HB 1342: Highways; procedures and remedies when a highway improvement project is delayed due to removal, relocation, or adjustment of utility facilities; provide

Under current Georgia law, when a highway project requires a utility company to move or adjust pipes, wires, or other facilities, the Department of Transportation and the utility follow a set process for notice, plans, and work schedules. If the utility falls short, it may owe damages or delay costs, but it can request mediation instead of paying. This bill tightens that process. It requires notice to utilities at the time a project is advertised, makes utilities liable (not just potentially liable) for damages and delay costs when they miss deadlines, and adds a new rule letting the department suspend a utility's work permit if relocation work falls 20 percent or more behind schedule, until the utility catches up to 80 percent of the approved plan. The bill also eliminates the option for a utility to request mediation over a damages dispute; instead the utility must pay within 45 days of notice. It repeals the sections creating mediation boards altogether, and it adds a new exemption so a utility that pays the department to fold its relocation work into the highway contract is not subject to these damages or delay costs.

• Requires the Department of Transportation to give utilities relocation notice at the date of project advertisement, rather than only 'normally' doing so.
• Bars the department from approving a utility work plan that would delay a highway project beyond its established completion time frame.
• Lets the department suspend a utility's permit if its relocation work falls 20 percent or more behind the approved schedule, until it catches up to 80 percent.
• Makes utility owners liable (changed from merely 'may be liable') for documented damages and contractor delay costs caused by their failure to meet an approved work plan.
• Eliminates a utility's option to request mediation over a damages or delay cost dispute; it must instead pay within 45 days of notice.
• Repeals the Code sections establishing mediation boards, their procedures, and required department regulations for resolving utility relocation disputes.

Utility companies (power, water, gas, telecommunications, and similar providers) with facilities along Georgia public roads, the Georgia Department of Transportation, highway construction contractors, and indirectly the traveling public affected by construction delays.

Utilities facing highway relocation deadlines would lose their right to mediate damage disputes and instead face direct financial liability and possible permit suspension for falling behind schedule. This could speed up road projects but shifts more legal and financial risk onto utility companies when relocations run late.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 32-6-171(b) to require notice at project advertisement or award rather than only 'normally' at that time.
• Adds a rule that the department cannot approve a work plan that it reasonably believes will delay the project beyond its set completion time frame.
• If a utility fails to submit an acceptable work plan within 30 days of written notice, the department may proceed to let the highway project and hold the utility liable for resulting costs.
• New language lets the department suspend a utility's permit once relocation work falls 20 percent or more behind the approved schedule, lifting the suspension only once work reaches 80 percent completion.
• Subsection (c) changes utility liability for damages and delay costs from discretionary ('may be liable') to mandatory ('shall be liable').
• Removes the utility's option to request mediation of a damages dispute, requiring payment within 45 days of the department's notice instead.
• Adds an exemption so a utility that pays the department to include its relocation work directly in the highway construction contract is not liable for these damages or delay costs.
• Section 1 repeals subsections (d) and (e) of Code Section 32-6-171, eliminating the mediation board process and related department regulations entirely.

1. 2026-02-18House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-02-17House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-02-17House Hopper (House)

• Lauren McDonald (R, HD-026)Primary sponsor
• Rick Jasperse (R, HD-011)
• Lee Hawkins (R, HD-027)
• Don Parsons (R, HD-044)
• Brent Cox (R, HD-028)
• Vance Smith (R, HD-138)

• highway construction
• utility regulation
• transportation department
• infrastructure delays
• road construction disputes