Florida Senate - 2013                          SENATOR AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS/CS/HB 7127, 2nd Eng.
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 399930                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
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               Floor: 1d/AD/2R         .                                
             04/30/2013 03:44 PM       .                                
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       Senator Brandes moved the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment to Amendment (740626) (with title
    2  amendment)
    3  
    4         Between lines 953 and 954
    5  insert:
    6         Section 19.  Paragraphs (h) and (i) are added to subsection
    7  (1), and subsection (1) of section 337.403, Florida Statutes, is
    8  further amended to read:
    9         337.403 Interference caused by relocation of utility;
   10  expenses.—
   11         (1) If a utility that is placed upon, under, over, or along
   12  any public road or publicly owned rail corridor is found by the
   13  authority to be unreasonably interfering in any way with the
   14  convenient, safe, or continuous use, or the maintenance,
   15  improvement, extension, or expansion, of such public road or
   16  publicly owned rail corridor, the utility owner shall, upon 30
   17  days’ written notice to the utility or its agent by the
   18  authority, initiate the work necessary to alleviate the
   19  interference at its own expense except as provided in paragraphs
   20  (a)-(i)(g). The work must be completed within such reasonable
   21  time as stated in the notice or such time as agreed to by the
   22  authority and the utility owner.
   23         (a) If the relocation of utility facilities, as referred to
   24  in s. 111 of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, Pub. L. No.
   25  627 of the 84th Congress, is necessitated by the construction of
   26  a project on the federal-aid interstate system, including
   27  extensions thereof within urban areas, and the cost of the
   28  project is eligible and approved for reimbursement by the
   29  Federal Government to the extent of 90 percent or more under the
   30  Federal Aid Highway Act, or any amendment thereof, then in that
   31  event the utility owning or operating such facilities shall
   32  perform any necessary work upon notice from the department, and
   33  the state shall pay the entire expense properly attributable to
   34  such work after deducting therefrom any increase in the value of
   35  a new facility and any salvage value derived from an old
   36  facility.
   37         (b) When a joint agreement between the department and the
   38  utility is executed for utility work to be accomplished as part
   39  of a contract for construction of a transportation facility, the
   40  department may participate in those utility work costs that
   41  exceed the department’s official estimate of the cost of the
   42  work by more than 10 percent. The amount of such participation
   43  shall be limited to the difference between the official estimate
   44  of all the work in the joint agreement plus 10 percent and the
   45  amount awarded for this work in the construction contract for
   46  such work. The department may not participate in any utility
   47  work costs that occur as a result of changes or additions during
   48  the course of the contract.
   49         (c) When an agreement between the department and utility is
   50  executed for utility work to be accomplished in advance of a
   51  contract for construction of a transportation facility, the
   52  department may participate in the cost of clearing and grubbing
   53  necessary to perform such work.
   54         (d) If the utility facility was initially installed to
   55  exclusively serve the authority or its tenants, or both, the
   56  authority shall bear the costs of the utility work. However, the
   57  authority is not responsible for the cost of utility work
   58  related to any subsequent additions to that facility for the
   59  purpose of serving others. For a county or municipality, if such
   60  utility facility was installed in the right of way as a means to
   61  serve a county or municipal facility on a parcel of property
   62  adjacent to the right of way, and the intended use of the county
   63  or municipal facility is for other than transportation purposes,
   64  the obligation of the county or municipality to bear the costs
   65  of the utility work shall extend only to utility work on the
   66  parcel of property on which the facility of the county or
   67  municipality originally served by the utility facility is
   68  located.
   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 necessary utility work, the authority shall bear the
   76  cost of removal or relocation. This paragraph does not impair or
   77  restrict, and may not be used to interpret, the terms of any
   78  such agreement entered into before July 1, 2009.
   79         (f) If the utility is an electric facility being relocated
   80  underground in order to enhance vehicular, bicycle, and
   81  pedestrian safety and in which ownership of the electric
   82  facility to be placed underground has been transferred from a
   83  private to a public utility within the past 5 years, the
   84  department shall incur all costs of the necessary utility work.
   85         (g) An authority may bear the costs of utility work
   86  required to eliminate an unreasonable interference when the
   87  utility is not able to establish that it has a compensable
   88  property right in the particular property where the utility is
   89  located if:
   90         1. The utility was physically located on the particular
   91  property before the authority acquired rights in the property;
   92         2. The utility demonstrates that it has a compensable
   93  property right in all adjacent properties along the alignment of
   94  the utility or, after due diligence, certifies that the utility
   95  does not have evidence to prove or disprove that it has a
   96  compensable property right in the particular property where the
   97  utility is located; and
   98         3. The information available to the authority does not
   99  establish the relative priorities of the authority’s and the
  100  utility’s interests in the particular property.
  101         (h) If the relocation of utility facilities is necessitated
  102  by the construction of a commuter rail service project or an
  103  inter-city passenger rail service project and the cost of the
  104  project is eligible and approved for reimbursement by the
  105  Federal Government, then in that event the utility owning or
  106  operating such facilities located by permit on a department
  107  owned rail corridor shall perform any necessary utility
  108  relocation work upon notice from the department, and the
  109  department shall pay the expense properly attributable to such
  110  utility relocation work in the same proportion as Federal funds
  111  are expended on the commuter rail service project or an inter
  112  city passenger rail service project after deducting therefrom
  113  any increase in the value of a new facility and any salvage
  114  value derived from an old facility. In no event shall the state
  115  be required to use state dollars for such utility relocation
  116  work. This subsection shall not apply to any phase of the
  117  Central Florida Rail Corridor project known as SunRail.
  118         (i) If a city or county owned utility is located in a rural
  119  area of critical economic concern, designated pursuant to s.
  120  288.0656, and the department’s comptroller determines that the
  121  utility is not able, and will not within the following 10 years
  122  be able, to pay for the cost of utility work necessitated by a
  123  department project on the State Highway System, the department
  124  may pay the cost of such utility work performed by the
  125  department or the department’s contractor, in whole or in part.
  126  
  127  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  128         And the title is amended as follows:
  129         Delete line 4487
  130  and insert:
  131         lease must meet; amending s. 337.403, F.S.; revising
  132         the conditions under which an authority may bear the
  133         costs of utility work required to eliminate an
  134         unreasonable interference when the utility is unable
  135         to establish that it has a compensable property right
  136         in the property where the utility is located;
  137         requiring the department to pay the expenses of
  138         utility work necessitated by certain federally-funded
  139         projects under certain conditions; prohibiting the use
  140         of state dollars for such work; providing the
  141         subsection does not apply to any phase of the SunRail
  142         project; authorizing the department to pay the cost of
  143         utility work necessitated by a department project on
  144         the State Highway System for a city- or county-owned
  145         utility located in a rural area of critical economic
  146         concern designated pursuant to s. 288.0656; amending
  147         s. 338.161, F.S.;
  148