Any person, public agency or public utility which the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority determines, after notice and opportunity for a hearing as provided in section 16-41, to have failed to comply with any provision of this chapter or any regulation adopted under section 16-357 shall forfeit and pay to the state a civil penalty of not more than forty thousand dollars, provided any violation involving the failure of a public utility to mark any approximate location of an underground utility facility correctly or within the time frames prescribed by regulation, which violation did not result in any property damage or personal injury and was not the result of an act of gross negligence on the part of the public utility, shall not result in a civil penalty of more than one thousand dollars. Notwithstanding the provisions contained in subsection (d) of section 16-41, the person, public agency or public utility receiving a notice of violation pursuant to subsection (c) of section 16-41 shall have thirty days from the date of receipt of the notice in which to deliver to the authority a written application for a hearing.
(P.A. 81-146, S. 3; P.A. 87-71, S. 8; P.A. 90-221, S. 9, 15; P.A. 04-43, S. 1; P.A. 11-80, S. 1; P.A. 14-94, S. 47.)
History: P.A. 87-71 added references to Sec. 16-41 and provided for a thirty-day period to request a hearing after receiving notice of violation; P.A. 90-221 made technical change in section; P.A. 04-43 changed maximum penalty from $10,000 to $40,000 and specified a maximum penalty of $1,000 for failure to mark the approximate location in cases where no property damage, personal injury or gross negligence occurred; pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Department of Public Utility Control” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Public Utilities Regulatory Authority”, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 14-94 replaced “underground facilities” with “underground utility facility” and made technical changes, effective October 1, 2015.
Structure Connecticut General Statutes
Title 16 - Public Service Companies
Chapter 293 - Excavation, Demolition or Discharge of Explosives
Section 16-345. - Definitions.
Section 16-347. - Public utilities to register with central clearinghouse.
Section 16-348. - Central clearinghouse. Apportionment of costs.
Section 16-349. - Notice of proposed excavation, discharge of explosives or demolition.
Section 16-350. - Permits to require compliance with chapter. Evidence re.
Section 16-351. - Information and assistance re location of underground facilities.
Section 16-352. - Emergency excavation, demolition or discharge of explosives.
Section 16-353. - Relation of chapter to permits and other laws.
Section 16-356. - Civil penalty. Application for hearing.