08 HB
1026/AP
House
Bill 1026 (AS PASSED HOUSE AND SENATE)
By:
Representatives Smith of the
129th,
Rogers of the
26th,
Loudermilk of the
14th,
Floyd of the
147th,
Graves of the
12th,
and others
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Code Section 32-6-171 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to the authority of the Department of Transportation to order removal,
relocation, or adjustment of utility facilities, so as to provide that a utility
may be exempt from certain requirements of notice and hearing when the
department requires the removal, relocation, or adjustment of the facilities as
a result of public road improvements; to provide for related matters; to provide
for an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other
purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Code
Section 32-6-171 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the
authority of the Department of Transportation to order the removal, relocation,
or adjustment of utility facilities, is amended by revising subsection (a) to
read as follows:
"(a)
Any utility
using,
or
occupying, or
adjacent to any part of a public road
which the department has undertaken to improve or intends to improve shall
remove, relocate, or make the necessary adjustments to its facility when, in the
reasonable opinion of the department, the facility constitutes an obstruction or
interference with the use or safe operation of such road by the traveling public
or when, in the reasonable opinion of the department, the facility will
interfere with such contemplated construction or maintenance.
In undertaking
such removal, relocation, or adjustment, if the department has notified the
utility in writing that the facility constitutes an obstruction or interference
with the construction, use, or safe operation of the roadway, then the utility
shall be exempt from the requirements of Code Sections 22-1-10 and 22-1-10.1.
Nothing in this Code section shall be construed so as to deprive any utility
relocated from a location in which it owned a property interest of compensation
for such interest."
SECTION
2.
This
Act shall become effective on July 1, 2008.
SECTION
3.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.