Florida Senate - 2013                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 1132
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 224268                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                   Comm: WD            .                                
                  03/07/2013           .                                
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       The Committee on Transportation (Evers) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Between lines 833 and 834
    4  insert:
    5         Section 14. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section
    6  377.401, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
    7         337.401 Use of right-of-way for utilities subject to
    8  regulation; permit; fees.—
    9         (1)(a) The department and local governmental entities,
   10  referred to in ss. 337.401-337.404 as the “authority,” that have
   11  jurisdiction and control of public roads or publicly owned rail
   12  corridors may are authorized to prescribe and enforce reasonable
   13  rules or regulations with reference to the placing and
   14  maintaining within the right-of-way limits of along, across, or
   15  on any public road or publicly owned rail corridors under their
   16  respective jurisdictions any electric transmission, telephone,
   17  telegraph, or other communications services lines; pole lines;
   18  poles; railways; ditches; sewers; water, heat, or gas mains;
   19  pipelines; fences; gasoline tanks and pumps; or other structures
   20  referred to in this section as the “utility.” The department may
   21  enter into a permit-delegation agreement with a governmental
   22  entity if issuance of a permit is based on requirements that the
   23  department finds will ensure the safety and integrity of
   24  facilities of the Department of Transportation; however, the
   25  permit-delegation agreement does not apply to facilities of
   26  electric utilities as defined in s. 366.02(2).
   27         Section 15. Subsection (1) of section 377.403, Florida
   28  Statutes, is amended to read:
   29         337.403 Interference caused by relocation of utility;
   30  expenses.—
   31         (1) If a utility that is placed within the right-of-way
   32  limits of upon, under, over, or along any public road or
   33  publicly owned rail corridor is found by the authority to be
   34  unreasonably interfering in any way with the convenient, safe,
   35  or continuous use, or the maintenance, improvement, extension,
   36  or expansion, of such public road or publicly owned rail
   37  corridor, the utility owner shall, upon 30 days’ written notice
   38  to the utility or its agent by the authority, initiate the work
   39  necessary to alleviate the interference at its own expense
   40  except as provided in paragraphs (a)-(h) (a)-(g). The work must
   41  be completed within such reasonable time as stated in the notice
   42  or such time as agreed to by the authority and the utility
   43  owner.
   44         (a) If the relocation of utility facilities, as referred to
   45  in s. 111 of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, Pub. L. No.
   46  627 of the 84th Congress, is necessitated by the construction of
   47  a project on the federal-aid interstate system, including
   48  extensions thereof within urban areas, and the cost of the
   49  project is eligible and approved for reimbursement by the
   50  Federal Government to the extent of 90 percent or more under the
   51  Federal Aid Highway Act, or any amendment thereof, then in that
   52  event the utility owning or operating such facilities shall
   53  perform any necessary work upon notice from the department, and
   54  the state shall pay the entire expense properly attributable to
   55  such work after deducting from the payment therefrom any
   56  increase in the value of a new facility and any salvage value
   57  derived from an old facility.
   58         (b) When a joint agreement between the department and the
   59  utility is executed for utility work to be accomplished as part
   60  of a contract for construction of a transportation facility, the
   61  department may participate in those utility work costs that
   62  exceed the department’s official estimate of the cost of the
   63  work by more than 10 percent. The amount of such participation
   64  shall be limited to the difference between the official estimate
   65  of all the work in the joint agreement plus 10 percent and the
   66  amount awarded for this work in the construction contract for
   67  such work. The department may not participate in any utility
   68  work costs that occur as a result of changes or additions during
   69  the course of the contract.
   70         (c) When an agreement between the department and utility is
   71  executed for utility work to be accomplished in advance of a
   72  contract for construction of a transportation facility, the
   73  department may participate in the cost of clearing and grubbing
   74  necessary to perform such work.
   75         (d) If the utility facility was initially installed to
   76  exclusively serve the authority or its tenants, or both, the
   77  authority shall bear the costs of the utility work. However, the
   78  authority is not responsible for the cost of utility work
   79  related to any subsequent additions to that facility for the
   80  purpose of serving others.
   81         (e) If, under an agreement between a utility and the
   82  authority entered into after July 1, 2009, the utility conveys,
   83  subordinates, or relinquishes a compensable property right to
   84  the authority for the purpose of accommodating the acquisition
   85  or use of the right-of-way by the authority, without the
   86  agreement expressly addressing future responsibility for the
   87  cost of necessary utility work, the authority must shall bear
   88  the cost of removal or relocation. This paragraph does not
   89  impair or restrict, and may not be used to interpret, the terms
   90  of any such agreement entered into before July 1, 2009.
   91         (f) If the utility is an electric facility being relocated
   92  underground in order to enhance vehicular, bicycle, and
   93  pedestrian safety and in which ownership of the electric
   94  facility to be placed underground has been transferred from a
   95  private to a public utility within the past 5 years, the
   96  department shall incur all costs of the necessary utility work.
   97         (g) An authority may bear the costs of utility work
   98  required to eliminate an unreasonable interference when the
   99  utility is not able to establish that it has a compensable
  100  property right in the particular property where the utility is
  101  located if:
  102         1. The utility was physically located on the particular
  103  property before the authority acquired rights in the property;
  104         2. The utility demonstrates that it has a compensable
  105  property right in all adjacent properties along the alignment of
  106  the utility or, after due diligence, certifies that the utility
  107  does not have evidence to prove or disprove that it has a
  108  compensable property right in the particular property where the
  109  utility is located; and
  110         3. The information available to the authority does not
  111  establish the relative priorities of the authority’s and the
  112  utility’s interests in the particular property.
  113         (h) If the relocation of utility facilities is necessitated
  114  by the construction of a commuter rail service project or an
  115  intercity passenger rail service project and the cost of the
  116  project is eligible and approved for reimbursement by the
  117  Federal Government, the utility owning or operating such
  118  facilities located by permit on a department-owned rail corridor
  119  shall perform any necessary work upon notice from the
  120  department, and the department shall pay the expense properly
  121  attributable to such work in the same proportion as federal
  122  funds are expended on the commuter rail service project after
  123  deducting from the payment any increase in the value of a new
  124  facility and any salvage value derived from an old facility. The
  125  state is not required to use state dollars for such utility
  126  relocation work. This subsection does not apply to any phase of
  127  the Central Florida Rail Corridor project known as SunRail.
  128  
  129  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  130         And the title is amended as follows:
  131         Delete line 67
  132  and insert:
  133         lease must meet; amending s. 337.401, F.S.; providing
  134         that the department and local governmental entities
  135         that have jurisdiction and control of public roads or
  136         publicly owned rail corridors may prescribe and
  137         enforce rules and regulations with reference to
  138         placing and maintaining certain structures and
  139         utilities within right-of-way limits of public roads
  140         or rail corridors; amending s. 337.403, F.S.;
  141         specifying utilities that are placed within rights-of
  142         way of public roads or publicly owned rail corridors
  143         and are found to interfere with the public road or
  144         publicly owned rail corridor must alleviate the
  145         interference; providing additional circumstances when
  146         the authority may bear the cost of utility work
  147         required to eliminate an unreasonable interference;
  148         delegating responsibilities for necessary work and
  149         payment for the work if the relocation of utility
  150         facilities is necessitated by the construction of a
  151         commuter rail service project or an inter-city
  152         passenger rail service project; amending s. 337.408,
  153         F.S.; providing