It’s been more than a decade since lawmakers passed a law requiring the formation of an entity to lead underground utility notifications and safe digging in Kansas, and it’ll be another two years before that group is operational.

The Kansas Corporation Commission on Thursday approved an operating agreement between Kansas One-Call Systems and the Kansas Underground Utility Notification Center and recognized KUUNC as the state’s notification center.

The move follows a 2008 decision by lawmakers that required a public entity to take over the work of KOC, a private-sector nonprofit that’s been running a call center and educating Kansans about safe digging since the 1980s. The boards of the two organizations have been planning how to shift assets and operations from Kansas One-Call to KUUNC.

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Associated Press information from: The Topeka Capital-Journal