Florida Senate - 2025 CS for SB 818
By the Committee on Transportation; and Senator McClain
596-03161-25 2025818c1
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 a finding and declaration
12 of important state interest; providing an effective
13 date.
14
15 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
16
17 Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 337.403, Florida
18 Statutes, is amended to read:
19 337.403 Interference caused by utility; expenses.—
20 (1) If a utility that is placed upon, under, over, or
21 within the right-of-way limits of any public road or publicly
22 owned rail corridor is found by the authority to be unreasonably
23 interfering in any way with the convenient, safe, or continuous
24 use, or the maintenance, improvement, extension, or expansion,
25 of such public road or publicly owned rail corridor, the utility
26 owner must shall, within 30 days after upon 30 days’ written
27 notice to the utility or its agent by the authority, provide the
28 authority a reasonable utility relocation schedule to expedite
29 the completion of the authority’s construction or maintenance
30 project identified in the notice, and, within 60 days after the
31 written notice from the authority, initiate the work necessary
32 to alleviate the interference at its own expense except as
33 provided in paragraphs (a)-(k) (a)-(j). The work must be
34 completed within such reasonable time as stated in the notice or
35 such time as agreed to by the authority and the utility owner.
36 (a) If the relocation of utility facilities, as referred to
37 in s. 111 of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, Pub. L. No.
38 84-627, is necessitated by the construction of a project on the
39 federal-aid interstate system, including extensions thereof
40 within urban areas, and the cost of the project is eligible and
41 approved for reimbursement by the Federal Government to the
42 extent of 90 percent or more under the Federal-Aid Highway Act,
43 or any amendment thereof, then in that event the utility owning
44 or operating such facilities must shall perform any necessary
45 work upon notice from the department, and the state must shall
46 pay the entire expense properly attributable to such work after
47 deducting therefrom any increase in the value of a new facility
48 and any salvage value derived from an old facility.
49 (b) When a joint agreement between the department and the
50 utility is executed for utility work to be accomplished as part
51 of a contract for construction of a transportation facility, the
52 department may participate in those utility work costs that
53 exceed the department’s official estimate of the cost of the
54 work by more than 10 percent. The amount of such participation
55 is limited to the difference between the official estimate of
56 all the work in the joint agreement plus 10 percent and the
57 amount awarded for this work in the construction contract for
58 such work. The department may not participate in any utility
59 work costs that occur as a result of changes or additions during
60 the course of the contract.
61 (c) When an agreement between the department and utility is
62 executed for utility work to be accomplished in advance of a
63 contract for construction of a transportation facility, the
64 department may participate in the cost of clearing and grubbing
65 necessary to perform such work.
66 (d) If the utility facility was initially installed to
67 exclusively serve the authority or its tenants, or both, the
68 authority must shall bear the costs of the utility work.
69 However, the authority is not responsible for the cost of
70 utility work related to any subsequent additions to that
71 facility for the purpose of serving others. For a county or
72 municipality, if such utility facility was installed in the
73 right-of-way as a means to serve a county or municipal facility
74 on a parcel of property adjacent to the right-of-way and if the
75 intended use of the county or municipal facility is for a use
76 other than transportation purposes, the obligation of the county
77 or municipality to bear the costs of the utility work shall
78 extend only to utility work on the parcel of property on which
79 the facility of the county or municipality originally served by
80 the utility facility is located.
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 must shall incur all costs of the necessary utility
97 work.
98 (g) An authority may bear the costs of utility work
99 required to eliminate an unreasonable interference when the
100 utility is not able to establish that it has a compensable
101 property right in the particular property where the utility is
102 located if:
103 1. The utility was physically located on the particular
104 property before the authority acquired rights in the property;
105 2. The utility demonstrates that it has a compensable
106 property right in adjacent properties along the alignment of the
107 utility or, after due diligence, certifies that the utility does
108 not have evidence to prove or disprove that it has a compensable
109 property right in the particular property where the utility is
110 located; and
111 3. The information available to the authority does not
112 establish the relative priorities of the authority’s and the
113 utility’s interests in the particular property.
114 (h) If a municipally owned utility or county-owned utility
115 is located in a rural area of opportunity, as defined in s.
116 288.0656(2), and the department determines that the utility is
117 unable, and will not be able within the next 10 years, to pay
118 for the cost of utility work necessitated by a department
119 project on the State Highway System, the department may pay, in
120 whole or in part, the cost of such utility work performed by the
121 department or its contractor.
122 (i) If the relocation of utility facilities is necessitated
123 by the construction of a commuter rail service project or an
124 intercity passenger rail service project and the cost of the
125 project is eligible and approved for reimbursement by the
126 Federal Government, then in that event the utility owning or
127 operating such facilities located by permit on a department
128 owned rail corridor must shall perform any necessary utility
129 relocation work upon notice from the department, and the
130 department must shall pay the expense properly attributable to
131 such utility relocation work in the same proportion as federal
132 funds are expended on the commuter rail service project or an
133 intercity passenger rail service project after deducting
134 therefrom any increase in the value of a new facility and any
135 salvage value derived from an old facility. In no event is shall
136 the state be required to use state dollars for such utility
137 relocation work. This paragraph does not apply to any phase of
138 the Central Florida Commuter Rail project, known as SunRail.
139 (j) If a utility is lawfully located within an existing and
140 valid utility easement granted by recorded plat, regardless of
141 whether such land was subsequently acquired by the authority by
142 dedication, transfer of fee, or otherwise, the authority must
143 bear the cost of the utility work required to eliminate an
144 unreasonable interference. The authority shall pay the entire
145 expense properly attributable to such work after deducting any
146 increase in the value of a new facility and any salvage value
147 derived from an old facility.
148 (k) If the authority requires a provider of broadband
149 Internet service as defined in s. 288.9961(2), or a cable
150 service provider or video service provider as defined in s.
151 610.103, to relocate a facility used to provide such service,
152 the service provider owning or operating such facility must
153 perform any necessary work upon notice from the authority, and
154 the authority requiring such relocation must pay the entire
155 expense properly attributable to such work.
156 Section 2. Subsection (5) of section 125.42, Florida
157 Statutes, is amended to read:
158 125.42 Water, sewage, gas, power, telephone, other utility,
159 and television lines within the right-of-way limits of county
160 roads and highways.—
161 (5) In the event of widening, repair, or reconstruction of
162 any such road, the licensee shall move or remove such water,
163 sewage, gas, power, telephone, and other utility lines and
164 television lines at no cost to the county should they be found
165 by the county to be unreasonably interfering, except as provided
166 in s. 337.403(1)(d)-(k) s. 337.403(1)(d)-(j).
167 Section 3. The Legislature finds and declares that this act
168 fulfills an important state interest.
169 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.