69-4-501. Definitions. The following definitions apply to this part:

(1) "Agricultural locate request" means a request for a locate and mark that is requested based on the perimeter boundary of an agricultural field:

(a) by a property owner or excavator prior to agricultural activity; or

(b) by a property owner or excavator prior to conducting soil probing or testing.

(2) (a) "Business day" means any day beginning at midnight and ending 24 hours later, other than Saturday, Sunday, New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.

(b) When a holiday listed in subsection (2)(a) occurs on a Saturday, the preceding Friday is not considered a business day. When a holiday listed in subsection (2)(a) occurs on a Sunday, the following Monday is not considered a business day.

(3) "Civil penalty" means a penalty levied by the department in accordance with 69-4-524 and 69-4-525.

(4) "Council" means the underground facility protection advisory council provided for in 69-4-520.

(5) "Damage" or "damages" means any impact upon or removal of support from an underground facility as a result of excavation or demolition that, according to the operating practices of the underground facility owner, would necessitate the repair of the facility.

(6) "Department" means the department of labor and industry provided for in 2-15-1701.

(7) "Designated service area" means a geographic area defined using state and county boundaries or further defined by the members of a notification center in operation on July 1, 2017. There may not be more than two designated service areas in Montana.

(8) "Emergency excavation" means an excavation in response to an emergency locate request that is necessary to:

(a) alleviate a condition that constitutes a clear and present danger to life or property; or

(b) repair a customer outage involving a previously installed utility-owned facility.

(9) "Emergency locate request" means a request for a locate and mark that is requested for:

(a) a condition that constitutes a clear and present danger to life or property; or

(b) a customer outage for which repairs on a previously installed utility-owned facility are required.

(10) "Engineering locate request" means a request for a locate and mark to identify underground facilities for planning and design purposes.

(11) "Event" means damages to an underground facility, if:

(a) the underground facility is not a jurisdictional pipeline; and

(b) the underground facility owner determines the damages are not an incident.

(12) (a) "Excavation" means an operation in which earth, rock, or other material in the ground is moved, removed, or otherwise displaced by means or use of any tools, equipment, or explosives. The term includes but is not limited to grading, trenching, digging, ditching, drilling, augering, tunneling, scraping, and cable or pipe plowing and driving.

(b) Excavation does not include:

(i) surface road grading maintenance or road or ditch maintenance that does not change the original road or ditch grade or flow line;

(ii) plowing, cultivating, planting, harvesting, or similar agricultural activities in areas cultivated:

(A) within the last 10 years, unless the activities disturb the soil to a depth of 18 inches or more; or

(B) within the last 14 months, to a depth greater than 18 inches, unless the activities disturb the soil to a depth of more than 24 inches;

(iii) gardening by homeowners or occupants in a previously established garden area unless the gardening disturbs the soil to a depth of 12 inches or more; or

(iv) landscaping by homeowners or occupants unless using mechanized equipment or disturbing soil to a depth of 12 inches or more.

(13) "Excavator" means a person conducting the excavation activities defined in subsection (12).

(14) "Identified but unlocatable underground facility" means an underground facility that has been identified but cannot be located with reasonable accuracy.

(15) "Incident" means:

(a) notwithstanding 69-4-529(6), unless the underground facility is owned by the excavator, a violation of the provisions of 69-4-502 or 69-4-503 by an excavator that, at a single location on a single day, results in damage to an underground facility; or

(b) a violation of the provisions of 69-4-503(3) by an underground facility owner that, at a single location on a single day, results in damage to an underground facility.

(16) "Jurisdictional pipeline" means a pipeline subject to regulation by the U.S. department of transportation pipeline and hazardous materials safety administration in accordance with 49 CFR 190-199, the Montana public service commission, or both.

(17) "Locatable underground facility" means an underground facility that can be field-located and field-marked with reasonable accuracy.

(18) "Locate" means the use of specialized equipment to identify the location of underground facilities or the actual location of underground facilities identified by the use of specialized equipment.

(19) "Mark" means the use of stakes, paint, or other clearly identifiable material to show the field location or absence of underground facilities, in accordance with the current color code standard of the American public works association. Marking must include identification letters indicating the specific type of underground facility and the width of the facility if it is greater than 6 inches.

(20) "Notification center" means an entity whose membership is open to and is contracting with underground facility owners with underground facilities within a notification center's designated service area.

(21) "Notify", "notice", or "notification" means the completed delivery of information to a person. The delivery of information includes but is not limited to the use of electronic data transfer.

(22) "Outgoing locate request" means an electronic or other document transmitted from a notification center to all member underground facility owners affected by a request for a locate.

(23) "Person" means an individual, partnership, firm, joint venture, corporation, association, municipality, governmental unit, department, or agency and includes a trustee, receiver, assignee, or personal representative of the listed entities.

(24) "Positive response" means notification through an electronic system provided by a notification center that is available to underground facility owners and excavators and is used for communicating and documenting the status of a request for a locate.

(25) "Property owner" means a person owning real property in Montana, its agents, and employees. The term does not include the owner of an easement.

(26) "Reasonably accurate" means location within 18 inches of the outside lateral dimensions of both sides of an underground facility.

(27) "Request for a locate" means the process by which an excavator communicates with a notification center a request for underground facilities to be located and marked in an area where an excavation is planned. A request for a locate that is not an agricultural locate request and is not within city limits or within an area of an authority as defined in 75-6-304 may not exceed 2 miles long by 1,000 feet wide. A request for a locate that is not an agricultural locate request and is within city limits or within an area of an authority as defined in 75-6-304 may not exceed 2,000 feet long by 300 feet wide.

(28) "Third party" means a person who is not an excavator or an underground facility owner.

(29) (a) "Underground facility" means a facility buried or placed below ground for use in connection with the storage or conveyance of water, sewage, electronic, telephonic or telegraphic communications, cablevision, fiber optics, electrical energy, oil, gas, or other substances. The term includes but is not limited to pipes, sewers, conduits, cables, valves, lines, wires, manholes, and attachments to the listed items.

(b) The term does not include:

(i) shallow underground water systems designed to irrigate lawns, gardens, or other landscaping;

(ii) privately owned water and sewer lines from private property extending into public rights-of-way to interconnect with public water and sewer; or

(iii) an underground facility used solely to furnish services or commodities to real property, if no part of the underground facility is located in a public street, alley, or right-of-way dedicated to the public use.

(30) "Underground facility owner" means a person owning, controlling, or having the responsibility to maintain an underground facility.

History: En. Sec. 1, Ch. 180, L. 1971; R.C.M. 1947, 32-4801; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 286, L. 1991; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 179, L. 1997; amd. Sec. 61, Ch. 7, L. 2001; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 544, L. 2005; amd. Sec. 13, Ch. 326, L. 2017.