Legislative Issues

The language was included in the transportation policy bill, which received broad bipartisan support and unanimous support in the Senate (97-30 vote in the House and 67-0 in the Senate). In the era of divisive politics, it’s important to highlight this area of agreement for our bill and many other policy issues. We urged the legislature to act this session and are thrilled it has crossed the finish line.

“At its core, this legislation is about safety,” said Laura Ziegler, Director of Highway/Heavy and Government Affairs for AGC of Minnesota. “State statute in 2024 is based on outdated technology and processes for marking and mapping underground infrastructure. There haven’t been significant updates in almost 40 years. This often leaves contractors and project owners in the dark. While our contractor members are the ones directly digging into the ground, this legislation impacts every Minnesotan.”

House author Representative Larry Kraft led negotiations throughout session. “Digging in the wrong place can result in impacts ranging from a nuisance, to shutting down a facility or street, to putting lives at risk,” said Kraft. “In 2026, there’s a huge amount of broadband investment coming to Minnesota as part of federal programs. We want to address these necessary statute updates now to prepare. Can you imagine being an excavator and hitting something you didn’t know was there – which could be really dangerous – and then having to dig again the next day?”

The updates to Chapter 216D improve the quality of mapped underground utilities by leveraging technology that didn’t exist when the statutes were written. Geospatial location of newly installed underground lines would be required beginning in 2026 to accurately document a line’s vertical and horizontal placement.

Kraft and Senate author John Hoffman also emphasized enhancing information sharing amongst all parties involved in a construction project. Those changes include updated timelines for completing utility locates and implementing statewide tracking of unintentional hits and the accuracy of utility marks.

“It’s clear why this bill has support from both sides of the aisle: because it allows our project managers, contractors, property owners and public utilities to better communicate and collaborate in support of greater safety for our entire state,” said Hoffman. “We are on the precipice of significant investment in the infrastructure that will propel Minnesota forward. This bill will help us do that work safely.”

AGC is grateful for the years of advocacy by contractors, the leadership of our legislative authors - Representative Larry Kraft and Senator John Hoffman - and the support from the full legislature and Governor Walz.

Stay tuned for future opportunities to celebrate and learn about these important safety updates and changes.

Thank you to all of our AGC members and allies for helping to push this across the finish line to change our excavation law for the first time in decades!