SB 426 West Virginia Senate · 2026 Regular Session

Preventing damage to underground facilities

West Virginia's SB 426 establishes a mandatory "call before you dig" notification system to prevent damage to underground infrastructure. It requires excavators (e.g., construction crews) to notify utility operators of planned digging activities before starting work, covering facilities like gas lines, water mains, sewer systems, and fiber optic cables. The bill creates an Underground Facilities Damage Prevention Board to enforce these rules, with penalties collected from violators funding the board directly instead of the state treasury. This affects all entities performing excavation work in the state, aiming to reduce accidental damage to critical underground utilities.

Issues: ✓ Energy

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Mar 2026

Senate Passage

Feb 2026

House of Delegates Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 15, 2026 Last action Mar 10, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Committee Substitute → Committee Substitute for the Committee Substitute · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was amended to change the reporting committee from Energy, Industry, and Mining to Government Organization and updated the bill title to reflect a new provision allowing operators and excavators to mutually agree on extended response times. The most significant policy change is the addition of a mutual waiver clause, permitting parties to extend the standard 48-hour response period by written agreement, while also clarifying that operators can still recover costs for damage caused by nonmetallic lines without locating wires.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to include a new mechanism for mutual waiver of the standard response time requirement, shifting some enforcement flexibility from the board to the parties involved.

REQUIREMENT

Added a provision allowing the 48-hour response time to be waived if the excavator and operator mutually agree to an extended time in writing.

ENFORCEMENT

Modified the hearing venue rules to remove the option of holding hearings in Kanawha County at the board's discretion, restricting them to the county where the excavation occurred unless agreed otherwise.

TECHNICAL

Updated the judicial review section to include an additional code reference (§29A-5-1 et seq.) for filing petitions.

ELIGIBILITY

Clarified that operators are not barred from recovering costs for damage caused by nonmetallic lines lacking locating wires if they responded in a timely manner.

Floor votes · Senate Feb 18, 2026

How they voted

23–7

Passed · 3 other

Total votes 33

Feb 18, 2026

D Democratic2

2 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican31

21 Yea 7 Nay 3

67% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 4, 2026

Lower · Passed

With amendment, do pass

lower

Feb 19, 2026

Committee

To House Energy and Public Works

lower

Feb 19, 2026

Introduced

Introduced in House

lower

Feb 18, 2026

Upper · Passed

Passed Senate (Roll No. 114)

upper

Feb 10, 2026

Committee

To Government Organization

upper

Feb 10, 2026

Committee

Committee substitute reported, but first to Government Organization

upper

Jan 15, 2026

Introduced

Introduced in Senate

upper

1 primary · 1 co-sponsor