All Roll Calls
Yes: 238 • No: 0
OhioHB 227136th General Assembly (2025-2026)House
Modify excavation requirements
Sponsored By: Mark Johnson (Republican), Monica Robb Blasdel (Republican)
Signed by Governor
Housing and Real PropertyUtilities
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
8 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 2 costs, 5 mixed.
More mining work avoids excavation rules
Mining and reclamation regulated under Ohio law Chapters 1513 or 1514, including their related rules, do not count as excavation. This expands the former exclusion for coal mining and reclamation under Chapter 1513.
Shallow government digging loses blanket exemption
Government work that penetrates the earth no more than 12 inches no longer has an automatic exemption from excavation rules. Another listed activity exclusion can still apply, but government status and shallow depth alone no longer qualify.
Employers must train utility-notice workers
People responsible for Ohio's 811 notice process must receive training on protecting underground utilities. This covers excavators, contractors, utilities, designers, engineers, developers, and utility locators. Employers must provide training when those duties begin and retraining every five years or when Chapters 3781 or 4913 change. Employers must document and keep training records.
Project planners must map underground utilities
Public authorities must contact a utility protection service before planning public work, without separately contacting nonmember utility owners. Public-work plans must show existing facilities and list every owner's name, address, and phone number. Utilities must give developers or designers facility locations and descriptions within 10 working days, unless a later date is agreed. On request, utilities must mark covered facilities or provide scaled drawings; marking exceptions cover facilities serving single-family and two-to-four-unit homes. Interstate pipeline operators must provide extra location, right-of-way, and notice information for projects within 660 feet of the pipeline centerline. Developers and designers must show utility locations and needed adjustments, share project information with excavators before contracting or digging as required, and avoid disturbing utilities where practical. New utility designs must aim for 12 inches of clearance; less clearance requires advance written notice to existing utility owners.
Some shallow work avoids excavation rules
Specified work in public or utility rights-of-way no longer counts as excavation, with limits for each activity. Road milling or grinding cannot reach earth or the sub-base: limits are 12 inches on interstate routes and 6 inches on listed other routes. Hand-tool pole inspections can reach only 12 inches, on the clear side and more than 90 degrees from risers. Grass or wildflower tilling for erosion control or beautification, and temporary-sign placement, can reach only 4 inches. Local pavement repairs outside municipal corporations cannot penetrate earth or the sub-base more than 12 inches. Work solely responding to a valid notice must use hand tools and coordinate with any transmission-facility owner covered by that notice. Hand-tool work near an exposed or visible utility fitting must stay within 12 inches horizontally and vertically. That work cannot disturb surrounding underground areas.
Utilities and contractors use centralized notices
Utilities must join their area's protection service and register underground facility locations; limited participation is no longer available. Fully participating utilities must also join the service's system for recording responses to digging notices. Contractors and subcontractors no longer separately notify nonmember utility owners listed in project plans. Covered contractors and excavators must give the service the work location and start date at least two working days before work. The notice day does not count, and notice cannot come more than 16 calendar days before work begins. Emergency repairs and specified property-site excavations follow separate rules.
Utilities must mark lines before digging
After receiving notice, utility owners must mark underground facilities' routes and approximate depths. Utilities must check their facilities and record responses through the protection service's response system. The supplied marking provisions state a period of at least two working days, excluding the notice day. Interstate hazardous-liquid and gas pipelines have a separate timing rule. A utility that fails to mark or contact the excavator within the applicable period is treated as reporting no facilities.
Utility damage reports gain public oversight
Excavators discovering utility damage must report it to the utility and protection service. Reports must give the location, facility type, available approximate size, material and color, and approximate depth. Hazardous liquid or gas releases require immediate reports and notice to emergency responders when needed. If the owner is unknown, reporting to the protection service satisfies the utility-reporting duty. Protection services must track specified damage reports, publish compiled nonconfidential data online, and provide reports to Ohio's utility commission on request. Commission-held information stays confidential except for disclosures allowed by law and specified Underground Technical Committee requests. Compliance inquiries cover all excavation-law requirements; anyone can qualify to seek an inquiry into the specified damage-reporting failures.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsors
Mark Johnson
Republican • House
Monica Robb Blasdel
Republican • House
Cosponsors
Adam Holmes
Republican • House
Adam Mathews
Republican • House
Bernard Willis
Republican • House
Bob Peterson
Republican • House
Casey Weinstein
Democratic • Senate
Catherine D. Ingram
Democratic • Senate
Cindy Abrams
Republican • House
D. J. Swearingen
Republican • House
Gary Click
Republican • House
Haraz N. Ghanbari
Republican • House
Jack K. Daniels
Republican • House
James M. Hoops
Republican • House
Jeff LaRe
Republican • House
Jerry C. Cirino
Republican • Senate
Johnathan Newman
Republican • House
Joseph A. Miller, III
Democratic • House
Josh Williams
Republican • House
Kellie Deeter
Republican • House
Kristina D. Roegner
Republican • Senate
Mark Hiner
Republican • House
Mark Sigrist
Democratic • House
Matthew Kishman
Republican • House
Michael D. Dovilla
Republican • House
Michele Reynolds
Republican • Senate
Mike Odioso
Republican • House
Paula Hicks-Hudson
Democratic • Senate
Phil Plummer
Republican • House
Roy Klopfenstein
Republican • House
Sean P. Brennan
Democratic • House
Shane Wilkin
Republican • Senate
Tex Fischer
Republican • House
Thaddeus J. Claggett
Republican • House
Thomas F. Patton
Republican • Senate
Tim Barhorst
Republican • House
Tim Schaffer
Republican • Senate
Tom Young
Republican • House
Tristan Rader
Democratic • House
Ty D. Mathews
Republican • House
William P. DeMora
Democratic • Senate
Willis E. Blackshear, Jr.
Democratic • Senate
Roll Call Votes
House vote • 2/25/2026
Concurred in Senate amendments
Yes: 90 • No: 0
Senate vote • 2/18/2026
Passed
Yes: 32 • No: 0
Senate vote • 2/18/2026
Public Utilities: Reported
Yes: 10 • No: 0
House vote • 10/15/2025
Passed
Yes: 93 • No: 0
House vote • 10/8/2025
Commerce and Labor: Reported
Yes: 13 • No: 0
Actions Timeline
Signed by Governor
3/10/2026GovernorSent to Governor
3/5/2026GovernorConcurred in Senate amendments
2/25/2026HouseResolution for Immediate Adoption - Agreed to without objection
2/25/2026HousePassed
2/18/2026SenateReported
2/18/2026SenateRefer to Committee
10/22/2025SenateIntroduced
10/20/2025SenatePassed
10/15/2025HouseReported
10/8/2025HouseRefer to Committee
4/9/2025HouseIntroduced
4/3/2025House
Bill Text
As Enrolled
3/10/2026
As Introduced
As Passed by the House
As Passed by the Senate
As Reported by the House Commerce and Labor Committee
As Reported by the Senate Public Utilities Committee
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