Title 37 — Title 37

Carrier Safety Improvements. (a) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, the deployment, implementation or use of a motor carrier safety improvement by, or as required by, a motor carrier or its related entity, including by contract, shall not be considered when determining an i…

Chapter. Nothing in this chapter shall confer any proprietary or property rights in the use of the public highways. History: (Acts 1939, No. 669, p. 1064, §3; Code 1958, T. 48, §301(3).)

It shall be the duty of the commission: (1) To regulate common carriers by motor vehicle as provided in this chapter, and, to that end, the commission may establish reasonable rules and requirements with respect to adequate service, transportation of passengers, baggage, freight …

or Brokers. No member of the commission, nor any employee of the commission appointed or employed in the administration of this chapter, shall in any manner have pecuniary interest in, own any securities of, or hold any position with any motor carrier or broker subject to this ch…

Except as otherwise provided, any matter arising in the administration of this chapter requiring a hearing shall be heard and decided by the commission or shall, by written order of the commission, be referred to a member or examiner of the commission for hearing and the recommen…

Unless otherwise specified, when used in this article, these terms shall have the following meanings: (1) COMMISSION. The Alabama Public Service Commission. (2) COMMISSIONER. A member of the commission. (3) MUNICIPALITY. Any municipal corporation organized under the laws of this …

Modifications; Supplemental Orders. The commission, by its order, may grant or deny the application provided for in Section 37-4-7 as made, or may grant it in part or deny it in part, or may grant it with such modification and upon such terms and conditions as the commission may …

This article shall be known, and may be cited, as the “Alabama Radio Utility Act.” History: (Acts 1971, No. 1595, p. 2733, §1.)

The following words, when used in this article, shall have the following meanings, unless otherwise clearly apparent from the context: (1) COMMISSION. The Public Service Commission of Alabama. (2) PERSON. Such term shall include any individual, partnerships, corporations, compani…

Application. No person shall begin or continue the construction or operation of any radio utility system, or any geographical extension thereof, or acquire ownership or control thereof either directly or indirectly without first obtaining from the public service commission a cert…

Factors Considered in Determining Whether to Issue Certificate. (a) Upon the filing of an application for such certificate, the commission shall fix the time and place for a hearing thereon and shall cause notice thereof to be given to such parties in interest as the commission m…

Any person who, on September 28, 1971, either is engaged in the construction or operation of any radio utility system licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, or who holds a valid existing certificate previously issued by the commission to provide interconnected radio u…

No such certificate of public convenience and necessity may be transferred, assigned or encumbered unless such transaction is first approved, after hearing, by the commission. History: (Acts 1971, No. 1595, p. 2733, §6.)

No radio utility shall combine, merge or consolidate with, or acquire control of, another organization without first obtaining the approval of the commission, which shall be granted only after hearing and finding that such proposed combination, merger, consolidation or acquisitio…

The commission may, after affording the holder an opportunity to be heard, revoke, suspend or alter any such certificate of public convenience and necessity for the willful violation of any provision of this article or the rules and regulations or orders of the commission made un…

(a) The commission shall have the power and jurisdiction to supervise and regulate every radio utility operating within this state and its property, property rights, equipment, facilities, contracts, certificates and franchises so far as may be necessary to carry out the purposes…

The commission shall prescribe just and reasonable rates, charges and classifications for the services rendered by a radio utility to subscribers, and the tariffs therefor shall be in such form and shall be filed and published in such manner and on such notice as the commission m…

Whenever any securities set forth and described in any such application for authority or certificate of notification as pledged or held unencumbered in the treasury of the utility shall, subsequent to the filing of such application or certificate, be sold, pledged, repledged or o…

Except as provided in Section 37-4-104, the commission shall not grant a certificate for a proposed radio utility operation, or extension thereof, into an established service area, which will be in competition with, or duplication of the service of, any other radio utility unless…

The provisions of this article relate only to “radio utilities” as defined in this article and shall not apply to mobile radio telephone service offered by landline telephone or telegraph utilities regulated by the commission. History: (Acts 1971, No. 1595, p. 2733, §12.)

Each radio utility holding a certificate from the commission may interconnect its facilities with the communication facilities of any other regulated communication company operating in the area in which the radio utility is located, provided an agreement can be reached between th…

Eminent Domain. Any radio utility operating a radio system under authority of a certificate of public convenience and necessity issued by the Alabama Public Service Commission shall, where necessary and upon making due compensation, have the right to construct, maintain and opera…

From any final action or order of the commission in the exercise of the jurisdiction, power and authority conferred upon it by this article, an appeal shall lie to the Circuit Court of Montgomery County, and thence to the Supreme Court of Alabama. All appeals to the Circuit Court…

Certificate. (a) Any person or the officer, agent or employee of any organization who willfully violates any provision of this article or of any rule, regulation or order adopted thereunder, or who willfully procures, aids or abets any violation of such a provision, shall be guil…

(a) Each radio utility, as defined in this article, doing business in this state and subject to the control and jurisdiction of the commission with respect to its rates and service regulations, shall pay quarterly to the commission, beginning on November 1, 1988, and on each quar…

For all the purposes of this article, the commission may, in its discretion, deem and treat any radio utility, the property of which is operated in connection with or as a part of a general system of any other radio utility and all of the capital stock of which or substantially a…

Nothing in this article shall be construed to imply any guarantee or obligation as to such securities on the part of the State of Alabama. History: (Acts 1920, No. 37, p. 38; Code 1923, §9749; Code 1940, T. 48, §314.)

