Penalty Provisions

Section §37-15-10 outlines the following Civil Penalties

  1. For a first violation, the violator shall complete a course of training concerning compliance with this chapter or pay a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500) per incident, or both.

  2. For a second or subsequent violation within a 12-month period, the violator shall complete a course of training concerning compliance with this chapter or pay a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1000) per incident, or both.

  3. For a third or subsequent violation within a 12-month period, the violator shall complete a course of training concerning compliance with this chapter and pay a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed three thousand dollars ($3,000) per incident.

  4. Notwithstanding this subsection, if any violation was the result of gross negligence or willful noncompliance, the violator shall be required to complete a course of training concerning compliance with this chapter as and pay a civil penalty in an not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) per incident. 

Any person who is required to complete a course of training under this section shall be responsible for paying for the cost of the training. For those instances in which training is ordered, if the person is a firm, partnership, association, corporation, limited liability company, joint venture, department or subdivision of the state or other governmental entity or any other body or organization, it may be required that at least one manager or supervisor thereof attend any training. 

The amount of penalties shall be dependent upon the degree of non-compliance, the amount of injury or damage caused, the degree of threat to public safety, the degree of public inconvenience caused as a result of the violation, and the number of past violations. Mitigation of the penalty may be shown by “good faith” efforts of the violator to have complied with the provisions of this chapter. 

All penalties recovered in such actions shall be paid into the Underground Damage Prevention Fund.

Note: No civil penalty may be imposed pursuant to this section against an excavator or operator who violates any provisions of this chapter if the violation occurred while the excavator or operator was responding to an emergency. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the civil penalty shall be imposed if the violation was willful or malicious. 

The outlined penalties may be subject to periodic review by the Authority Board and revised by rule as needed to ensure enforcement penalties are deemed effective and are in compliance with federal law.