidelines include the technique of pothol- ing which is also new to our law.
Probably about 75% of the complaints we have heard over the past several years have to do with excavators who constantly submit Update tickets that they have never excavated on, or they have already completed the work. This is an issue, partic-
ularly for large projects. The new law clearly states that an excavator is prohibited from submitting locate requests that will extend beyond the life of the locate request. It also states that it is unlawful to update tickets where the work has already been completed. This law will save a lot of time and resources for the utility locators and will allow them to address legitimate locate requests in a timeli- er manner.
Pre-marking (White lining) the proposed excavation site is also introduced in the new legislation. This requires the excavator to pre-mark the proposed excavation area unless it can be clearly de- scribed in the ticket instructions.
There are several other updates to our law included in this legislation including some up-to-date definitions and wording to allow rural water operators to use hand probing rods to locate their lines without overloading the locate request system. They have requested this to be able to have their lines mapped on electronic GPS maps which will greatly speed up the locate process for them.
This is a great legislative effort by the MDPC, and everyone who has taken the time to come together to discuss the needs of our state is to be highly commended for this effort. But this legislation will not be worth the ink and paper it is written on if our owner/operators don’t make sure that they
are following the guidelines and make sure that their contractors and sub-contractors are following them, as well. If there are those who refuse to abide by the law, then it is up to you to file AVRs to stop the illegal practices.
As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to me or members of my staff if we can be of assistance to you.
Fred Johnson
President Mississippi 811
2024, Issue 2 Mississippi 811 • 1