Bill Text: IN SB0304 | 2012 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Disclosure of utility easements.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-01-05 - First reading: referred to Committee on Utilities & Technology [SB0304 Detail]
Download: Indiana-2012-SB0304-Introduced.html
Citations Affected: IC 8-1; IC 32-20-4-3; IC 32-21-5-7.
Synopsis: Disclosure of utility easements. Requires a utility to submit
data concerning easements in gross of a commercial character to the
Indiana utility regulatory commission (IURC) for inclusion in the
statewide GIS map. Requires a utility that seeks to perform vegetation
management to produce, upon request of a property owner,
documentation that authorizes the utility to perform vegetation
management on the property. Provides that a utility's failure to file a
notice of claim for an easement does not extinguish the easement if the
easement is included in the statewide GIS map. Requires the residential
sales disclosure form to provide notice to prospective buyers that the
easements are included in the map.
Effective: July 1, 2012.
January 5, 2012, read first time and referred to Committee on Utilities & Technology.
PRINTING CODE. Amendments: Whenever an existing statute (or a section of the Indiana Constitution) is being amended, the text of the existing provision will appear in this style type, additions will appear in this style type, and deletions will appear in
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A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning
utilities.
(1) A municipally owned utility (as defined in IC 8-1-2-1(h)).
(2) A corporation organized under IC 8-1-13.
(3) A corporation organized under IC 23-17 that:
(A) is an electric cooperative; and
(B) has at least one (1) member that is a corporation organized under IC 8-1-13.
(b) For purposes of this section, "easement" refers to an easement in gross of a commercial character (as defined in IC 32-23-2-1).
(c) For purposes of this section, "IGIC" refers to the Indiana Geographic Information Council (as referred to in IC 4-23-7.3-6).
(d) For each easement held by a utility, the utility shall:
(1) generate complete easement data in a manner and format
acceptable to the commission and the IGIC; and
(2) submit in a timely manner the data described in
subdivision (1) to the commission.
For easements created before July 1, 2012, a utility must comply
with this section not later than December 31, 2013.
(e) The commission shall share the easement data submitted
under subsection (d) with the IGIC as a data layer to the statewide
base map (as defined in IC 4-23-7.3-11). Data submitted and shared
under this section is not legally binding or fully representative of
legally recorded easements.
(f) Compliance with this section by a utility that has withdrawn
from or is not otherwise subject to the jurisdiction of the
commission does not confer jurisdiction by the commission over
the utility.
Chapter 38. Electric Utility Vegetation Management Practices
Sec. 1. (a) As used in this chapter, "affected property owner" means the record owner of real property on which a utility plans to perform vegetation management.
(b) The term does not include a property owner that is a governmental unit.
Sec. 2. As used in this chapter, "utility" refers to any of the following:
(1) A public utility (as defined in IC 8-1-2-1(a)).
(2) A municipally owned utility (as defined in IC 8-1-2-1(h)).
(3) A corporation organized under IC 8-1-13.
(4) A corporation organized under IC 23-17 that:
(A) is an electric cooperative; and
(B) has at least one (1) member that is a corporation organized under IC 8-1-13.
Sec. 3. As used in this chapter, "vegetation management" means:
(1) the trimming or pruning of one (1) or more trees; or
(2) the cutting down and removal of one (1) or more trees.
Sec. 4. A utility shall, upon the request of an affected property owner, produce the following:
(1) The instrument creating the easement in gross of a commercial character (as defined in IC 32-23-2-1) that grants the utility the right to enter the property.
(2) The law, rule, regulation, or other legal instrument that
authorizes the utility to perform vegetation management on
the property.
(1) a lessor or the lessor's successor as a reversioner of the lessor's right to possession on the expiration of any lease; or
(2) a lessee or the lessee's successor of the lessee's rights in and to any lease.
(b) Failure to file the notice required under this chapter does not bar or extinguish any easement, interest in the nature of an easement, or any rights appurtenant to an easement granted, excepted, or reserved by the instrument creating the easement or interest, including any rights for future use, if:
(1) the existence of the easement or interest is evidenced by the location beneath, upon, or above any part of the land described in the instrument of any pipe, valve, road, wire, cable, conduit, duct, sewer, track, pole, tower, or other physical facility and whether or not the existence of the facility is observable; and
(2) if the easement is an easement in gross of a commercial character (as defined in IC 32-23-2-1), the easement is included in a data layer of the statewide base map under IC 8-1-2-128.
However, equitable restrictions or servitudes on the use of land are not considered easements or interests in the nature of easements as that phrase is used in this section.
(1) Disclosure by the owner of the known condition of the following:
(A) The foundation.
(B) The mechanical systems.
(C) The roof.
(D) The structure.
(E) The water and sewer systems.
(F) Additions that may require improvements to the sewage disposal system.
(G) Other areas that the Indiana real estate commission determines are appropriate.
(2) Disclosure by the owner of known contamination caused by the manufacture of a controlled substance on the property that has not been certified as decontaminated by an inspector approved under IC 13-14-1-15.
(3) A notice to the prospective buyer that contains substantially the following language:
"The prospective buyer and the owner may wish to obtain professional advice or inspections of the property and provide for appropriate provisions in a contract between them concerning any advice, inspections, defects, or warranties obtained on the property.".
(4) A notice to the prospective buyer that contains substantially the following language:
"The representations in this form are the representations of the owner and are not the representations of the agent, if any. This information is for disclosure only and is not intended to be a part of any contract between the buyer and owner.".
(5) A disclosure by the owner that an airport is located within a geographical distance from the property as determined by the Indiana real estate commission. The commission may consider the differences between an airport serving commercial airlines and an airport that does not serve commercial airlines in determining the distance to be disclosed.
(6) A notice to the prospective buyer that:
(A) easements in gross of a commercial character (as defined in IC 32-23-2-1) are included as a data layer in the statewide base map (as defined in IC 4-23-7.3-11) maintained by the Indiana Geographic Information Council; and
(B) the easements included in the statewide base map are not legally binding or fully representative of legally recorded easements.
