State Law

Maryland

The New Maryland “Miss Utility Dig Law” or Title XII went into effect March 12, 2021. Click “NEW TITLE XII LAW LINK” above to view the new Maryland damage prevention law in its entirety. Below are some of the modifications that have taken effect.

  • LAW DEFINITIONS; Review modified section 12-101
  • MARYLAND AUTHORITY; Review modified section 12-107-117
  • EMERGENCY TICKETS; New response is two hours, section 12-121
  • TEMPORARY EXCAVATOR; Review new section 12-130
  • NON-EXCAVATION TICKETS; Review modified section 12-131
  • CIVIL PENALITY; Review modified section 12-135

Maryland

Ticket Check

Ticket Check is mandatory for all utility owner members in Maryland.

Maryland business days = Monday through Friday from 7am-5pm EST excluding holidays. Ticket life in Maryland is twelve (12) full business days beginning on the Select Start Date. Tickets taken afterhours and on holidays are treated as if they were taken the following business morning. The one call center will send the “expiration date” on each ticket which is when the ticket will be “locked” in Ticket Check.

Maryland tickets are considered ‘past due’ at 11:59pm ET of the Response Due By date.

All Maryland ticket headers EXCEPT Non Excavation Designer and Suspected Cross Bore will be accessible to status on Ticket Check.

Maryland Ticket Check Status Codes

1 Clear/No Conflict: Owner-member has reported that they have no underground facilities in the vicinity of the excavation or demolition.
2 Marked: Owner-member has reported that the excavation/demolition may proceed in a careful and prudent manner.
3 24-hour delay – Member requested a 24-hour locate extension.
4 48-hour delay – Member requested a 48-hour locate extension.
5 Not Complete/In Progress: The owner member or contract locator has worked with the person that intends to perform the excavation or demolition to develop a documented agreement for marking the underground facility.
6 Locate discrepancy.
7 Not Complete/In Progress: Dispute.
8 Utility Locator has not yet responded.
9 Marked up to privately owned utility.
10 Incorrect work site mapping, insufficient information, and/or wrong address.
11 Critical Facilities: There are Critical Facilities within the vicinity of the excavation. The member should enter a contact phone number in status comments/notes where the excavator can obtain further instructions. The Member is required to re-status the ticket once communication has been made with the excavator. Critical Facilities should not remain the final response as excavation cannot begin until a proper status is provided.

Rules for Locator Use of the Status Codes

  • If code 1 is selected, it will be locked out as the final selection. The locator cannot change or delete a code 1 response.
  • If code 2 is selected, the only code it can be changed to is a code 1.
  • If code 3 is selected, the owner-member will be sent a “no response” every 24 hours until the ticket number expires or the ticket is coded as either a: code 1, 2, 5, 9, 10 or 11.
  • If code 4 is selected, the owner-member will be sent a “no response” every 24 hours until the ticket number expires or the ticket is coded as either a: code 1, 2, 5, 9, 10 or 11.
  • If code 5 is selected, it can only be updated to a code 1, code 2, code 9 or code 11; If a ticket is statused with a code 5 within the ten business days from the original date of the call then an updated status of a code 1, 2, 9 or 11 will be allowed until the one hundred twentieth (120) calendar days from the original call date.
  • If code 9 is selected, the only code it can be changed to is a code 1.
  • If code 10 is selected, it will be locked out as the final selection unless the excavator successfully processes a DISCREPANCY notice. If the ticket is not expired/locked, the Discrepancy notice is allowed via the IVR or Search & Status. Once the Discrepancy is processed, the status can be updated to code 1, code 2 or code 9.
  • If code 11 is selected, it can be updated to code 1, 2, 5, or 9. Tickets originally statused with Code 3, 4, or 5 can be updated to the Critical Facilities Code.
  • If the ticket is not coded by 11:59pm on the second full business day following the day of the call, the locator will only be able to status with a code 1, code 2 or code 5, code 9 or code 10.

Locator’s Status Comments

Status Comments may be added to all Ticket Check response codes as follows:

  • Upload with status via ftp and/or web, user ONLY; not the IVR.
  • One Status Comment permitted per status code. Only when a status code is inserted should any comments also be inserted. If a status fails to be inserted based on the Ticket Check rules, a comment for that status code should also fail.
  • Status Comments are restricted to a maximum of 200 characters each.

Cancellation Tickets

When the ticket is cancelled in the center, the ticket is ‘locked’ from statusing/coding to ticket.

