Subd. 1. Notice required; contents.

1. (a) Except in an emergency, an excavator shall and a land surveyor may contact the notification center and provide an excavation or location notice at least 48 hours before beginning any excavation or boundary survey, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. An excavation or boundary survey begins, for purposes of this requirement, the first time excavation or a boundary survey occurs in an area that was not previously identified by the excavator or land surveyor in an excavation or boundary survey notice.

2. (b) The excavation notice may be oral or written, and must contain the following information:

   1. (1) the name of the individual providing the excavation notice;
   2. (2) the precise location of the proposed area of excavation;
   3. (3) the name, address, and telephone number of the excavator or excavator's company;
   4. (4) the excavator's field telephone number, if one is available;
   5. (5) the type and the extent of the proposed excavation;
   6. (6) whether or not the discharge of explosives is anticipated;
   7. (7) the date and time when excavation is to commence; and
   8. (8) the estimated duration of the excavation.

3. (c) The boundary survey notice may be oral or written, and must contain the following information:

   1. (1) the name of the individual providing the boundary survey;
   2. (2) the precise location of the proposed area of the boundary survey;
   3. (3) the name, address, and telephone number of the land surveyor or the land surveyor's company;
   4. (4) the land surveyor's field telephone number, if available;
   5. (5) the extent of the proposed boundary survey;
   6. (6) the date and time when the boundary survey is to commence.

Subd. 1a. Plans for excavation.

1. (a) Any person, prior to soliciting bids or entering into a contract for excavation, shall provide a proposed excavation request to the notification center to obtain from the affected operators of underground facilities the type, size, and general location of underground facilities. Affected operators shall provide the information within 15 working days. An operator who provides information to a person who is not a unit of government may indicate any portions of the information which are proprietary and may require the person to provide appropriate confidentiality protection. The information obtained from affected operators must be submitted with the final drawing used for the bid or contract. This information must be obtained not more than 90 days before completion of the final drawing used for the bid or contract.

2. (b) This subdivision does not apply to bids and contracts for:

   1. (1) routine maintenance of underground facilities or installation, maintenance, or repair of service lines;
   2. (2) excavation for operators of underground facilities performed on a unit of work or similar basis; or
   3. (3) excavation for home construction and projects by homeowners.
3. (c) This subdivision does not affect the obligation to provide a notice of excavation as required under subdivision 1.

Subd. 2. Duties of notification center.

The notification center shall assign an inquiry identification number to each excavation or location notice and retain a record of all excavation or location notices received for at least six years. The center shall immediately transmit the information contained in an excavation or location notice to every operator that has an underground facility in the area of the proposed excavation or boundary survey.

Subd. 3. Locating underground facility; operator.

1. (a) An operator shall, within 48 hours after receiving an excavation notice from the center, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, unless otherwise agreed to between the excavator and operator, locate and mark or otherwise provide the approximate horizontal location of the underground facilities of the operator and provide readily available information regarding the operator's abandoned and out-of-service underground facilities as shown on maps, drawings, diagrams, or other records used in the operator's normal course of business, without cost to the excavator. The excavator shall determine the precise location of the underground facility, without damage, before excavating within two feet of the marked location of the underground facility.

   An operator shall, within 96 hours after receiving a location notice for boundary survey from the notification center, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, unless otherwise agreed to between the land surveyor and operator, locate and mark or otherwise provide the approximate horizontal location of the underground facilities of the operator, without cost to the land surveyor.

2. (b) For the purpose of this section, the approximate horizontal location of the underground facilities is a strip of land two feet on either side of the underground facilities.
3. (c) Markers used to designate the approximate location of underground facilities must follow the current color code standard used by the American Public Works Association.
4. (d) If the operator cannot complete marking of the excavation or boundary survey area before the excavation or boundary survey commencement time stated in the excavation or location notice, the operator shall promptly contact the excavator or land surveyor.
5. (e) Effective January 1, 1999, operators shall maintain maps, drawings, diagrams, or other records of any underground facility abandoned or out-of-service after December 31, 1998.
6. (f) An operator providing information pursuant to this subdivision is not responsible to any person, for any costs, claims, or damages for information provided in good faith regarding abandoned or out-of-service underground facilities.

Subd. 4. Locating underground facility; excavator or land surveyor.

1. (a) The excavator or land surveyor shall determine the precise location of the underground facility, without damage, before excavating within two feet on either side of the marked location of the underground facility.
2. (b) If the excavator or land surveyor postpones the excavation or boundary survey commencement time stated in the excavation or location notice by more than 96 hours, or cancels the excavation or boundary survey, the excavator or land surveyor shall notify the notification center.
3. (c) The notification center excavation or location notice will be void six months from the issue date on the notice. A new notice will need to be issued to continue excavation.