Florida Senate - 2025 SB 818
By Senator McClain
9-01289A-25 2025818__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to utility relocation; amending s.
3 337.403, F.S.; requiring utility owners to provide a
4 certain authority with utility relocation schedules
5 within a certain timeframe to expedite work; revising
6 the timeframe within which a utility owner must
7 initiate work; requiring a service provider to perform
8 work under specific circumstances; requiring the
9 authority to pay relocation expenses in certain
10 instances; amending s. 125.42, F.S.; conforming a
11 cross-reference; providing an effective date.
12
13 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
14
15 Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 337.403, Florida
16 Statutes, is amended to read:
17 337.403 Interference caused by utility; expenses.—
18 (1) If a utility that is placed upon, under, over, or
19 within the right-of-way limits of any public road or publicly
20 owned rail corridor is found by the authority to be unreasonably
21 interfering in any way with the convenient, safe, or continuous
22 use, or the maintenance, improvement, extension, or expansion,
23 of such public road or publicly owned rail corridor, the utility
24 owner must shall, within 30 days after upon 30 days’ written
25 notice to the utility or its agent by the authority, provide the
26 authority a reasonable utility relocation schedule to expedite
27 the completion of the authority’s construction or maintenance
28 project identified in the notice, and, within 60 days after the
29 written notice from the authority, initiate the work necessary
30 to alleviate the interference at its own expense except as
31 provided in paragraphs (a)-(k) (a)-(j). The work must be
32 completed within such reasonable time as stated in the notice or
33 such time as agreed to by the authority and the utility owner.
34 (a) If the relocation of utility facilities, as referred to
35 in s. 111 of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, Pub. L. No.
36 84-627, is necessitated by the construction of a project on the
37 federal-aid interstate system, including extensions thereof
38 within urban areas, and the cost of the project is eligible and
39 approved for reimbursement by the Federal Government to the
40 extent of 90 percent or more under the Federal-Aid Highway Act,
41 or any amendment thereof, then in that event the utility owning
42 or operating such facilities must shall perform any necessary
43 work upon notice from the department, and the state must shall
44 pay the entire expense properly attributable to such work after
45 deducting therefrom any increase in the value of a new facility
46 and any salvage value derived from an old facility.
47 (b) When a joint agreement between the department and the
48 utility is executed for utility work to be accomplished as part
49 of a contract for construction of a transportation facility, the
50 department may participate in those utility work costs that
51 exceed the department’s official estimate of the cost of the
52 work by more than 10 percent. The amount of such participation
53 is limited to the difference between the official estimate of
54 all the work in the joint agreement plus 10 percent and the
55 amount awarded for this work in the construction contract for
56 such work. The department may not participate in any utility
57 work costs that occur as a result of changes or additions during
58 the course of the contract.
59 (c) When an agreement between the department and utility is
60 executed for utility work to be accomplished in advance of a
61 contract for construction of a transportation facility, the
62 department may participate in the cost of clearing and grubbing
63 necessary to perform such work.
64 (d) If the utility facility was initially installed to
65 exclusively serve the authority or its tenants, or both, the
66 authority must shall bear the costs of the utility work.
67 However, the authority is not responsible for the cost of
68 utility work related to any subsequent additions to that
69 facility for the purpose of serving others. For a county or
70 municipality, if such utility facility was installed in the
71 right-of-way as a means to serve a county or municipal facility
72 on a parcel of property adjacent to the right-of-way and if the
73 intended use of the county or municipal facility is for a use
74 other than transportation purposes, the obligation of the county
75 or municipality to bear the costs of the utility work shall
76 extend only to utility work on the parcel of property on which
77 the facility of the county or municipality originally served by
78 the utility facility is located.
