Legislative and Culture Changes in Nevada Helps to Minimize Damages to Utility Assets
By: Jay Rendos, Continuum Capital
Introduction
In 2024, Nevada received $3.5 billion in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to enhance communities across the state. The investment will help Nevadans build stronger communities. With any project that requires breaking ground, it’s critical to protect the integrity of the existing utility lines that stakeholders depend on every day by implementing initiative-taking damage prevention procedures amidst growth.
Coincidentally, since 2018, several legislative law changes have been approved. Significant law changes included Mandatory Electronic Positive Response and an improved definition of non-mechanical equipment. These significant law changes occurred based on the development of a coalition with 811 stakeholders. In addition to the legislative law changes, a cultural shift has occurred.
The law has been refined and updated at least 10 times in the last 20+ years. In 2017, one of these updates occurred through Senate Bill 242 (SB 242) was introduced and signed into law in 2018, bringing forth sweeping reforms to the One Call Law with the aim of improving safety, accountability, and efficiency. One component of the changes implemented was a mandatory reporting requirement of all damages by all parties involved in the excavation. Prior to this point, the majority of damage reporting occurred through the asset or facility owner or the locator working on behalf of the asset or facility owner. This particular requirement increased dramatically the reporting on each incident, allowed for more accurate root cause analysis, and resulted in a change in perception on contribution to damage.
Case Study
Title: Legislative and Culture Changes in Nevada Helps to Minimize Damages to Utility Assets
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The Nevada 811 stakeholders identified the need to address inefficiencies in the damage prevention process through a system of comprehensive participant accreditation and metrics, creating the foundation for a consolidated benchmarking and true peer review process.
Another challenge was to change legislation to address the non-mechanical equipment excavation exemption and require these contractors to use the 811 system. Without a change, these contractors would execute projects not knowing where the subsurface utilities are located.
Contractors also struggled with utility owners not required to provide a positive response confirming the status of facilities. Contractors often relied only on visible paint marks within the boundaries of the project. It was assumed that if there were no paint marks, there were no subsurface facilities.
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Historically, there was little focus on protecting underground infrastructure, especially during the construction boom in Las Vegas in the 1980s–1990s. Industry mindset was often “dig through it and repair it later”. Contractors, locators, and utilities frequently operated independently with limited communication. After the 811 Emergency Study was published, it motivated the Nevada stakeholders to reevaluate current practices and identify areas for improvement. Stakeholders began examining where Nevada was performing well and where deficiencies existed.
To accomplish this, the Nevada Chapter of the National Utility Contractors Association (NUCA) founded the Damage Prevention Coalition. The group initially started as a contractor focused damage prevention committee but later expanded into a broader coalition. The coalition included contractors, utility owners, locators, trade associations, and other stakeholders. Goal was to bring all parties into the same room to address concerns collaboratively. Early meetings were contentious with significant finger-pointing between groups. However, overtime discussions shifted toward identifying problems and working together to solve them. Currently, the Coalition meetings now include 80+ participants.
One of the first major legislative changes was the passing of Senate Bill No. 27. Previously a dig ticket through USA North 811 was only required when mechanical equipment was used. The law was changed in 2023 to require a dig ticket for any excavation deeper than twelve inches. This change addressed damages caused by landscapers and others using hand tools. There was significant decrease in landscape-related utility hits after implementation.
The next major legislative change was the passing of Regulation R115-4 tat was approved in 2024. This law requires Utility owners to provide a positive response confirming the status of their facilities (Mandatory Electronic Positive Response). Contractors must review these responses before excavation begins. Previously contractors often relied only on seeing paint marks on the ground. Electronic Positive Response ensures utilities confirm whether lines have been located or cleared.
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The passing of Regulation R115-4 and Senate Bill No. 27 has made a significant impact in the reduction of damages to utility infrastructure. The Electronic Mandatory Positive Response requirement has provided contractors, the 811 system end user, improved communication on the status of locates and what specific utilities are in their project boundaries. All owners must respond to the contractor if they have, or do not have, utility infrastructure within the project area. This Bill also included GIS access to one-call to consume assessor parcel/GIS data and improved ticket quality.
Contractors (mostly landscapers) using non-mechanical equipment for excavations are no longer exempt from calling 811 for their project. This legislative change increased the awareness of utility infrastructure locations for these types of projects and has made an impact in the reduction in utility damages.
Table 1 below represents Nevada’s Gas Damages per 1,000 Tickets (2020–2025). It shows a reduction from 2.27 (2020) to 1.32 (2025), supporting the approximately 42% improvement from 2020 to 2025, while statewide one-call ticket volume increased 34% over the same period.
One non-legislative improvement in the Damage Prevention process was the formation of the Nevada Damage Prevention Coalition. In the initial stages of the Coalition, there were several individuals who had differences of opinions between the 811 stakeholders. According to Tyler Byrd, Owner, Byrd Underground: “Building trust between the 811 stakeholders was achieved through repeated, sometimes uncomfortable conversations discussing marking standards enforcement, sharing information about conduits, updated phone lists, response time accountability, partnerships, operational best practices are some examples of the group coming together. This group has initiated a “cultural shift” for the damage prevention process from Liability Avoidance to Damage Prevention Collaboration.” Collaboration across stakeholders continues to drive improvements in damage prevention statewide.
Table 1 – Nevada Gas Damages per 1,000 Tickets
Conclusion
The “811 Emergency” study published by the Infrastructure Protection Coalition (IPC) highlighted $61 billion annually in waste and excess costs embedded within the underground utility locate process. Harold Lefler, Damage Prevention / Safety Administrator, Western States Contracting, stated “ The 811 Emergency Study brings attention to the significant costs of inefficiency within the system”. The Nevada stakeholders have been working aggressively to improve the 811 process and have been successful in making improvements to reduce utility infrastructure damages. According to Dennis Bott, Regulatory Engineer, Public Utilities Commission of Nevada, “The biggest shift in Nevada has been cultural: we treat the excavator as the end user of the 811 process, and we’ve built a space where excavators can bring issues, questions, and expectations to the table and know they will be addressed. That has been reinforced by coordinated work across NRCGA, NUCA, USA North 811, utility owner-operators, and the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada. We also backed the relationships with practical tools — for example, Nevada’s electronic positive response dispute ticket type gives excavators a defined way to dispute an EPR response and require follow-up when there is a concern. When end users have both a voice and a mechanism to resolve issues, communication improves, commitments become real, and damages come down.” (Download a pdf of this study.)
Jay Rendos is a consultant with Continuum Capital, which provides management consulting, training, and investment banking services to the worldwide energy, utility, industrial, and infrastructure construction industry. Jay brings over thirty years of experience and works primarily with gas/electric utilities, power generators, pipeline companies, and energy companies to support the planning, design, construction, and operation of capital assets. He is a recognized expert in both natural gas utility construction, operations, and maintenance along with power generation facility construction and operations including very specialized experience in reduced and no carbon emission facilities powered by natural gas, nuclear, or renewable sources. Jay can be reached at (630) 981-4612 or