JULIE Rolls Out Changes for Excavators and Owner/Operators

ELECTRIC CONDUIT CONSTRUCTION and the 2025 JULIE Law Changes

Utility damage from excavation is especially important. Utility strikes in the United States cause an estimated $30 billion/year in losses (https://www.inframarker.com/blog/its-national-811-day-). These losses include direct costs to utilities and contractors as well as indirect costs such as fines, medical costs, rising insurance premiums, lost time, traffic jams, environmental costs, data transmission stoppage, etc.

Losses like this have caused states to write laws to delineate the responsibilities of excavators and facility owner/operators as well as setting penalties for violations. As a 70+year old company Electric Conduit Construction (ECC) has always taken a comprehensive approach to avoid damaging utilities during our pipeline maintenance and construction work. Our award-winning damage prevention plan and training program has been in place for 15 years. Many of the requirements of HB 5546 have been standard practice for us for over a decade.

As 2025 begins this new law HB 5546 brings changes to the JULIE dig notification system in Illinois. To stay ahead of these changes key personnel  have taken the eleven module JULIE training course. Our permit staff have attended additional JULIE training courses. ECC plans to fully utilize the tools provided by JULIE to communicate to all facility owner/operators our scope of work, project schedule and safety plan. ECC’s objective is zero utility hits.

There are significant changes to the law. Here is a list taken from JULIE handouts. For more information go to JULIIEBeforeYouDig.com

IMPACTS TO EXCAVATORS

• Actual Individual excavating or their excavation company must process the locate request.
• All locate requests require pre-marking by white lining, electronic white lining, or verbal or written when explicit enough to limit markings.
• “Excavation” definition expanded to include saw cutting, but only when penetrating the base of subbase.
• “Damage” definition would include the partial or complete destruction of the utility facility including damaging cathodic protection, protective coating, tracer wire, and lateral support.

IMPACTS TO FACILITY OWNERS/OPERATORS

• JULIE members are required to provide all buried facility location information as part of their facility notification databases to JULIE.
• After 1/1/2026, ensure (not necessarily required to locate) that newly installed or completely replaced service laterals can be locatable.
• “Underground Utility Facilities” definition streamlined to transport or generate electrical power.
• The following excavation activities would not require a locate request: use of round-tipped probe rod for bar-holing for utility locating, and grounding utility equipment in emergency situations.
• During widespread emergency situations facility owners/operators would be allowed to submit emergency notices for their contractors or subcontractors, but must assume liability, unless the contractor or subcontractor obtains their own emergency notice.
• Facility markings would not be allowed to indicate a width of a facility that is greater than the width of the actual facility or the width of the paint mark approximately 2”.
• Would require facility owner/operator to provide JULIE a dedicated phone number for the facility owner/operator with a direct extension that can be provided to excavators to allow them to report potential facility damage.
• Would establish a new penalty of up to $250/occurrence for each reported failing by facility owner/operator to respond through the positive response system to an excavator’s notice.

IMPACTS TO BOTH EXCAVATORS AND FACILITY OWNER/OPERATORS

• New penalties for requesting false “no show” or incomplete requests.
• The required advance notice would be refined to “2 days, but no more than 10 days, and valid for 25 days NOT including the day of the call.
• The use of a positive response system, offered through JULIE, would be required by facility owner/operators and available to excavators no later than January 1, 2026.
• “Tolerance zone” has been divided into sub-paragraphs defining with and without facility size provided, sub-merged and visible utility structures.
• Use of planning design process to assist in planning proposed excavation to avoid existing facilities.
• Use the joint meet process to communicate information, scope schedule, and number of crews related to the proposed project in advance of the proposed start of the excavation.
• A “watch and protect” program for excavators near high profile facilities with guidelines for excavators and facility owner/operators to cooperatively work together to protect those facilities.
• For the first time, emergency locate requests would have an expiration date of 10 days after the date of the notification.
• Rules surrounding “submerged” facilities created.
• Up to two additional days advance notice may be requested from facility owner/operators to complete a normal notice request when call volume in a place exceeds the reasonable control measurement. IMPORTANT NOTE: This advance notice ONLY impacts those excavations where the project owner is a JULIE member facility owner/operator and applies to only that JULIE member, their contractors, or subcontractors.
• ICC would be required to inform all parties within a defined period of the alleged violation. Alleged violation reports would have to be submitted within 65 days of the discovery of the alleged violation. Timelines have been established for notice of violations to be submitted to the party determined to be in violation.