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AlabamaSB2052026 Regular SessionSenate

Underground Damage Prevention Program; One-Call Notification System, further provided for complex or large projects, sunset extended

Sponsored By: Gerald H. Allen (Republican)

Enacted

Telecommunications & Utilities

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

8 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 1 costs, 5 mixed.

Complaint hearings no longer require attendance

Beginning January 1, 2027, complainants are no longer required to attend Underground Damage Prevention Authority board hearings. A complainant or alleged violator may ask to attend a hearing.

Excavators gain more flexible work timing

Beginning January 1, 2027, excavators can start before the planned date after every notified operator reports a closed or completed response. Excavators must verify those responses, and all other locate and safety duties still apply. For unfinished excavation or demolition, the renewal-notice day counts toward the two-working-day lead time before an unexpired notice expires.

Separate utility requests for project designers

Beginning January 1, 2027, design or survey locate requests cannot be used for excavation, and excavation requests cannot serve design or survey work. Design or survey requests must describe the parcel clearly under One-Call policies. They must include the submitter’s name, address, telephone number, and the project owner’s company name. A fax number is no longer required.

Crews face added utility safety checks

Beginning January 1, 2027, utility marks show approximate location, not depth. Crews crossing a facility within the tolerance zone must use reasonable care to find its depth. That zone covers the facility plus 18 inches on each side. After the required notice and operator response, finding an unmarked facility requires another One-Call notice before excavation begins. Excavators must contact all notified operators within four hours for responses; after giving the additional notice, they may proceed with reasonable care to avoid the facility.

Digging rules reach underwater construction

Beginning January 1, 2027, excavation rules cover digging by machine, explosives, or hand, plus dredging, marine construction, and underwater work. Specified hand-digging work by property owners, member operators, locate responders, and people replacing above-ground structures is excluded. Qualifying surveying and engineering work is also excluded. Unmechanized public-road work is excluded only within an original excavation on the traveled way, shoulder, or drainage ditches. Workers must use reasonable care to protect permitted utilities; qualifying routine road maintenance can be contracted out.

Large excavation projects require coordinated planning

Beginning January 1, 2027, projects qualify for special planning if initially planned beyond 40 working days or using at least five crews at once. Projects also qualify when multiple locate requests cover the same activity and area within one working-day notification period, during the first request’s life. Excavators must provide project and contact information through One-Call at least five working days before the planning meeting. Excavators, operators, and locators must negotiate in good faith and sign a written agreement covering scope, timelines, and locate completion. Locate requests and markings must follow that schedule and existing safety rules. Operators can require this process when routine requests together qualify; knowingly failing to designate a qualifying project or breaking the agreement triggers enforcement. The law removes the older, separate authority for working agreements on extensive, connected work after initial notice.

Road agencies gain limited damage protection

Beginning January 1, 2027, public agencies are shielded from liability for underground-facility damage during routine roadway maintenance in specified cases. The facility must be in the public right-of-way and installed against agency requirements or its installation permit. Both conditions must apply: routine maintenance and improper installation. The facility owner may bear the covered loss.

Utilities keep using One-Call through 2037

Beginning January 1, 2027, Alabama underground-facility operators must continue participating in and using One-Call through January 1, 2037. Electrical operators with underground trench miles below 5% of total line miles are exempt from membership costs until they exceed 5%. Exempt operators must report their percentage each year by December 31. An entity is excluded from operator rules only if all its facilities serve itself alone. Those facilities must also be entirely on property it owns or has rights to operate on.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

  • Gerald H. Allen

    Republican • Senate

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 291 • No: 0

House vote • 3/5/2026

Third Reading in Second House

Yes: 105 • No: 0

House vote • 3/5/2026

Motion to Read a Third Time and Pass - Adopted Roll Call 783

Yes: 105 • No: 0

Senate vote • 2/19/2026

Motion to Read a Third Time and Pass as Amended - Adopted Roll Call 470

Yes: 27 • No: 0

Senate vote • 2/19/2026

Third Reading in House of Origin

Yes: 27 • No: 0

Senate vote • 2/19/2026

Allen motion to Adopt - Adopted Roll Call 469

Yes: 27 • No: 0

Actions Timeline

  1. Enacted

    3/18/2026Senate

  2. Signature Requested

    3/10/2026House

  3. Delivered to Governor

    3/10/2026Senate

  4. Third Reading in Second House

    3/5/2026House

  5. Motion to Read a Third Time and Pass - Adopted Roll Call 783

    3/5/2026House

  6. Ready to Enroll

    3/5/2026Senate

  7. Ready to Enroll

    3/5/2026Senate

  8. Enrolled

    3/5/2026Senate

  9. Reported Out of Committee Second House

    2/25/2026House

  10. Read for the Second Time and placed on the Calendar

    2/25/2026House

  11. Third Reading in House of Origin

    2/19/2026Senate

  12. Transportation and Energy 1st Amendment Offered

    2/19/2026Senate

  13. Allen motion to Adopt - Adopted Roll Call 469

    2/19/2026Senate

  14. Motion to Read a Third Time and Pass as Amended - Adopted Roll Call 470

    2/19/2026Senate

  15. Engrossed

    2/19/2026Senate

  16. Read for the first time and referred to the House Committee on Transportation, Utilities and Infrastructure

    2/19/2026House

  17. Pending Committee Action in Second House

    2/19/2026House

  18. Read for the Second Time and placed on the Calendar

    2/5/2026Senate

  19. Transportation and Energy 1st Amendment

    2/4/2026Senate

  20. Reported Out of Committee House of Origin

    2/4/2026Senate

  21. Read for the first time and referred to the Senate Committee on Transportation and Energy

    1/22/2026Senate

  22. Pending Committee Action in House of Origin

    1/22/2026Senate

Bill Text

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