Relating to applications for permits to construct electric transmission lines, pipelines and underground storage facilities, and hazardous liquid pipelines, making penalties applicable, and including effective date and applicability provisions

The bill requires landowner communication consent, specified surety bond amounts, liability, and damage provisions for permits under the respective Code sections. The bill prohibits the board from granting eminent domain rights to an entity seeking those rights under Code chapters 476A, 478, 479, and 479B unless at least two-thirds of the affected parcels and two-thirds of the area of the proposed project are first acquired through voluntary easements. The board is prohibited from requiring more than percent of the easements to be voluntary. The bill requires a person, company, or corporation seeking a franchise under Code chapter 478 to satisfy a bond amount with the board. The franchise must satisfy the board that the franchisee has property in the state of a value over $1 million (not including the value of the proposed project) or file and maintain with the board a surety bond of $1 million or percent of the project value with surety approved by the board, conditioned that the franchisee will pay any and all damages legally recovered against it growing out of the construction or operation of the project in the state. When a franchisee deposits security satisfactory to the board as a guaranty for the payment of the damages or furnishes to the board satisfactory proofs of its solvency and financial ability to pay the damages, the franchisee shall be relieved of the provisions requiring bond. The bill prohibits persons seeking rights to construct projects under Code chapter 478, 479, or 479B from contacting landowners regarding negotiations for land acquisition without first obtaining the landowner’s written consent allowing communication. A person, company, or corporation seeking to acquire an easement or other property interest shall not contact a landowner unless first provided written consent by the landowner. The bill adds provisions to Code chapters 478, 479, and 479B requiring a person seeking to construct projects under those chapters to be held liable for damages resulting from construction, operation, or maintenance, including damages resulting from an environmental disaster, to local livestock, or other damages attributable to the construction, operation, or maintenance.52 relating to eminent domain procedure for the renegotiation of damages. The landowner shall notify the franchisee in writing days prior to harvest in each year to assess crop deficiency or by providing global positioning system yield monitoring data or similar assessment data demonstrating crop deficiency to the company within days of harvest. The bill modifies claims for future crop deficiency damages pursuant to Code chapters 479 and 479B to allow a landowner to notify a company in writing by providing global positioning system yield monitoring data or similar assessment data demonstrating crop deficiency to the company within days of harvest, and strikes language providing that a settlement may expressly release a company from soil productivity damage claims. The bill creates new provisions relating to landowner liability in Code chapters 478, 479, and 479B.11 (relating to critical infrastructure sabotage definitions), the landowner shall not be liable for any damages to a project permitted under Code chapters 478, 479, and 479B. The bill includes provisions relating to land restoration standards. The bill adds a land restoration section in Code chapter 478 that mirrors land restoration standards in Code chapters 479 and 479B. The new Code section includes requirements that the board adopt rules related to the restoration of agricultural lands during and after transmission line, wire, or cable construction and distribute notice of intended actions to county boards of supervisors. Rules shall include subject matters relating to topsoil, temporary, permanent, and future drain tile issues, removal of rocks and debris, soil compaction, terraces, waterways, and other erosion control structures, revegetation, restoration of land slope and contour, restoration of field entrance and temporary road areas, construction in wet conditions, and designation of a franchisee point of contact. The bill provides that a county board of supervisors may require an on-site compliance inspection at any time to be performed by a specialized licensed professional engineer. The reasonable costs of the inspection shall be paid by the franchisee. Notice of a violation relating to provisions regarding land restoration, the land restoration plan created by the franchisee and submitted to the board, or of an independent agreement shall be given to the franchisee or a contractor for the franchisee. Corrective action shall be taken by the franchisee and the costs of the corrective action shall be borne by the contractor of the franchisee. The bill provides that a franchisee shall file a written land restoration plan with their petition. The franchisee shall provide copies of the plan to all landowners of property that will be disturbed by the construction. The bill does not preclude additional means of land protection or restoration in addition to the plan, rules regarding the plan, or other written agreements. The bill provides that an inspector shall adequately inspect underground improvements altered during transmission line, wire, or cable construction, and the inspection shall be conducted at the time of the replacement or repair of the underground improvements. Additionally, an inspector shall be present on-site at all times and the franchisee and its contractor shall keep an inspector continually informed of the work schedule and any schedule changes. The county board of supervisors may petition the board for an order requiring corrective action to be taken where the franchisee or its contractor is in noncompliance.29. The bill provides that a franchisee shall allow landowners and the inspector to view the proposed center line of the transmission line, wire, or cable prior to commencing trenching operations to ensure that construction takes place in its proper location, and an inspector may temporarily halt the construction for noncompliance until the inspector consults with the supervisory personnel of the franchisee. The board shall instruct appointed inspectors of the content of the statutes and rules and the inspectors’ responsibility to require compliant construction. The bill modifies surety bond amounts for projects constructed pursuant to Code chapters 479 and 479B. The bill changes the amount that an applicant for a permit shall demonstrate in property value (other than pipelines) in excess of $1 million from $250,000. The bill also requires the applicant to file and maintain with the board a surety bond of $1 million or percent of the project value, whichever is lesser, from a surety bond of $250,000. The bill is effective upon enactment and includes applicability provisions. The bill applies to an application for a permit pursuant to Code chapters 476A, 478, 479, and 479B where the first informational meeting for a petition is held on or after the effective date of the bill, except where otherwise provided. For sections of the bill relating to liability regarding a landowner’s gross negligence and critical infrastructure sabotage and sections of the bill regarding petitioner responsibility for damages under Code chapters 478, 479, and 479B, the bill shall apply retroactively to all applications for a permit under those Code chapters.