Title 42, Public Utilities and Carriers and Energy Programs

The district court has jurisdiction of civil actions filed under AS 42.20.030.

In AS 42.20.030 — 42.20.038, (1) “service” means a commodity, product, use, facility, convenience, or other form of service that is offered and provided by a utility; (2) “utility” means an enterprise, whether publicly or privately owned or operated, that provides gas, electric, …

An agent or employee of a telephone or electric light company may not remove any instrument or meter or disconnect any wire connected to the instrument or meter without notifying the owner, agent, or tenant of the building or room where the instrument or meter is installed. A not…

[Repealed or reserved.]

Article 3. Emergency Calls on Party Lines.

A person who wilfully refuses to yield or surrender the use of a party line to another person for the purpose of permitting the other person to report a fire or summon police, medical, or other aid in case of emergency, is guilty of a misdemeanor and is punishable by a fine of no…

A person who asks for or requests the use of a party line on pretext that an emergency exists, knowing that no emergency in fact exists, is guilty of a misdemeanor and is punishable by a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $500 or by imprisonment for not more than 30 days, or…

Every telephone directory published for distribution to the members of the general public must contain a notice that explains AS 42.20.120 — 42.20.150. The notice must be printed in type that is no smaller than any other type on the same page and must be preceded by the word “war…

Article 4. Communications, Eavesdropping, and Wiretapping. In AS 42.20.120 — 42.20.150, (1) “emergency” means a situation in which property or human life is in jeopardy and the prompt summoning of aid is essential; (2) “party line” means a subscriber's line telephone circuit, con…

(a) Except for a party to a private conversation, a person who receives or assists in receiving, or who transmits or assists in transmitting, a private communication may not divulge or publish the existence, contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning of the communication, e…

(a) A person may not (1) use an eavesdropping device to hear or record all or any part of an oral conversation without the consent of a party to the conversation; (2) use or divulge any information which the person knows or reasonably should know was obtained through the illegal …

(a) The following activities are exempt from the provisions of AS 42.20.300 and 42.20.310: (1) listening to a radio or wireless communications of any sort where the same are publicly made; (2) hearing conversation when heard by employees of a common carrier by wire incidental to …

A person who is an employee of a communications common carrier or of an electronic communication service or of a private investigation agency, and has knowledge of the probable occurrence of conduct that violates a provision of AS 42.20.300 or 42.20.310 shall report the conduct, …

A person who violates any of the provisions of AS 42.20.300 and 42.20.310 is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.

[Repealed or reserved.]

In AS 42.20.300 — 42.20.390, unless the context otherwise requires, (1) “communications common carrier” means a business or person engaged as a common carrier for hire in the transmission of communications by wire, cable, satellite, electromagnetic waves, or radio, not including …

A person may not use the streets, alleys, or other public places of a city for public service except under AS 42.30.010 — 42.30.050. AS 42.30.010 — 42.30.050 do not apply to or affect a franchise granted before August 2, 1923, and may not be construed to legalize a franchise clai…

(a) Every person operating a public service plant or undertaking wholly or partially in a city for the furnishing of telephone service, water, power, lighterage, wharfage, dockage, storage, heat or light or kindred public service shall serve everybody alike without discrimination…

Every person installing, operating, or maintaining a public service plant for the purpose of supplying the city or the inhabitants of the city with telephone service, water, power, lighterage, wharfage, dockage, storage, heat, or light, or rendering other kindred public service s…

(a) During April of each year, each person engaged in furnishing a public service, except a rural electrification or telephone cooperative or nonprofit association receiving financial assistance from the federal government under 7 U.S.C. 901 — 918c (Rural Electrification Act), sh…

Article 2. Transportation of Explosives. A person, firm, or corporation operating a public service plant or public utility, who wilfully fails, refuses, or neglects to file the report required by AS 42.30.040 within the time specified is guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon convicti…

A person may not transport, carry, or convey dynamite, gunpowder, nitroglycerine, naphtha, benzine, gasoline, crude or refined petroleum, or similar explosive burning fluid, or similar dangerous article on a vessel or vehicle operating in the state, or on the waters of the state,…

The contents of every package containing an explosive or other dangerous article when presented to the master, conductor, or proprietor of a vessel or vehicle for shipment shall be plainly marked on the outside. A person may not deliver, or have delivered, to a vessel or vehicle …

A person who knowingly violates AS 42.30.060 or 42.30.070 is guilty of a misdemeanor, and is punishable by a fine of not more than $2,000, or by imprisonment for not more than 18 months, or by both.