The provisions of Sections 37-4-7 through 37-4-12 shall not apply to notes issued by a utility for the proper purposes and not in violation of law, payable at a period of not more than two years from the date thereof, and aggregating (together with all other outstanding notes of …

Every electric public utility corporation organized under the laws of this state, and every such corporation organized under the laws of any other state of the United States and which has complied with the constitution and laws of this state as to foreign corporations, may in add…

The procedure for condemnation under Section 37-4-130 shall be in the manner provided for the condemnation of lands and rights-of-way or easements for public use in Chapter 1A of Title 18; or, at the option of the condemning party, in the manner provided in any other statute conf…

Nothing contained in this chapter shall limit the power of any court having jurisdiction to authorize or cause a receiver’s certificate or debentures to be issued according to the rules and practice obtaining in receivership proceedings. History: (Acts 1920, No. 37, p. 38; Code 1…

(a) For purposes of this section only, the following terms shall have the following meanings: (1) AVOIDED COSTS. Costs that a utility or a commission non-jurisdictional electric supplier which purchases electrical energy from a distributed generation facility would have been requ…

The commission shall require periodical or special reports from each utility hereafter issuing any security, including such notes payable at periods of not more than two years from the date thereof, which shall show, in such detail as the commission may require, the disposition m…

(a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the Energy Security Act of 2015. (b) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that due to the economic, financial, and service impacts associated with the development of electric transmission facilities used for the furnishing …

Securities issued and obligations and liabilities assumed by a utility, for which under the provisions of this chapter the authorization of the commission is required, shall not be invalidated because issued or assumed without such authorization therefor having first been obtaine…

For the purposes of this article the following terms have the following meanings: (1) AFFILIATED SYSTEM. A sewer or wastewater system that is both under common ownership or control with a regulated sewer or wastewater entity and not subject to the jurisdiction of the Public Servi…

Jurisdiction of the Public Service Commissioner; Prospective Rates and Rate Structures. (a) An affiliated system may elect to become subject to the regulatory jurisdiction of the Public Service Commission by filing a notice with the commission. (b) The Public Service Commission s…

An affiliated system making an election under Section 37-4-161 shall be subject to the fees established by the Public Service Commission for wastewater management entities under Section 22–25B–7. History: (Act 2025-106, §3.)

(a) Nothing in this article shall infringe upon or replace the authority granted to the Jefferson County Board of Health pursuant to Act No. 659 (1978). (b) This article shall not apply in any county that has a local constitutional amendment authorizing the regulation of wastewat…

Factors Considered. The commission may, upon its own motion, at any time, and upon reasonable notice to any utility, when the commission deems it necessary to ascertain the value of the property of such utility, proceed to investigate, ascertain and report the value thereof, and …

Whenever the commission shall have completed its valuation and report of the property of any utility, as provided in this article, and before such valuation shall become final, the commission shall give notice to such utility and to every municipality in the state where such util…

Order. If notice of protest is filed, the commission shall fix a time for hearing the same and shall proceed as promptly as possible to hear and consider any matter relative and material thereto which may be presented in support of any such protest so filed. If, after hearing any…

The commission shall not have any jurisdiction, authority, power or control in any respect whatsoever over any nonutility, as defined in Section 37-4-1, except as may be provided in Division 2 of Article 2 of this chapter. Any utility, as defined by Section 37-4-1, may sell, leas…

Municipalities. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any private water system utility which serves less than 1,000 customers and purchases its water from a municipal water system in a Class 8 municipality may elect to be exempt from all regulation of the Public Service Com…

(a) If the valuation of the property of any utility has become final as provided in this article, or if such valuation becomes final as provided in Section 37-4-18, the commission may, within 90 days after any valuation hereafter made becomes final, proceed for reasons which it s…

When any order of valuation or of revaluation of the commission has become a final order, an appeal may be taken therefrom by the utility or by any person, as defined in this article, who is a party to the cause before the commission, to the Circuit Court of Montgomery County, Al…

(a) Rates and service regulations may be established by contract between a municipality and utility for a specified term, not exceeding 30 years, but only by and with the approval of the commission to be expressed by its order. Utilities may contract with each other and with pers…

Each utility, as defined in this chapter, doing business in this state and subject to the control and jurisdiction of the commission with respect to its rates and service regulations, shall pay quarterly to the commission beginning November 1, 1985 and on each quarter thereafter …

(a) Supervision and inspection fees provided for in this chapter shall be in default after February 1, May 1, August 1 and November 1 of each year, if not paid prior to or on that date. In the event that the amount payable by any utility for any quarter cannot be ascertained on o…

System. For all the purposes of this chapter the commission may, in its discretion, deem and treat any utility, the property of which is operated in connection with or as a part of a general system of any other utility and all of the capital stock of which or substantially all of…