Gov. Code, § 4216.1

(a) Every operator of a subsurface installation, except the Department of Transportation, shall become a member of, participate in, and share in the costs of, a regional notification center. Operators of subsurface installations who are members of, participate in, and share in, the costs of a regional notification center, including, but not limited to, the Underground Service Alert—Northern California or the Underground Service Alert—Southern California are in compliance with this section and Section 4216.9. A regional notification center shall not charge a fee to a person for notifying the regional notification center to obtain a ticket or to renew a ticket.

(b) (1) A regional notification center shall facilitate the exchange of planning and design information for infrastructure projects, including, but not limited to, electrical infrastructure undergrounding projects, and every operator, except the Department of Transportation, shall participate in this information exchange. The board shall determine through regulation the appropriate timelines and standard processes associated with this information exchange, the information required to be shared, and the format in which it shall be shared, and any requirements that excavators and operators are required to fulfill to accomplish this information exchange.

(2) To facilitate the expedient and efficient implementation of electrical infrastructure undergrounding projects, the board shall determine through regulation whether and under what circumstances an excavator is required to notify the regional notification center more than two working days before the legal excavation start date and time, if the excavator is submitting a volume of concurrent notifications in excess of the capacity of the operators in the area to complete their responsibilities under paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 4216.3 within the minimum legal excavation start date and time. The board shall not implement regulations that would do either of the following:

(A) Restrict the ability of the excavator to submit a notification pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 4216.2.

(B) Restrict the ability of the excavator to submit notifications for emergency excavations.

(3) On or before July 1, 2027, the board shall adopt regulations implementing paragraphs (1) and (2).

(4) Before implementing procedures to implement this subdivision, a regional notification center shall submit its proposed procedures to the board for review and approval, including before implementing any substantive changes to these procedures. The board shall engage with affected stakeholder groups and allow for public comment before approving the procedures.

(5) For purposes of this subdivision, “electrical infrastructure undergrounding project” includes, but is not limited to, undergrounding projects in an electrical corporation’s or local publicly owned electric utility’s distribution undergrounding and wildfire mitigation plans submitted pursuant to Sections 8386, 8387, and 8388.5 of the Public Utilities Code.

(c) Upon request by a federally recognized or nonfederally recognized California Native American tribe, a regional notification center shall notify the tribe of proposed excavations pursuant to subdivision (b) of this section and pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 4216.2 within the geographic area with which the tribe is traditionally and culturally affiliated.

(d) The board shall report to the Legislature, as part of the report filed pursuant to Section 4216.23, on the advantages, barriers, and funding options for the development of an internet web-based planning and design platform for accomplishing the communication processes identified in subdivision (b) and for allowing tribes to view plans for projects and to communicate with plan submitters.