DelawareSB 275153rd General Assembly (2024–2026)SenateWALLET

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 26 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE UNDERGROUND UTILITY DAMAGE PREVENTION AND SAFETY ACT.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

12 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 5 costs, 4 mixed.

Utility customers cannot be charged penalties

Utility owners and operators cannot recover costs associated with their civil penalties through customer rates. Customers do not pay those penalty costs through their utility bills.

Routine farm cultivation avoids digging penalties

Routine surface cultivation for farming, including tilling, plowing, and disking, is exempt from the law’s penalties. The exemption applies only when the work does not infringe on public rights-of-way or easements.

Excavators gain protection from damage bills

A utility that unlawfully fails to join the center cannot recover damage costs caused by an excavator’s failure to notify that nonmember. This does not limit the excavator’s other rights. When a utility fails to provide required information, liability for damage to its lines requires proof of negligence. Following notice rules still does not excuse careless digging.

Damage claims against notice center limited

Utilities Service Protection Center of Delmarva operates Delaware’s approved excavation notification center, with 811 or toll-free access. It runs the shared response system, assigns notice numbers, and keeps notice records for at least 6 years. Required information for regulated sites is transmitted to Delaware’s environmental agency. The center is generally not liable for non-negligent actions, third-party notice errors, or others’ use of transmitted information. Damage claims remain available when the center’s own negligence caused the harm.

Digging violations carry large civil penalties

A first offense can bring a $100–$1,000 civil penalty; each later similar offense can bring $200–$5,000 per violation. Separate maximums apply to utility owners, operators, business-licensed excavators, and the notification center. These maximums are $1 million for a violation causing death, $500,000 for structure damage, and $100,000 for other violations. Penalties are not automatic maximums: decisions consider seriousness, fault, prior violations, good-faith compliance efforts, and ability to pay.

Excavators must report damage immediately

Excavators must protect and support utility lines, then safely fill around them. Work that does not run alongside a line requires hand digging within 2 feet on either side. Damage must be reported immediately. Dangerous releases or threats to life, health, or property require calls to 911 and the utility, protective steps, and staying until told to leave. A line qualifies for the abandoned-line reporting exception only when it is out of use and physically disconnected.

Stricter safety steps for excavators

Excavators must use careful methods, preserve markings, request replacement markings, and report changes in location, scope, or duration. Clear signs of an unmarked line require a second notice; the utility or locating agent has 2 hours to respond. Test holes are required for hazardous or flammable facilities within 5 feet of marked facilities. If a test hole cannot find the facility, work must stop and its owner must be notified immediately. The 24-inch safety zone generally bars mechanized digging, with limited exceptions; vacuum digging is allowed, and directional drilling must follow current best practices.

Utilities must make pipes easier to find

Utilities must train employees and contractors who locate lines and follow applicable installation, maintenance, locating, and recordkeeping rules. New or fully replaced nonmetallic pipes in public rights-of-way need tracer wire or another detection method. They also need an access point inside a protective enclosure. Pipeline operators must promptly report damage to gas, petroleum, dangerous-material, and steam lines to the Public Service Commission. The law removes the former $3,000 damage-reporting threshold.

Advance notice rules for digging

Excavators must give notice 3–12 business days before work, with contact details, email, location, start date, and scope. Tickets last 12 business days from transmission and cover at most 1,320 continuous feet; separate parcels need separate tickets. Work must wait for every involved utility owner’s response of “clear,” “no conflict,” or “marked.” The receipt day does not count toward notice timing; weekend and holiday notices are processed the next business day. The center sets notice-area and complex-project rules; for areas too large to mark within 2 days, excavators identify where work starts. Emergency work skips specified advance-notice and response rules, but notice is still required as soon as practical.

Designers get records but must coordinate

Designers must use design tickets, record design communications, and seek utility information; utilities must answer within 15 business days. Utilities may supply maps or digital records and decide whether design requests also need ground markings. Drawings must identify utility types and owners, give the center’s phone number, and require excavation notice 3–12 business days before work. Designers must meet when utilities request project details and make reasonable efforts to avoid utility conflicts. Complex projects require a preconstruction meeting before excavation tickets are submitted; meeting tickets do not allow digging.

Unsafe digging faces orders or training

The Attorney General handles death or structure-damage cases; the Public Service Commission handles other violations and chooses whether to act. Utility owners and operators can also seek court orders stopping unlawful or unsafe work that threatens injury or damage. The Commission can replace a penalty with center-provided training when no death or structure damage occurs. Every violation that receives a civil penalty also requires training. Collected penalties must fund public awareness, training, center improvements, or lower costs for center members.

Utilities must locate and mark lines

Utility owners and operators must join the notification center and update contact and facility details within 5 business days of changes. They must respond within 3 business days, including when they have no affected lines. Lines at risk within 5 feet of proposed work must be marked within 24 inches using standard color codes. Utilities must identify recorded connection points to other owners’ lines, without taking liability for those other lines’ identification accuracy. They must locate lines in state highway rights-of-way unless another transportation-franchised utility maintains them.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

Nicole Poore
Democratic • Senate

Cosponsors

Franklin D. Cooke
Democratic • House
Kyra L. Hoffner
Democratic • Senate

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 76 • No: 0

Senate vote • 6/10/2026

Passed (2/3 required)

Yes: 20 • No: 0

House vote • 6/9/2026

Passed (SM required)

Yes: 35 • No: 0

Senate vote • 5/5/2026