HB1342: HB1342 Highways; procedures and remedies when a highway improvement project is delayed due to removal, relocation, or adjustment of utility facilities; provide

When the Georgia Department of Transportation widens or improves a public road, utilities like power, water, or gas lines sometimes have to be moved out of the way first. Current law (O.C.G.A. § 32-6-171) sets out a notice and work-plan process for this and creates mediation boards to settle disputes between the department and utility companies over delays and costs. This bill rewrites that Code section. It tightens the timeline and work-plan requirements utilities must follow before and during a highway project, and it changes language so that utility owners who fail to meet an approved work plan 'shall' (rather than 'may') be liable to the department or its contractors for documented damages and delay costs. The bill's title states it also repeals the existing mediation board provisions used to resolve these disputes, replacing them with the department's revised procedures and remedies described in the amended section. It repeals conflicting laws generally but does not state a special effective date, so it would take effect under the state's standard rules once signed.

• Rewrites O.C.G.A. § 32-6-171 to spell out in more detail the notice and work-plan steps utilities must follow before removing, relocating, or adjusting facilities for a highway project.
• Changes the law so a utility owner who misses an approved work plan 'shall' be liable for documented damages and delay costs, instead of merely 'may' be liable, making liability mandatory rather than discretionary.
• Requires the department to suspend a utility's permit if relocation work falls 20 percent or more behind the approved schedule, until progress catches up to at least 80 percent.
• States in its title that it repeals the current mediation board process used to resolve disputes between the department and utilities over relocation delays and costs.
• Keeps the 45-day window for a utility to pay damages or delay costs, or to seek mediation, after receiving written notice of liability.
• Repeals all state laws that conflict with the new provisions.

The bill affects the Georgia Department of Transportation, utility companies (electric, gas, water, telecommunications, and similar providers) whose facilities sit along public roads, and highway construction contractors who can seek delay-cost damages from utilities that fall behind on relocation work.

If a utility fails to move its lines or pipes on schedule, highway projects can stall and contractors can lose money. Making utility liability for delay costs mandatory rather than discretionary could shift more financial risk onto utility companies, while removing or replacing the mediation board could change how those disputes get resolved.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 32-6-171(b) to detail the required steps: submission of preliminary plans, utility plans showing facility locations within 30 to 120 days, and an approved work plan before physical relocation begins.
• Section 1 keeps a rule that if a utility misses the 120-day plan-submission deadline, the department may stop paying relocation costs and shift them to the utility.
• Subsection (c) changes utility owner liability for damages and delay costs from permissive ('may') to mandatory ('shall') when the utility misses its approved work plan.
• Subsection (c) retains the 45-day period for a utility to pay assessed damages or delay costs or request mediation after written notice.
• Subsections (d) and (e), describing the current mediation board structure, hearing procedures, and de novo review in Fulton County Superior Court, are targeted for repeal per the bill's preamble.
• Section 2 repeals all laws and parts of laws that conflict with the new provisions.

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 relocation
• transportation law
• infrastructure delays
• road improvement projects