(A) There is hereby created the underground technical committee.

(B) The committee shall consist of four members from the stakeholder group of the commercial excavator industry, in accordance with division (C) of this section, and one member from each of the following stakeholder groups:

(1) The natural gas transmission pipeline industry, appointed by the president of the senate;

(2) The natural gas distribution industry, appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives;

(3) Electric utilities, appointed by the governor;

(4) Electric cooperatives, appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives;

(5) A statewide organization representing independent oil and gas producers, appointed by the president of the senate;

(6) The telephone industry, appointed by the governor;

(7) Cable service providers, appointed by the president of the senate;

(8) Locators of underground utility facilities, appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives;

(9) Municipal corporations, appointed by the governor;

(10) The department of transportation, appointed by the governor;

(11) The general public, appointed by the governor;

(12) The hazardous liquids pipeline industry, appointed by the governor;

(13) Designers, developers, or surveyors, appointed by the governor.

(C) The president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, the minority leader of the senate, and the minority leader of the house of representatives shall each appoint one of the members from the stakeholder group of the commercial excavator industry.

(D) The terms of office for members initially appointed shall be staggered at two, three, and four years and determined by lot, except that the stakeholder group of the commercial excavator industry shall have only one member with an initial two-year term. The term of office for each member subsequently appointed shall be four years.

(E) Each member may be reappointed for an unlimited number of times.

(F) If a vacancy occurs during a member's term of office, a new member shall be appointed in the same manner as the original appointment.

Added by 130th General Assembly File No. TBD, SB 378, §1, eff. 3/23/2015.