§1749.23. Enforcement and adjudication; administration; levy of civil penalties

A. Except as provided in R.S. 40:1749.27, the provisions of this Part may be enforced by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections or by any local law enforcement agency. The Department of Public Safety and Corrections or its designee may provide forms, including citation, complaint, and incident report forms, to other law enforcement agencies for use in enforcement of the provisions of this Part.

B. The deputy secretary for the office of public safety services in the Department of Public Safety and Corrections or any local law enforcement agency shall have the right to:

(1) Exclusively monitor excavation or demolition that is subject to the provisions of this Part to ensure compliance with the provisions of this Part, including requesting the production by the excavator or demolisher of the locate request number issued by the regional notification center.

(2) Issue citations for violations of the provisions of this Part in addition to other enforcement powers provided by law.

(3) Seek restraining orders, injunctions, or other civil remedies to halt or prevent violations of the provisions of this Part.

C. Proceedings and adjudications for the levying of civil penalties under this Part shall be conducted by the division of administrative law in accordance with regulations adopted pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act.

D. The secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections or his designee may promulgate rules and regulations for the implementation and administration of the provisions of this Part relative to enforcement, which shall include developing a procedure for reporting and investigating complaints of violations of this Part that includes the following:

(1) Establishing a centralized complaint reporting point using a toll-free phone number that is available to contractors, utility operators, and the general public.

(2) Establishing a uniform complaint form to record the complainant's name and identifying information, the nature and details of the complaint, the geographic location of the complaint, any information about excavators, the date and time of the complaint, the date and time of the complaint report, and whether any collateral damage or off-site impact occurred including information about that impact or damage.

(3) Establishing a procedure to investigate the validity of the complaint using information provided by but not limited to certified regional notification centers with jurisdiction in the reported geographic area.

(4) Establishing a procedure for determining the appropriate law enforcement agency in the reported geographic area that will be responsible for investigating the complaint and for forwarding the complaint report to that law enforcement agency.

(5) Establishing a procedure for the law enforcement agency to completely investigate a complaint and obtain the information needed to issue a citation and adjudicate the complaint.

(6) Establishing a procedure for receiving citations issued by law enforcement agencies, determining whether the cited party wishes to contest the charge, and transferring contested citations to the division of administrative law for adjudication.

(7) Establishing a procedure for recording the number of citations issued and their disposition.

(8) Establishing procedures for collecting civil penalties for deposit into the Underground Damages Prevention Fund and disbursing those civil penalties according to the provisions of this Part.

Acts 1997, No. 1050, §1, eff. July 11, 1997; Acts 1999, No. 506, §1, eff. June 29, 1999; Acts 2001, No. 162, §1; Acts 2017, No. 218, §2, eff. June 14, 2017.