HB 1389

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to utility right-of-way relocation;
3	amending s. 337.403, F.S.; requiring utility owners to
4	remove or relocate at their expense utilities that
5	interfere with public roads or rail corridors; providing
6	an exception if a local governmental entity acquires
7	property where the utility was legally located prior to
8	the acquisition; adding an exception for certain permits
9	issued in 1972; providing for notice to utilities prior to
10	commencement of work; requiring the initiation of removal
11	by the utility; providing an effective date.
12
13	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
14
15	Section 1.  Subsections (1) and (2) of section 337.403,
16	Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
17	337.403  Relocation of utility; expenses.-
18	(1)  When a Any utility that has heretofore or hereafter
19	placed upon, under, over, or along any public road or publicly
20	owned rail corridor that is found by the authority to be
21	unreasonably interfering in any way with the convenient, safe,
22	or continuous use, or the maintenance, improvement, extension,
23	or expansion, of such public road or publicly owned rail
24	corridor, the utility owner shall, upon 30 days' written notice
25	to the utility or its agent by the authority, initiate the
26	removal or relocation of be removed or relocated by such utility
27	at its own expense except as provided in paragraphs (a)-(h) (a)-
28	(f).
29	(a)  If the relocation of utility facilities, as referred
30	to in s. 111 of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, Pub. L. No.
31	627 of the 84th Congress, is necessitated by the construction of
32	a project on the federal-aid interstate system, including
33	extensions thereof within urban areas, and the cost of the
34	project is eligible and approved for reimbursement by the
35	Federal Government to the extent of 90 percent or more under the
36	Federal Aid Highway Act, or any amendment thereof, then in that
37	event the utility owning or operating such facilities shall
38	relocate the facilities upon order of the department, and the
39	state shall pay the entire expense properly attributable to such
40	relocation after deducting therefrom any increase in the value
41	of the new facility and any salvage value derived from the old
42	facility.
43	(b)  When a joint agreement between the department and the
44	utility is executed for utility improvement, relocation, or
45	removal work to be accomplished as part of a contract for
46	construction of a transportation facility, the department may
47	participate in those utility improvement, relocation, or removal
48	costs that exceed the department's official estimate of the cost
49	of the work by more than 10 percent. The amount of such
50	participation shall be limited to the difference between the
51	official estimate of all the work in the joint agreement plus 10
52	percent and the amount awarded for this work in the construction
53	contract for such work. The department may not participate in
54	any utility improvement, relocation, or removal costs that occur
55	as a result of changes or additions during the course of the
56	contract.
57	(c)  When an agreement between the department and utility
58	is executed for utility improvement, relocation, or removal work
59	to be accomplished in advance of a contract for construction of
60	a transportation facility, the department may participate in the
61	cost of clearing and grubbing necessary to perform such work.
62	(d)  If the utility facility being removed or relocated was
63	initially installed to exclusively serve the authority
64	department, its tenants, or both, the authority department shall
65	bear the costs of removing or relocating that utility facility.
66	However, the authority department is not responsible for bearing
67	the cost of removing or relocating any subsequent additions to
68	that facility for the purpose of serving others.
69	(e)  If, under an agreement between a utility and the
70	authority entered into after July 1, 2009, the utility conveys,
71	subordinates, or relinquishes a compensable property right to
72	the authority for the purpose of accommodating the acquisition
73	or use of the right-of-way by the authority, without the
74	agreement expressly addressing future responsibility for the
75	cost of removing or relocating the utility, the authority shall
76	bear the cost of removal or relocation. This paragraph does not
77	impair or restrict, and may not be used to interpret, the terms
78	of any such agreement entered into before July 1, 2009.
79	(f)  If the authority acquires property on which a utility
80	is legally located, the authority shall bear the costs of
81	removing or relocating that utility.
82	(g)  For any permit issued in 1972 by the department to any
83	utility when the utility was in possession of the permitted
84	property and transferred its interest to the department and if
85	master agreements between the department and the utility were
86	entered into before any permits were issued, the department
87	shall pay for any relocation expenses affecting a compensable
88	interest of the utility, notwithstanding any permit, statutory,
89	or contractual language to the contrary. This paragraph applies
90	only to utilities located on the Turnpike Homestead extension
91	and if the utility transferred its interest to the department
92	without compensation for future relocation expenses.
93	(h)(f)  If the utility is an electric facility being
94	relocated underground in order to enhance vehicular, bicycle,
95	and pedestrian safety and in which ownership of the electric
96	facility to be placed underground has been transferred from a
97	private to a public utility within the past 5 years, the
98	department shall incur all costs of the relocation.
99	(2)  If such removal or relocation is incidental to work to
100	be done on such road or publicly owned rail corridor, the notice
101	shall be given at the same time the contract for the work is
102	advertised for bids, or not less than 30 days prior to the
103	commencement of such work by the authority.
104	Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.