When death or bodily injury is caused by the explosion of an article referred to in AS 42.30.060 — 42.30.100 while it is being placed on a vessel or vehicle for transportation in violation of AS 42.30.060 — 42.30.100, or while it is being transported or removed from a vessel or v…

Article 3. Safety Regulations Governing Transportation of Passengers in Vehicles. Nothing in AS 42.30.060 — 42.30.090 prohibits the transportation of gasoline or petroleum products on a motorboat or vessel for use as a source of motive power on the motorboat or vessel.

A person engaged in business in the state as a common carrier may not use in the transportation of passengers on land a bus or other closed vehicle unless it has at least one escape doorway other than at the main entrance. The escape door shall be located at the rear of the vehic…

Every passenger bus operating as a common carrier may transport standing passengers in numbers that do not endanger the safe operation of the bus. A passenger bus operating as a common carrier on a route exceeding 15 miles from the center of a municipality may not carry standing …

The Department of Public Safety and every peace officer and municipal law enforcement agency shall enforce AS 42.30.110 — 42.30.140.

Article 4. Injury to Livestock by Railroads. A person who violates AS 42.30.110 — 42.30.140, upon conviction, is punishable for each offense by a fine of not more than $300.

A person or the lessee or agent of a person owning or operating a railroad in the state is liable for the value of or injury to a horse, mule, colt, cow, bull, calf, hog, sheep, or other domesticated animal killed or injured upon or near an unfenced track of a railroad in the sta…

A railroad track is not fenced within the meaning of AS 42.30.150 — 42.30.190 unless the track is guarded against the entrance of the livestock on either side and not more than 100 feet distant from the track by a fence constructed as required by law. Complete natural defenses ag…

Whenever livestock mentioned in AS 42.30.150 is killed or injured upon an unfenced railroad track, the person owning or operating the railroad, or that person's lessee or agent, or an authorized agent or employee, shall immediately have a notice of killing or injury filed by fili…

A person who neglects or fails to file or have filed the notice provided for in AS 42.30.170 is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction is punishable by a fine of not more than $200 for each offense.

Article 5. Responsibilities of Air Carriers. In an action for the recovery of the value of livestock referred to in AS 42.30.150, proof of death or injury is conclusive evidence of negligence upon the part of the person or the person's lessee or agent owning or operating the rail…

Article 6. Locating Underground Facilities.

(a) Before beginning an excavation, an excavator shall give notice of the proposed excavation to each underground facility operator who has an underground facility in the area of the proposed excavation and request the operator to field mark the location of its underground facili…

(a) An underground facility operator shall accept requests to locate underground facilities during the operator's regular business hours. An operator who receives a request to locate shall maintain for at least one year an accurate record of the request and responses to the reque…

The owner of a construction project that will require excavation shall indicate in bid documents or contracts for construction the existence of underground facilities that the project owner knows are located inside of the proposed area of excavation. This requirement does not rel…

(a) An excavator shall use reasonable care to avoid damaging an underground facility. The excavator shall (1) determine, without damage to the facility, the precise location of an underground facility whose location has been marked; (2) plan the excavation to avoid damage to and …

(a) In addition to all other remedies provided by law, a person who violates a provision of AS 42.30.400 — 42.30.490 is subject to a civil penalty of not less than $50 nor more than $1,000 for each offense if the violation results in or significantly contributes to damage to an u…

An operator and an excavator may, by written agreement, waive the requirements of AS 42.30.400 — 42.30.490 that the excavator notify the operator of planned excavations and that the operator locate underground facilities. The agreement must identify the geographic areas to which …

If the operator of an underground facility is not the owner of the facility and if the operator cannot be identified or has been identified but cannot be reached in a reasonable amount of time, the excavator may give the notice required by AS 42.30.400 — 42.30.490 to the owner of…

In AS 42.30.400 — 42.30.490, (1) “damage” means (A) the substantial weakening of structural or lateral support of an underground facility; (B) penetration, impairment, or destruction of any underground protective coating, housing, or other protective device; and (C) the partial o…

There is established the Alaska Railroad Corporation. The corporation is a public corporation and is an instrumentality of the state within the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development. The corporation has a legal existence independent of and separate from the …