ASSEMBLY TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 2194

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: FEBRUARY 3, 1997

      The Assembly Transportation and Communications Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 2194.

      This bill would amend the "Underground Facility Protection Act," P.L.1994, c.118 (C.48:2-73 et seq.), to provide that landscape irrigation activities performed with non-mechanized equipment would be excluded from the definition of excavate. Under the provisions of the "Underground Facility Protection Act" a person undertaking excavation activities must notify the One-Call Damage Prevention System. Currently, landscaping activities performed with non-mechanized equipment are excluded from the definition of "excavate." The bill would define landscape irrigation activities as "the construction, repair, maintenance, improvement and alteration of any portion of a landscape irrigation system, including required wiring within that system and connection to the required power supply and the installation and connection to a public or private water supply system under the terms and conditions of a contract." It is the committee's understanding that this exemption, for the most part, will be used for maintenance of landscape irrigation systems.