Tree Trimming Legislation,
Becomes Illinois Law
by Michael J. Brunk
The combined efforts of communities, citizens, organized
watch groups, politicians and others have resulted
in a community-friendly law that better protects trees
and citizens' rights from unnecessary utility tree
clearance. On August 2, 2001, Governor George Ryan
signed into law House Bill 1776, now called Public
Act 92-0214.
The simple filing of Illinois Power
Company's vegetation management tariff to the Illinois
Commerce Commission ignited what was reported to be
the largest response to suspend a tariff the Illinois
Commerce Commission had experienced in recent decades.
Italso created a very strong watchdog group comprised
of a diverse team of citizens and professionals across
the state who intend to keep a watchful eye on utility
vegetation management practices within Illinois.
But what does this new law do for the
average citizen, community, or county? House Bill
1776 is legislation that reworks existing Illinois
law to better protect the rights of citizens by requiring
concise, nationally accepted, professional arboriculture
standards for utility tree trimming. HB 1776 can be
viewed on the Internet at the Illinois Legislation
web site, http://www.legis.state.il.us/index.html,
under "legislation status and text".
The new law includes specific tree-trimming
performance standards and notification requirements
that utilities must follow, and procedures for working
in communities with or without utility tree trimming
ordinances. It also designates the Illinois Commerce
Commission as the authority to resolve disputes between
electric utilities and municipalities. It protects
individual property rights, and requires that notices
of tree trimming sent out by utilities include toll-free
numbers for use in contacting a utility representative
and the Illinois Commerce Commission's Consumer Affairs
office. Public Act 92-0214 provides a much-improved
level of municipal and county authority over utility
tree trimming, while protecting the utility against
theburden of significant cost increases for requested
tree work that is contrary to nationally recognized
standards.
Here are some highlights of the new
law that detail these improvements:
1. The law clarifies the standards for
utility tree pruning. They are the most current tree
care and maintenance standard practices, set forth
in American National Standards Institute (ANSI) A-300.
These are basic performance standards addressing tree
pruning practices, and are clearly written to minimize
misinterpretation. They are professional standards
to be used and interpreted by professionals. They
are not step-by-step illustrations on to how to prune
trees, nor do they provide homeowners with specific
clearance distances by which to judge utility tree
trimming. TheA-300 standards
provide one standard that all arborists follow, and
offer the best tool for community arborists to oversee
utility, residential, commercial, and public tree
pruning. Most communities follow the ANSI A-300 for
their tree ordinances, tree pruning contracts, and
tree pruning specifications. A very good supplement
to the A-300 standards is the
Tree Pruning Guidelines published by the International
Society of Arboriculture (ISA). This publication is
referred to in the ANSI A-300 standards, is clear
and concise, and provides an excellent field training
book for arborists. We hope to see the
utilities adopt the ISA Tree Pruning Guidelines for
a field crew reference and training manual.
2. The law also clarifies the most current
worker safety standards to be followed, those promulgated
by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA). These standards detail safety procedures for
workers to follow and mandatory approach distances
that workers need to maintain from energized conductors.
The mandatory approach distances define the minimum
tree clearance distances from conductors that are
essential to worker safety.
3. Notification has been a common concern
among citizens. Most people expressed dissatisfaction
with insufficient advance warning, though there were
also complaints of notices that arrived six months
or more prior to the tree trimming. Under the new
law,direct notice of vegetation management activities
must be given by the utilities no fewer than twenty-one
days and no more than 90 days in advance of the tree
trimming. In addition, the notification requirements
provide that utility customers must be notified directly,
that property owners are to be notified by publishednotice
in a local newspaper or newspapers, and that municipalities
or counties must be furnished notification accompanied
by circuit maps or common address descriptions of
targeted areas. Direct or published notices are to
include a statement of planned vegetation management
activities, as well as both a web site address and
a toll-free number where written disclosure of all
dispute resolution opportunities and processes, rights,
and remedies provided by the electric public utility
may be obtained. Direct or published notices must
also include a statement that the customer or property
owner may appeal the planned vegetation management
activities through the electric public utility or
the Illinois Commerce Commission, and must provide
toll-free numbers foreach. Finally, these utility
notices must state that circuit maps and common addresses
of the affected areas will be on file at the designated
municipality or county office.
4. Communities may enter into franchises,
contracts, or written agreements with the utility
mandating specific vegetation management practices.
This allows communities to extend their jurisdiction
to address special needs or preferences of the community.But
if a community mandates practices contrary to the
most current arboriculture standards (ANSI A-300)
that would result in a substantial cost increase to
the utility, the utility is allowed to apply to the
community for reimbursement of any additional costs.
The burden of proof is on the utility, and the Illinois
Commerce Commission provides dispute resolution. The
community retains the ability to agree, reject, or
initiate dispute resolution prior to any utility work.
Communities may have their own trained arborists monitor
and discuss with the utility forestry crews or their
supervisors the utility's vegetation management performance,
without incurring any cost.
5. There are exceptions to the new law
and they are clearly stated. Exceptions to the general
notice requirements or to local ordinance requirements
are allowed for actions directly related to an emergency,
for the purpose of restoring reliable service following
an interruption of service. If agreements between
local governments and utilities mandate specific notice
requirements, then these local requirements would
supersede state notice requirements. There are also
exceptions to following the A-300 tree pruning standards
if there exists a franchise, contract, or written
agreement that mandates specific vegetation management
practices. Specific agreements between local governments
and utilities defining vegetation management practices
are common in and around Chicago. These agreements
are negotiated by each community, and sometimes vary
greatly from one suburb to the next.
6. As an appropriate ending, the new
law states: "Vegetation management activities
by an electric public utility shall not alter, trespass
upon, or limit the rights of any property owner."
Public Act 92-0214 may not address all
utility tree-trimming concerns. It does provide some
compromise between the opposing priorities of tree
preservation and tree clearance, and it clarifies
local and state authority. Communities with active
tree management programs and arborists to oversee
them will probably gain the most from the new law.
However, community arborists or not, there are plenty
of new requirements within the Act that will benefit
citizens and correct past concerns.
Public Act 92-0214 is a considerable
improvement over past utility tree-trimming regulations.
But we still need to remain active and vigilant. There
are yet many issues to be addressed. For example,
in Urbana, I intend to create a heritage tree committeeto
inventory and establish important trees in Urbana.
If you are interested, please send me a
letter with your contact information.
Michael J. Brunk, Urbana City Arborist
address: Urbana City Arborist, 706 S. Glover Ave.,
Urbana, IL 61801
phone: 217/384-2393
e-mail: mjbrunk@city.urbana.il.us