Amend the bill by striking out all of sections 3 to 5 and inserting the following:

summary

This amendment retains sections of the bill that address the application process and objection process relating to the regulation of facilities in the public way. This amendment defines "underground location standards" and specifies that a local licensing authority may adopt underground location standards for utility facilities within its jurisdiction, except along state or state-aid highways within compact areas of urban compact municipalities, in which case the location standards adopted by the Department of Transportation serve as the minimum standard. The amendment specifies that if a local licensing authority has not adopted underground location standards for utility facilities within its jurisdiction, the standards adopted by the Department of Transportation govern. This amendment allows a local licensing authority that has not adopted standards to grant an exception to the standards adopted by the Department of Transportation if it finds that applying the standards would present an exceptional hardship or unreasonable cost under the circumstances and alternative standards will adequately ensure public safety; all affected parties, as determined by the local licensing authority, have agreed to alternative underground location standards that will adequately ensure public safety; a unique situation exists that requires an adjustment of the standards in a manner that ensures public safety; or the underground location standards exceed the limits of the available space within the right-of-way. Lastly, this amendment requires coordination among underground utility facility owners.