MississippiHB 11912025 Regular SessionHouse

Underground and submerged utility lines and facilities; revise requirements for excavators and utility operators.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

9 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 3 costs, 6 mixed.

Emergency excavators must provide available contacts

Impending-emergency excavation requires Mississippi 811 notice stating the work’s start, extent, location, and duration, plus a readily available contact. Notices from 8:00 p.m. through 11:59 a.m. require at least 12 hours before work starts. For notices from noon through 7:59 p.m., work cannot start before 8:00 a.m. the next calendar day. Beginning July 1, 2025, emergency excavation notices must identify an available contact who is or will be at the site. Misrepresenting emergency status carries penalties.

Excavators must keep locate tickets current

For non-submerged work, locate tickets and utility marks last 20 calendar days after Mississippi 811 processes the ticket. The responsible person must renew notice 3 to 4 working days before expiration; each renewal lasts 20 calendar days. Renewal tickets cannot include completed work, and including it violates the law. Excavators must preserve needed marks and notify Mississippi 811 when marks disappear while nearby work continues. Repeated requests for new marks are allowed only when circumstances beyond the excavator’s reasonable control make them necessary.

Utility operators must join statewide coordination

Beginning July 1, 2025, operators of underground or submerged facilities in Mississippi must belong to Mississippi 811. Operators must provide applicable service-area lists and maps or location data, including submerged facilities, and update facility information annually. The law centralizes ticket and response coordination through Mississippi 811 and its automated system and web portal. It also establishes an Underground Facilities Damage Prevention Board and operator damage-reporting duties. The operator definition excludes railroads and the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

Excavators face clearer advance notice rules

For ordinary, non-submerged work, excavators must notify Mississippi 811 between 3 and 10 working days before digging. Tickets must include contacts, timing, location, work type, and explosives information, covering only unfinished work expected within 20 calendar days. Before notice, excavators must mark boundaries with white paint, flags, stakes, or electronic marks; the ticket controls any conflict. A single-point mark extends at most 50 feet in any direction; clearly described work on the excavator’s own property needs no pre-marking. Some agricultural and shallow hand-digging exemptions end in clearly marked utility rights-of-way. Exemptions cover careful mapping of an operator’s own facilities with a hand-powered probe and power-generation work confined to secured facility property, outside an operator’s marked right-of-way, easement, or permitted use.

Excavators face stronger utility safety rules

Underground utility location marks must be accurate within 18 inches; the tolerance zone adds 18 inches plus half the facility’s diameter. Inside that zone, excavators must find the exact location using noninvasive methods, such as hand digging or vacuum methods. They must avoid or limit damage, keep needed equipment clearance, and support facilities during digging and backfilling. Beginning July 1, 2025, excavators must inspect sites before and during work; operators must respond within two hours when unmarked facilities are found. When reasonably practical, trenchless crossings require noninvasive exposure and visual monitoring, while parallel work requires exact-location checks at careful intervals. These duties protect utility facilities while placing added safety requirements on excavators.

Large excavation projects gain coordination agreements

Beginning July 1, 2025, excavators can request large-project planning meetings through Mississippi 811 to coordinate work and locating schedules. Notices must include meeting details, project location, contacts, contractors, expected start, duration, work types, and explosives use. Meetings must occur at least 10 working days after notice, with excavation starting at least 10 working days after the meeting. Agreements require signatures from the excavator and every affected operator; ordinary notice and locating duties still apply. Without signatures at least three working days before the expected start, the large-project ticket is canceled and standard rules apply. Later scope or start-date changes require a revised agreement or a new meeting notice.

Project planners gain submerged utility information

Design-information requests to Mississippi 811 can cover submerged facilities as well as underground utilities, without authorizing excavation. Requests must include the requester’s name, address, phone number, project type, and a clear description of the area. Beginning July 1, 2025, operators must respond within seven working days after notice to Mississippi 811. They must mark approximate locations, provide the best available descriptions or records, or allow records to be inspected or copied. Facilities installed after January 1, 2010, must be locatable using generally accepted electronic methods.

Underwater digging faces new utility safeguards

The law covers submerged utilities, requires location accuracy within 15 feet of marks, and allows electronic or GPS marking. Beginning July 1, 2025, excavators must pre-mark underwater work and give Mississippi 811 at least seven working days’ notice. Notices must include project and contact details and cover only unfinished work expected within 30 calendar days after processing. Tickets and marks last 30 calendar days; renewals are due 7 to 10 working days before expiration. Renewals also last 30 calendar days and cannot include completed work. Digging within 75 feet on either side of submerged utility marks requires written consent from affected operators. Operators cannot unreasonably withhold consent and must respond and consult in good faith.

Utility deadlines allow some earlier digging

Beginning July 1, 2025, operators must mark utilities or report none within three working days for standard excavation. Locating that requires excavation allows up to four extra working days, with notice through the automated Positive Response Information System. Submerged work has a seven-working-day deadline; emergency work has two hours, and impending-emergency responses are due before the ticket’s start time. Operators and excavators can agree to different response timing in writing. Excavators can start early once every identified operator reports through the system that facilities are marked or do not conflict. All other excavation requirements still apply.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

Brent Powell
Republican • House

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 168 • No: 0

Senate vote • 3/6/2025

Passed

Yes: 50 • No: 0

House vote • 2/13/2025