Board adopts start of rulemaking to tighten area-notification reporting and membership termination notices

The California Underground Safety Board voted July 15 to begin formal rulemaking proposing two regulatory changes: clearer obligations for operators who reduce their area-of-notification (shapefiles) and a requirement for regional notification centers (RNCs) to notify the board when an operator’s membership terminates. What the proposed rules do: The draft separates geospatial data obligations from member-termination procedures. Operators seeking to reduce an area of notification would be required to provide one of four justifications: removal of the subsurface installations, buffer-zone reduction, asset sale, or “other” with an explanation. RNCs would be required to retain the current area-of-notification and statements of change and to provide those statements to the board every 14 days. When an operator ends its membership, RNCs must notify the board within 14 business days and include the most recent contract information and, if known, who assumes responsibility for remaining surface infrastructure. Board action: Member Munoz moved to adopt the regulation language in Attachment A and to initiate rulemaking with the Office of Administrative Law; member Boston seconded. The board approved the motion by roll call: Representative Terry Lawson (yes); Johns (yes); Johnson (yes); Munoz (yes); Simonian (yes). The motion was adopted. Why it matters: Staff said the rules respond to concerns that operators had terminated membership without clear notice, leaving some areas without an operator to mark when excavation requests are issued. The new notification and documentation requirements are intended to reduce situations where critical infrastructure might go unmarked because RNC membership or area-of-notification information is out of date. Outstanding questions: Commenters cautioned that the option labeled “other” should require a mandatory explanation rather than permit vague categories that reviewers cannot analyze, and that sending statements to the board every 14 days may create administrative burden for some RNCs. Staff noted that the formal rulemaking process will provide a public comment opportunity to refine these details.