No Responses

  • No Response tickets are processed and transmitted to the call center’s PRISM database for transmission to the owner member at 11:59pm of the selected Response Due By date. For example, a ticket with a Response Due By date of Tuesday, June 7, must have a valid Ticket Check status code by 11:59pm of that same date to avoid a No Response.
  • A subsequent No Response will be processed and sent every business day at 11:59pm ET until the ticket expires OR until the ticket is coded with a 1 (clear/no conflict), 2 (marked), 5 (not complete/in progress), 9 (marked up to privately owned utility) or 10 (incorrect work site mapping, insufficient information, and/or wrong address) whichever comes first.
  • If a 24-hour delay is requested and there is not an updated response/status for that owner member district code by 11:59pm ET the day after the selected Response Due By date, then an initial No Response ticket will be sent to the affected owner member district code. Subsequent No Responses will be sent until the ticket expires or until the ticket is coded with a valid status code.
  • If a 48-hour delay is requested and there is not an updated response/status for that owner member district code by 11:59pm ET on the second business day after the selected Response Due By date, then an initial No Response ticket will be sent to the affected owner member district code. Subsequent No Responses will be sent until the ticket expires or until the ticket is coded with a valid status code.

Rules for Excavator Use of the Status Codes

Discrepancy Tickets

Discrepancy tickets are initiated by the excavator one of two ways; they may either request it via the IVR when listening to the ticket statuses or request when viewing the status on Search & Status. Once a Discrepancy is successfully processed either via the web or IVR, it may NOT be processed again. The only way it can be processed is if the status for the given district code has changed.

  • To process a Discrepancy via the IVR (866.821.4226):When listening to the ticket status via the Ticket Check IVR, for any district code on the ticket where the ticket is coded with a 1 (clear/no conflict), 2 (marked), 9 (marked up to privately owned utility) or 10 (incorrect work site mapping, insufficient information, and/or wrong address), the excavator will get a message “(Owner Member Name) is marked, clear or incorrect work site mapping, insufficient information and/or wrong address.If you have a conflict with this locate status, press 6 to send a discrepancy ticket or press 2 to continue. If the caller selects 6 to send the Discrepancy, the Discrepancy ticket will be created and queued to send to the given district code.
  • To process a Discrepancy via the web:When viewing the ticket on Search & Status (www.managetickets.com or www.missutility.net), the user will have the option to click the View Status button to see the list of district codes and the current Ticket Check statuses. If the ticket is not locked/expired and the status code is currently a 1 (clear/no conflict), 2 (marked), 9 (marked up to privately owned utility) or 10 (incorrect work site mapping, insufficient information, and/or wrong address) on any district code, there will be a box for the user to select to request the Discrepancy for the district code.The user will be prompted to enter their email address. An email will be sent to the user with a link to process the Discrepancy. Until the user successfully clicks the link in the email, the Discrepancy will not be processed and sent to the member.

Dispute Tickets

Dispute tickets are initiated by the excavator one of two ways; they may either request it via the IVR when listening to the ticket statuses or request when viewing the status on Search & Status.Once a Dispute is successfully processed either via the web or IVR, it may NOT be processed again.

  • To process a Dispute via the IVR (866.821.4226):When listening to the ticket status via the Ticket Check IVR, for any district code on the ticket where the ticket is coded with a 5 (not complete/in progress), the excavator will get a message “(Owner Member Name) is not complete, in progress. You or your company has been contacted by the locator for this facility.”If you dispute that you have been contacted by the locator, press 7 to log your complaint or press 2 to continue. If the caller selects 7 to send the Dispute, the Dispute ticket will be created and queued to send to the given district code.
  • To process a Dispute via the web:When viewing the ticket on Search & Status (www.managetickets.com or www.missutility.net), the user will have the option to click the View Status button to see the list of district codes and the current Ticket Check statuses.If the ticket is not locked/expired and the status code is currently a 5 (not complete/in progress), on any district code, there will be a box for the user to select to request the Dispute for the district code.The user will be prompted to enter their email address. An email will be sent to the user with a link to process the Dispute. Until the user successfully clicks the link in the email, the Dispute will not be processed and sent to the member.

Status Information Delivery to Excavators

Notification to the excavator is handled as followed:

  • If there is a properly formatted email address on the ticket then the system will attempt to deliver the status information via email.
  • If an email address is not in the correct format or blank but there is a valid fax number listed on the ticket, a fax will be sent. The system will attempt to transmit the automated fax. Should the attempt be unsuccessful, the system will attempt to deliver the fax as many as three times ten minutes apart.
  • If neither an email nor fax number is on the ticket, the status information will be available via the toll free telephone number (866.821.4226) or on Search & Status®.
    Note that any “Status Comment” posted with a Ticket Check status will be transmitted via email or fax but will not be available for playback on the IVR.

Notification is sent when one of the following occurs:

    • When the ticket is ‘past due’ OR when all owner members provide a status to the ticket, whichever comes first.
    • Subsequent email or fax will be transmitted if any of the owner members on the ticket change their status.

If the excavator does not receive an email or fax, they must call Ticket Check® at 866.821.4226 or visit www.missutlity.net to retrieve the status of the ticket prior to starting an excavation or demolition.

Search and Status

All Maryland tickets appear on Search & Status. The statuses and any ‘Status Comment’ posted should appear for all tickets except Non-Excavation Designer and Non-Excavation Suspected Cross-Bore ticket headers.