79 (e) If, under an agreement between a utility and the
80 authority entered into after July 1, 2009, the utility conveys,
81 subordinates, or relinquishes a compensable property right to
82 the authority for the purpose of accommodating the acquisition
83 or use of the right-of-way by the authority, without the
84 agreement expressly addressing future responsibility for the
85 cost of necessary utility work, the authority must shall bear
86 the cost of removal or relocation. This paragraph does not
87 impair or restrict, and may not be used to interpret, the terms
88 of any such agreement entered into before July 1, 2009.
89 (f) If the utility is an electric facility being relocated
90 underground in order to enhance vehicular, bicycle, and
91 pedestrian safety and in which ownership of the electric
92 facility to be placed underground has been transferred from a
93 private to a public utility within the past 5 years, the
94 department must shall incur all costs of the necessary utility
95 work.
96 (g) An authority may bear the costs of utility work
97 required to eliminate an unreasonable interference when the
98 utility is not able to establish that it has a compensable
99 property right in the particular property where the utility is
100 located if:
101 1. The utility was physically located on the particular
102 property before the authority acquired rights in the property;
103 2. The utility demonstrates that it has a compensable
104 property right in adjacent properties along the alignment of the
105 utility or, after due diligence, certifies that the utility does
106 not have evidence to prove or disprove that it has a compensable
107 property right in the particular property where the utility is
108 located; and
109 3. The information available to the authority does not
110 establish the relative priorities of the authority’s and the
111 utility’s interests in the particular property.
112 (h) If a municipally owned utility or county-owned utility
113 is located in a rural area of opportunity, as defined in s.
114 288.0656(2), and the department determines that the utility is
115 unable, and will not be able within the next 10 years, to pay
116 for the cost of utility work necessitated by a department
117 project on the State Highway System, the department may pay, in
118 whole or in part, the cost of such utility work performed by the
119 department or its contractor.
120 (i) If the relocation of utility facilities is necessitated
121 by the construction of a commuter rail service project or an
122 intercity passenger rail service project and the cost of the
123 project is eligible and approved for reimbursement by the
124 Federal Government, then in that event the utility owning or
125 operating such facilities located by permit on a department
126 owned rail corridor must shall perform any necessary utility
127 relocation work upon notice from the department, and the
128 department must shall pay the expense properly attributable to
129 such utility relocation work in the same proportion as federal
130 funds are expended on the commuter rail service project or an
131 intercity passenger rail service project after deducting
132 therefrom any increase in the value of a new facility and any
133 salvage value derived from an old facility. In no event is shall
134 the state be required to use state dollars for such utility
135 relocation work. This paragraph does not apply to any phase of
136 the Central Florida Commuter Rail project, known as SunRail.
137 (j) If a utility is lawfully located within an existing and
138 valid utility easement granted by recorded plat, regardless of
139 whether such land was subsequently acquired by the authority by
140 dedication, transfer of fee, or otherwise, the authority must
141 bear the cost of the utility work required to eliminate an
142 unreasonable interference. The authority shall pay the entire
143 expense properly attributable to such work after deducting any
144 increase in the value of a new facility and any salvage value
145 derived from an old facility.
146 (k) If the authority requires a provider of broadband
147 Internet service as defined in s. 288.9961(2), or a cable
148 service provider or video service provider as defined in s.
149 610.103, to relocate a facility used to provide such service,
150 the service provider owning or operating such facility must
151 perform any necessary work upon notice from the authority, and
152 the authority requiring such relocation must pay the entire
153 expense properly attributable to such work.
154 Section 2. Subsection (5) of section 125.42, Florida
155 Statutes, is amended to read:
156 125.42 Water, sewage, gas, power, telephone, other utility,
157 and television lines within the right-of-way limits of county
158 roads and highways.—
159 (5) In the event of widening, repair, or reconstruction of
160 any such road, the licensee shall move or remove such water,
161 sewage, gas, power, telephone, and other utility lines and
162 television lines at no cost to the county should they be found
163 by the county to be unreasonably interfering, except as provided
164 in s. 337.403(1)(d)-(k) s. 337.403(1)(d)-(j).
165 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.