IL JULIE (Utility Locate) Rules Explained

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=175 BGCOLOR="#A6CAF0" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="21"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="21"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id71.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="New Illinois JULIE Law LAW OFFICE OF EL"><U><B><IMG SRC="00d0d1d0.gif" border=0 width="13" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> <B>© </B>2001 Elias M. Gordan</div> <div> All rights reserved</div> <bR> <div> <B>Law Office of</B></div> <div> <B>Elias M. Gordan</B></div> <div> Post Office Box 60</div> <div> Palos Park, IL  60464</div> <bR> <div> Phone  708.923.9735</div> <div> Email  gordanlaw@att.net</div> <div> Web    www.gordanlaw.com</div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="HOME PAGE LAW OFFICE OF ELIAS M. GORDAN"><U><B>HOME</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="LAW OFFICE OF ELIAS M. GORDAN About Us"><U><B>About Us</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="LAW OFFICE OF ELIAS M. GORDAN Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="LAW OFFICE OF ELIAS M. GORDAN Contact U"><U><B>Contact Us</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>A SUMMARY OF THE NEW ILLINOIS “JULIE” (UTILITY) RULES</B></div> <div> <B>AS PROPOSED BY THE ILLINOIS COMMERCE COMMISSION (ILCC)</B></div> <div> By Elias M. Gordan, Attorney at Law, <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.gordanlaw.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.gordanlaw.com"><U><U>http://www.gordanlaw.com</U></U></A></FONT></div> <div> Member, Illinois Road Builders Association</div> <div> © 2001, 2002 Elias M. Gordan.  All rights reserved.</div> <bR> <div> (14 December 2001, rev 14 May 2002)  On 24 April 2002, the Illinois Commerce Commission proposed rules for interpreting and enforcing the new excavation and utility location statute, Public Act 92-0179, scheduled to take effect 1 July 2002.  <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000BF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id71.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="New Illinois JULIE Law LAW OFFICE OF EL"><U>Click here for details on Public Act 92-0179</U></A></FONT>.  Several key features of the proposed rules, currently under legislative review, include the following: </div> <bR> <div> - violation reports to the ILCC could be made by anyone, by phone, letter, email, or in person - they would have to be submitted within 45 days of the alleged violation.  Forms will be available on the ILCC Website, http://www.icc.state.il.us .  A reporter of a violation would not have immunity against a subsequent suit, however.</div> <div> - upon receipt of the report, ILCC staff would investigate and determine if a violation of the JULIE law has occurred.  If the ILCC staff determined that a violation occurred, they could assess a penalty , and send a notice of violation (if a penalty is being assessed) or a warning letter (if no penalty is being assessed).  </div> <div> - if a notice of violation is sent, the recipient of the penalty would have 30 days to pay the penalty, or request consideration by the 5-person Advisory Committee.  Request for consideration, or nonpayment of the penalty within 30 days, would cause the matter to be referred to the Advisory Committee.</div> <div> - The Advisory Committee, in turn, would have 90 days to review the ILCC Staff decision.  They would direct the ILCC to send a notice of violation (if a penalty was being assessed) or a warning letter (if no penalty was being assessed).  If they do not make a decision, the ILCC Staff's earlier decision would stand.</div> <div> - Penalties at either level could not be negotiated, but would have to be accepted or rejected.</div> <div> - if the Advisory Committee makes an unfavorable decision, or no decision, and the accused violator refuses to pay the penalty, the ILCC staff would ask ILCC's Commissioners to start a full blown Commission proceeding, where an Administrative Law Judge would consider the matter from scratch ("de novo").  A pre-hearing conference would be held within 14 days after the date of the order, hearings would have to begin within 60 days, and a written decision by the ILCC would have to be rendered within 180 days, which could then be appealed to the Illinois Appellate Court.</div> <div> - ILCC investigations would be confidential, but there would be nothing preventing a determined party from submitting a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request and getting the information anyway (this is routinely done with public records, such as IDOT "job boxes").</div> <div> - ILCC wants to assess per utility.</div> <div> - if the subcontractor violated the Act, the subcontractor, not the general contractor, would be assessed the penalty.</div> <div> - the ILCC may or may not have funding to enforce these rules.</div> <div> - once a JULIE locate is made, "every person" would still have to take reasonable action to check for utilities (marked or unmarked) and note this on "appropriate construction plans" with reasonable warnings. </div> <div> - the excavator is "allowed" to determine how to support the utility, unless the utility determines otherwise.</div> <div> - the ILCC will NOT enforce the act for excavations or utility hits within the City of Chicago, except to investigate allegations of  tampering with the utility markings, flags, or stakes by outsiders (i.e., neither excavator or underground facility owner/operator).</div> <div> - "hand excavation", required around the 1.5 foot/ 3 foot tolerance zone, would include "automatically powered hand devices designed to be held in the hand of the operator when in use".</div> <div> - if emergency work (defined in new law) is being done, and excavator does not wait the 2-hour time for a locate, the excavator would, among other things, have to use hand or vacuum excavation.</div> <div> - "Clear evidence" of unmarked utility facilities (in spite of an earlier JULIE locate), which would trigger the second JULIE notification and 2-hour wait time, would include, but not be limited to, visual evidence of a unmarked utility facility (such as a downfeed), knowledge of a utility's presence, or faded marks (how faded?) from a previous marking. (A question:  who pays for the downtime?)</div> <div> - Every underground utility operator would be required to keep location records of underground utilities installed after 1 July 2002 (not just be able to locate it), but the utility would not be required to keep track of depth.  (nothing to tie into a future GIS system, though).  </div> <div> Please note that the proposed rules will not  likely become official until some time in mid 2002.  We are working to miminize the burden of these Rules on the industry.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>RESOURCES AND LINKS</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>JULIE Website:</B> </div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.julie1call.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.julie1call.com"><U>http://www.julie1call.com</U></A><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>Illinois Commerce Commission (ILCC) Website</B>: </div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.icc.state.il.us" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.icc.state.il.us"><U><U>http://www.icc.state.il</U></U></A><A HREF="http://www.icc.state.il.us" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.icc.state.il.us"><U><U>.us</U></U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>DISCLAIMER</B></div> <div> The information contained in this guide is meant only to convey general information, and is not intended to serve as legal advice or counsel, nor is it meant to create an attorney-client relationship.  The information presented here is subject to change or modification that any time without notice, and may not apply to the specific facts of your case.  Accordingly, you should check with a with an attorney before acting on this information, to make sure that it applies to your situation.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="HOME PAGE LAW OFFICE OF ELIAS M. GORDAN"><U><B>BACK TO HOME PAGE AND RECENT NEWS</B></U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Law Office of Elias M. Gordan, </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000BF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><A HREF="http://www.gordanlaw.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.gordanlaw.com"><U><B>http://www.gordanlaw.com</B></U></A></FONT><B> </B></div> <div> <B>Post Office Box 60, Palos Park, IL, 60464   </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000BF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><A HREF="http://www.gordanlaw.com/id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.gordanlaw.com/id26.htm"><U><B>email gordanlaw@att.net</B></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <B>708.923.9735</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>