Title 49, Public Utilities

Every railroad corporation, while engaged in commerce to which the regulative powers of the state extend, shall be liable in damages to any person suffering injury while that person is employed by such railroad corporation in such commerce, or in case of the death of such employe…

In all actions brought against a railroad corporation under or by virtue of any of the provisions of this chapter to recover damages for personal injuries to, or the death of, any employee, the fact that the employee had been guilty of contributory negligence shall not bar a reco…

In any action brought against any railroad corporation under or by virtue of any of the provisions of this chapter to recover damages for injuries to, or death of, any of its employees, such employee shall not be held to have assumed the risk of the employee's employment in any c…

Any contract, rule, regulation, or device with the purpose or intent of enabling any railroad to exempt that railroad from any liability created by sections 49-16-01.1, 49-16-02, 49-16-03, 49-16-04, 49-16-05, and 49-16-08 to that extent is void. In any action brought against the …

Any employee of a railroad corporation who, while in the performance of the employee's duty and while engaged in any commerce subject to the regulative power of this title, may be injured or killed by any locomotive, car, structure, or obstruction used or retained contrary to the…

Every person: 1. Owning, operating, or managing any pipeline or any part of any pipeline within this state for the transportation of crude petroleum, gas, coal, or carbon dioxide to or for the public for hire, or engaged in the business of transporting crude petroleum, gas, coal,…

The commission shall take reports from and may investigate the books and records kept by any pipeline carrier in connection with its business, and may require such company to make monthly reports duly verified under oath showing the total quantity of crude petroleum owned by such…

The commission shall hear and determine complaints, require attendance of witnesses, and institute suits and sue out such writs and process as may be necessary for the enforcement of its orders.

No city or other public corporation hereafter shall grant to any person a franchise to furnish natural gas to the public in this state without making a reservation therein that a percentage of native natural gas shall be used by such person if and when the same is produced in com…

Whenever native natural gas is produced in this state in commercial quantities, any person having a franchise to furnish gas to the public, which franchise is dated after March 9, 1933, shall use fifty percent, or its equivalent, of native natural gas as developed if the source t…

Any gas well of two hundred fifty thousand cubic feet [7079.21 cubic meters] volume and two hundred pounds [90.72 kilograms] of rock pressure shall constitute a well producing native natural gas in commercial quantities under the provisions of this chapter.

All wells having the production specified in section 49-19-06 shall be entitled to supply an equal pro rata share of products to be used by any person holding a franchise to furnish gas to the public.

The operation of the pipelines to which this chapter applies, for the transportation of crude petroleum, coal, or gas in connection with the purchase or purchase and sale of such crude petroleum, coal, or gas, is a business in the conduct of which the public is interested, and as…

The right to lay, maintain, and operate pipelines, together with telecommunications lines incidental to and designed for use only in connection with the operation of such lines along, across, or under any public stream or highway in this state, is conferred upon all common pipeli…

In the exercise of the privileges conferred in section 49-19-09, the common pipeline carrier shall compensate the county for any damage done to any public road in the laying of pipelines, or telecommunications lines, along or across the same. Nothing herein shall be construed to …

A common pipeline carrier, in the acceptance of the provisions of this chapter, shall agree expressly that it, without discrimination, will accept, carry, or purchase, the oil, coal, gas, or carbon dioxide of the state or of any person not the owner of any pipeline, operating a l…

Every common pipeline carrier which shall have filed with the commission its acceptance of the provisions of this chapter has, subject to chapter 32-15, the right and power of eminent domain in the exercise of which it may enter upon and condemn the land, right of way, easements,…

The commission shall establish and enforce rates or charges and regulations for gathering, transporting, loading, and delivering crude petroleum, coal, or gas by common pipeline carriers in this state, and for the use of storage facilities necessarily incident to such transportat…

In the event that any rate shall be filed by any common pipeline carrier and complaint against the same or a petition to reduce the same shall be filed by any shipper, and such complaint shall be sustained, in whole or in part, all shippers who shall have paid the rates so filed …

Every common pipeline carrier shall exchange crude petroleum tonnage, coal, or gas with each like common pipeline carrier. The commission shall have the power to require connections and facilities for the interchange of such tonnage, coal, or gas to be made at every locality reac…

The commission also shall make rules for the ascertainment of the amount of water and other foreign matter in oil or gas tendered for transportation, and for deduction therefor, and for the amount of deduction to be made for temperature, leakage, and evaporation. The recital here…

Common pipeline carriers shall make and publish their tariffs under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the commission.

