One Call Legislation – FAQ’s

Senate Bill 18-167 went into effect August 8, 2018. CO811 began converting Tier Two members to Tier One in June, 2018 and continued transitioning Tier Two members until January 1, 2021.

• Tier Two members began receiving electronic notifications/tickets on January 1, 2019
• Tickets/Notifications were sent to Tier Two and recently converted Tier One members until December 31, 2020 at no cost
• All Members became full service Facility Owner Operator Members on January 1, 2021

No, only laterals in the public right-of-way need to be registered.

Yes, all locate tickets must have a Positive Response posted to Colorado 811 by the locate by date on the ticket starting January 1 2019. Members will now be able to include comments and attachments (photos, sketches, etc) to positive response.

If Positive Response is not provided by the owners/operator by the locate by date, Colorado 811 will send an additional re-notification to that owner/operator. Colorado 811 will continue to send out re-notifications daily until Colorado 811 receives Positive Response. These notifications will be charged to the member at the standard ticket transmission fee.

Member Facilities will have 10 business days to respond to Subsurface Utility Engineering Ticket by;

• Providing location records – giving available information on the location, not to include depth
• Providing marks on the ground – giving approximate location, not to include depth
• Providing available information – giving approximate location, not to include depth

Colorado 811 delivers locate ticket notifications via email. Positive Response is currently available via website, ticket link, TCP/IP, and Restful API. An account/username and password is required for accessing Positive Response via website, TCP/IP, and API. For more information please contact Member Relations via email member-services@co811.org

Members are charged on a per transmission basis and each excavator must have their own locate ticket even if they are working at the same address. Current policy is one ticket per structure.

Yes, the current 150ft buffer will be reduced to 100ft buffer on single address tickets when parcel boundaries are available. Facility Owner/Operator Members require a minimum buffer of 30ft on the registered underground facilities.

Will members be able to customize their buffers on 811’s system? Yes, minimum 30ft buffer.

The Safety Commission has established industry marking standards. Please visit https://ops.colorado.gov/UDPSafetyCommission to review all best practices.

Secondary excavators may be listed on locate requests for potholing purposes only.

After listening to our facility owners and operators, the Board of Directors approved the request from management to no longer charge a ticket fee for canceled outgoing transmissions. This change will take effect on January 1, 2019.

Home rule cities by the Colorado constitution are cities that have the full right of self-government in local and municipal matters. The larger home rule cities include Denver, Aurora, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins and Grand Junction. Home Rule cities can create their own safety commissions and can enforce the one-call law and imposed penalties for failure to comply with the law.

Yes. Colorado 811 will annually provide a report as well as real time data for the Safety Commission’s work related to underground excavations and safety.

Any person can provide feedback to the Safety Commission.

Yes, the Colorado Safety Commission will have the responsibility to enforce the provisions of the law related to safe practices. The Safety Commission can impose penalties for failure to comply with the law. Home Rule cities may create a safety commission which also have the power to impose penalties for failure to comply with the law. Facility owners and operators and excavators may bring civil actions for damage claims separate from the actions of the Safety Commission.

Only Home Rule cities are exempt from complying with the Safety Commission requirements but they must create their own safety commissions.

CO 811 is not in a position to offer an opinion regarding whether or not the State of Colorado can enforce penalties against a municipality under the new law. The newly created Safety Commission will establish regulations that address this issue in cooperation with the Colorado Attorney General.CO 811 is not in a position to offer an opinion regarding whether or not the State of Colorado can enforce penalties against a municipality under the new law. The newly created Safety Commission will establish regulations that address this issue in cooperation with the Colorado Attorney General.

Please defer to the Safety Commission once established.

The Commission is a state commission having jurisdiction to address underground facility safety issues throughout the State of Colorado with the exception of certain home rule cities

Excavators are not exempt from the overview and jurisdiction of the Colorado Safety Commission. Complaints can be submitted to the commission with respect to excavators, facility owners and firms that provide locate services.

Certain municipalities in Colorado are designated as “home rule cities”. Home rule cities must act to create their own Safety Commissions and enforcement procedures. If a home rule city does not act to create its own commission then the State Commission will have the responsibility to enforce the laws related to underground safety.

The cost or fee for the outgoing transmission will remain the same for all members. The costs associated with an engineering locate request will be paid by the project owner.

ASCE Standards provide technical guidelines for promoting safety, reliability, productivity, and efficiency in civil engineering. For more information please visit https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/programadmin/asce.cfm

Within 10 days of the notice provided, licensed professional engineers will receive documentation through the Positive Response system at Colorado 811.

From our understanding, SUE is required if the local public entity/ agency identifies it as a condition of the right of way or utility installation permit. If you don’t need the information, there is no mandate that says every project needs to be called in as a SUE request. However, nothing prevents an engineer or architect from requesting a design or engineering ticket.

At the time of the request, Colorado 811 will not attempt to verify if the engineer is licensed or not.

It is assumed that the expenses related to engineering locates would be be incurred by the project owner.

Yes, there are several modifications in the new law regarding exemptions they include: farmers/ranchers and new requirements for governmental agencies relative to road grading. Please note, there is no exemption for gravity fed systems. Although, these exemptions exist it is extremely dangerous to dig without first notifying Colorado 811 for the location of underground facilities.

Gravity fed systems are now defined to clarify what information has to be provided in the event there is a request for a locate related to sub-surface utility engineering. The law defining this exemption is located at section 9-1.5-102 (3.4).

All underground facility owner/operators are responsible for the location of service laterals in the public right-of-way.

It is Colorado 811’s intent to provide the excavator this information through the Positive Response system.

Yes, an excavator requiring existing marked underground facilities to be exposed may list a single secondary excavator on it’s notice to Colorado 811.

Colorado 811 is not subject to the Colorado Open Records Act.

Colorado 811 has and is currently communicating with all stakeholders (including excavators) through the co811.org website, social media, email blasts, employee email signatures, 811 hold recording, and news articles in industry media outlets. The Colorado 811 Damage Prevention Liaisons inform excavators of the legislative changes at Damage Prevention Council Meeting and onsite presentations at excavator’s offices.

Even if it was not previously locatable According to the law, any “new” facility installed after August 8th, 2018 must be electronically locatable.

Yes, you can contact either the member services department or the damage prevention liaison in your area by visiting Colorado811.org