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Meeting - December 9, 2005...
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Agenda:
December 9, 2005
Legislative Meeting
Utility Notification Center of Colorado
Holiday Inn Denver Central
4848 Bancock Street
Denver, Colorado 80216
Main: 303-292-9500
Facilitator: J.D. Maniscalco
Note Taker: Christine Miller
9:00am - 12:00pm
A. Welcome J.D. Maniscalco
B. Introductions J.D. Maniscalco
C. Open Discussion
D. Breakout
a. Exemptions John "Chip" Taylor
b. Enforcement David Fiore
c. Membership Duane Tinsley
Minutes:
CALL TO ORDER:
The legislative meeting hosted by the Utility Notification Center of Colorado was held on the 9th day of December 2005, at the Holiday Inn at 4849 Bannock Street, Denver, Colorado. J.D. Maniscalco called the meeting to order at 9:10 a.m. and welcomed attendees to the fourth meeting. He noted that overall goals for proposed legislation should keep focus on the safety of the individual excavator and protection of infrastructure. He asked that members of the group continue to have an open mind to the broader aspects of what is good for the industry. J.D. announced that the 2004 Damage Report will be published on the UNCC website next week. The 2004 data reports no fatalities. Of the five million tickets processed there were 10,000 damages reported. The enforcement and exemptions groups have begun to work on specific proposed language. The membership group has continued to discuss the issues and collect data. UNCC has prepared and will present information to the membership group on the cost of Tier II members to the one call center. While J.D. did not anticipate legislation being proposed in 2006 he noted that the pace of the effort will be determined by the members of the group. There was some discussion about items that may need to be included in legislation but that do not fit in with the established groups including the timing of damage billing and the number of excavators on each locate request. After this discussion, it was agreed that these items will be tabled until the larger issues have been finished.
MINUTES:
Some members of the membership group suggested revisions to the minutes of the October 28, 2005 meeting. The wording will be discussed during the break out session.
BREAK OUT SESSIONS:
Groups met separately to discuss membership issues, exemptions to the law and enforcement and penalties.
GROUP REPORTS:
Enforcement: David Fiore (Fiore & Sons, Inc.)
The enforcement group acknowledged that the PUC will not be an acceptable group to oversee the enforcement process. He asked that those opposed to PUC involvement think of entities that might be able the fill this roll. It was noted that this entity would only issue citations but determination of fault would be made by the advisory committee proposed at the last meeting. The group suggested a nomination process to determine who would serve on this committee. There may be a need for multiple advisory committees to serve the needs of the entire state. The issue of which entity could be used to initiate the citation process may be so large that it would take a state entity to see the issue as important enough to step in. The group felt that no entity could be selected without objections from someone. It would be difficult to give a private board enforcement power while a public entity may already have this power. David noted that there is a voluntary ADR process in the current law which may need to be made mandatory with a civil penalty if a party refuses to participate or have the ability to proceed with committee review without input from all parties. Fine assessment for willful negligence (i.e. not showing for a locate, damage without a ticket) was discussed as well as penalties for non participation. The group also discussed certification for excavators similar to the certification process for utility operators when working around gas facilities. Incentive for this certification could include reduced penalties.
Membership: Rex Kohart (Comcast)
After the presentation regarding Tier II costs made by UNCC the group felt it was clear that Tier II has a financial impact on the one call center. The group discussed the possibility of an annual fee or a per transmission fee for Tier II members but still based on a Tier II level of membership. Issues of the cost impact for smaller Tier II members and the need for agreement from a larger representation of Tier II members was discussed. The group will continue to analyze costs and have asked UNCC to try to determine what Tier II costs would be at the current level of service. The membership group will also try to determine what the cost is for a Tier II member to take contractor calls themselves. The group has agreed to solicit participation from a contractor to try to determine the impact that Tier II membership has on the excavation industry.
Exemptions: R. J. Hicks (Green Colorado)
The exemption group has modified language used in previous proposed legislation. They have agreed that the issues of county road maintenance and the landscaping industry regarding shallow excavation may be more similar than originally thought. They have developed a draft with six concepts that they would like to have comments on from participants outside their group. J.D. volunteered to host a web based survey based on their proposed concepts. This was agreed to with the goal of having feedback completed before the next meeting. They would like to discuss these concepts and the results of the survey within the other groups to determine how these exemptions would impact the issues the other groups are dealing with.
CONCLUSION and NEXT MEETING:
The next legislative meeting will be held on January 12, 2006 at 9:00 a.m. Notice will be sent regarding this meeting and where it will be held. J.D. asked that each break out group provide a summary of their discussion for inclusion in the minutes of this meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 a.m.
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