Where pipelines within the scope of this chapter are engaged in interstate transportation of oil, coal, or gas, the commission shall act jointly and in conjunction with the supervisory body which exercises jurisdiction over and control of such pipelines within any other state for…

No common pipeline carrier may discriminate between or against shippers in regard to facilities furnished, services rendered, or rates charged under the same or similar circumstances in the transportation of crude petroleum, coal, gas, or carbon dioxide, nor may there be any disc…

Subject to the provisions of this chapter and the rules and regulations which may be prescribed by the commission, every common pipeline carrier shall receive and transport crude petroleum, coal, or gas delivered to it for transportation and shall receive and transport the same a…

Actual damages also may be recovered by and for the use of any person against whom there shall have been an unlawful discrimination prohibited by this chapter. Such suit shall be brought in the name and for the use of the party aggrieved.

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise clearly requires: 1. "Electrical supply lines" shall mean those electrical conductors and their necessary supporting and containing structures which are used for transmitting a supply of electrical energy. 2. "Operation" shall…

The commission shall regulate the construction, reconstruction, operation, and maintenance of all electrical supply lines and signal lines located in, under, or across the public highways or public places in this state, within and without the limits of incorporated cities, to the…

Prior to commencing the construction or reconstruction of any electrical supply line intended to carry: 1. A constant potential alternating current of over five thousand volts; 2. A constant current circuit exceeding seven and one-half amperes; or 3. A grounded trolley direct cur…

Upon receipt of the written application provided for in section 49-20-03, the commission shall set a date not later than thirty days from the date of the receipt of the application for a hearing upon the matter, and at least ten days before the date of said hearing shall notify i…

Whenever the application provided for in section 49-20-03 is filed with the commission and it shall appear to its satisfaction that all of the interested parties have agreed in writing in regard to the methods of construction, reconstruction, operation, and maintenance of the pro…

The commission shall apportion between the interested parties the costs or additional costs which may accrue from the adoption of plans, methods, or means in order to avoid, minimize, or mitigate interference or hazard.

Any municipality of the state shall have the right to file a complaint with the commission to enforce the provisions of this chapter. The commission shall hold a public hearing whenever any such municipality shall file written complaint and set forth facts which require action on…

The provisions of sections 49-20-02 through 49-20-08 shall not be construed to affect, control, or change the franchise rights of persons, firms, corporations, or limited liability companies owning or operating electrical supply or signal lines in or upon the highways of this sta…

Whenever any city, or the inhabitants thereof within, or contiguous to, the territory served by an electric transmission line operated by a public utility subject to the jurisdiction of the commission shall desire to obtain the service furnished by such public utility, the proper…

Any municipality, public utility, or person affected by an order of the commission made under the provisions of this chapter may prosecute and conduct an appeal to the courts in the manner prescribed in chapter 28-32.

Before any change is made in the topography of lands under, or adjacent to, any electric transmission or telecommunications lines, which change would increase the hazard to travel, or to persons or property, the one proposing to make such change shall, except in the case of an em…

No person owning or operating electric light and power facilities shall be liable, in the absence of negligent construction or operation of such electric light and power facilities, for inductive interference caused in communication circuits, and shall not, in the absence of negl…

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires: 1. "Access" means telecommunications services to connect a telecommunications customer or end user with a telecommunications company that allows for the origination or the termination, or both, of WATS, 800, and mess…

Telecommunications service does not include and the provisions of this title do not apply to: 1. The one-way transmission of radio or television signals for broadcast purposes, including the one-way transmission of videoprogramming or other programming service by a cable system a…

Except as provided for in this chapter and sections 49-02-01.1, 49-02-21, 49-02-22, and 49-04-02.1, telecommunications companies and all telecommunications services are exempt from the provisions of chapters 49-02, 49-04, 49-05, and 49-06. Telecommunications companies and service…

1. This section does not prohibit the lowering of a price of an essential service based on reasonable business practices in a competitive environment except a price change may not be anticompetitive or otherwise in violation of antitrust or unfair trade practice laws. 2. Whenever…

Customers of any telecommunications company that provides essential telecommunications services must be permitted to purchase essential telecommunications services separate from all other telecommunications services. A telecommunications company may disconnect local exchange or e…

A person who, in the ordinary course of operations, makes telephones available to the public or to transient users of that person's premises, for intrastate telephone calls using a provider of operator services shall ensure that each of its telephones presubscribed to a provider …

1. Any telephone call identification service offered in this state by a telecommunications company must allow a caller on a per-call and a per-line basis to withhold display of a caller's telephone number from the telephone instrument of the individual receiving the telephone cal…

The commission has the power to: 1. Investigate all methods and practices of telecommunications companies. 2. Require telecommunications companies to conform to the laws of this state and to all rules, regulations, and orders of the commission not contrary to law. 3. Require repo…