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Committee approves amendments and passes House Bill 322 to tighten 811 locate procedures for large projects
Summary
After a presentation by Ross Gunnels of Alabama 811, the committee adopted amendment language clarifying covered excavation activities and approved House Bill 322 as amended, citing new guidance for multi‑crew locates, extended‑duration requests and coordination on large projects.
Ross Gunnels, representing Alabama 811, told the Transportation, Utilities and Infrastructure committee that 811 is the national "call before you dig" number meant to protect underground utilities and public safety. He said recent federal and state infrastructure and broadband funding has increased underground work and strained the locate system, prompting stakeholders to negotiate improvements for over a year.
"There's been such a huge influx of money and resources ... to deploy broadband and then other underground utility work," Gunnels said, and added that the bill packages represent broadly supported measures to improve the process. He listed specific proposals including guidelines for multi‑crew and extended‑duration locate requests, repeated locate procedures, and improved coordination and phasing among utility owners for large construction projects to reduce strikes, outages and safety hazards.
A committee member endorsed the importance of the reforms, recounting that their neighborhood experienced repeated line strikes during construction. The committee then considered and read an amendment that replaced several defined activity lines to explicitly cover drilling, grading, marine construction, ripping, scraping, subsoiling, trenching and tunneling, and clarified protections for utility facilities within travelways, shoulders and drainage features.
Representative Moore moved to accept the amendment and Representative Easter Brewer seconded; the amendment passed by voice vote. Representative Marcus then moved, and Representative Moore seconded, to accept House Bill 322 as amended. The chair announced that House Bill 322 passed by voice vote.
The changes described are procedural and operational: they set expectations for how locate requests should be handled on large projects, add language describing covered excavation activities, and seek to improve coordination among utilities and excavators. The committee did not record roll‑call tallies in the transcript; all outcomes were announced by voice.
The committee concluded its agenda after passing House Bill 322 as amended.
