HBA-CMT H.B. 2391 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2391 By: Turner, Bob Public Safety 3/14/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, the Texas Underground Facility Notification Corporation (corporation) receives one cent each time a notification center receives a call from an excavator. The corporation is required to waive the one cent fee if the revenue from collecting those fees exceeds $500,000 within that year. Additionally an excavator is charged penalties for violating the Underground Facility Damage Prevention and Safety Act. House Bill 2391 increases the fee to five cents per call, lowers the cap to $250,000, and increases the financial amount of penalties. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 2391 amends the Utilities Code to increase the required payment by a notification center to the Texas Underground Facility Notification Corporation (corporation) from one cent to five cents each time a notification center receives a call from an excavator reporting an intent to excavate. The bill reduces the cap for the point at which the corporation is required to waive the five cent charge for the remainder of the year from $500,000 to $250,000. The bill increases the civil penalty for an excavator that violates the notification requirements or that damages an underground facility during excavation, from not less than $50 or more than $100 to not less than $500 or more than $1,000. The bill authorizes a corporation to give the excavator a warning letter and require the excavator to attend a safety training course approved by the corporation instead of assessing the civil penalty. The bill increases the dollar amount of civil penalties assessed by a factor of ten for each successive violation by an excavator. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.