WHEREAS, Excavators, homeowners, and professional contractors can save time and money while making California’s communities a safer place to live and work by dialing 811 in advance of all digging projects; and

WHEREAS, The 811 “Call Before You Dig” program is a vital public education and awareness program dealing with the safety of subsurface excavation, and education is the key to promoting safe digging practices; and

WHEREAS, The five steps to a safe excavation are: survey and mark, contact the 811 program before you dig, wait the required time, respect the marks, and dig with care; and

WHEREAS, Utility lines are often buried only a few inches underground, making them easy to strike, which can cause damage and harm even for shallow excavation projects; and

WHEREAS, More than 300,000 underground utility lines are struck each year in the United States and approximately 16 percent of all digging damage in the United States results from not contacting the 811 program before digging; and

WHEREAS, Undesired consequences, such as service interruptions, outages, damage to the environment, personal injury, and death, are risked by failing to contact the 811 program before digging or attempting to mark utility lines; and

WHEREAS, Contacting the 811 program to be connected to a regional notification center before digging, respecting the color-coded lines that demarcate underground utilities, and digging with care around the marked lines will help keep Californians safe and prevent damage and destruction; and

WHEREAS, California’s economy continues to grow, stimulating new construction that requires supporting infrastructure, and California’s underground utility infrastructure is jeopardized by unintentional damage caused by those who fail to contact the 811 program before digging; and

WHEREAS, California has two regional notification centers that provide a free and effective damage prevention service for Californians: Underground Service Alert of Northern California and Nevada and Underground Service Alert of Southern California; and

WHEREAS, Underground Service Alert of Northern California and Nevada and Underground Service Alert of Southern California, in cooperation with California’s public and private utilities, provide effective damage prevention services that protect California’s citizens, communities, public services, environment, and underground facilities at no cost to the caller; and

WHEREAS, The free notification services provided by Underground Service Alert of Northern California and Nevada and Underground Service Alert of Southern California have dramatically reduced the number of accidents causing property damage, personal injury, and interruption of vital services; now, therefore, be it