Code of Alabama - Title 37: Public Utilities and Public Transportation - Chapter 8 - Penal Provisions

• Article 1 General Provisions.
• Section 37-8-1 Violation of commission orders generally
  (a) Any utility doing business in this state or any of its authorized agents, officers or employees who knowingly or willfully violate or procure, aid...
• Section 37-8-2 Venue for violations of commission rules or orders or statutes relating to commission
  Any officer, agent or employee shall be subject to indictment or prosecution in any county in which a subordinate agent or employee of a common...
• Section 37-8-3 Compelling testimony of employees who violate Code
  The agent or employee who locally, in any county, violates any of the provisions of this Code relating to the Public Service Commission or any...
• Section 37-8-4 Requiring witnesses to testify before grand jury
  Witnesses before the grand jury, summoned to give evidence of any violation of this title, may be required to answer generally as to any such...
• Section 37-8-6 Furnishing of meters; meters open for inspection
  Every person, company or corporation now engaged or hereafter engaging in the business of furnishing electricity or natural or artificial gas for heating, illuminating or...
• Article 2 Rate or Tariff Violations.
• Section 37-8-20 Violation of statutes relating to reasonable rates, adequate service and unjust discriminations
  Every officer, agent or employee of a common carrier or railroad corporation who shall violate or procure, aid or abet any violation by such common...
• Section 37-8-21 Charging rate in violation of tariff generally
  Any utility doing business in this state or any of its authorized agents, officers or employees who are guilty of knowingly or willfully charging, demanding...
• Section 37-8-22 Charging or accepting rate lower than published tariff
  Any person or corporation operating a utility who offers, demands or collects, and any person who knowingly accepts, a lower transportation rate, fare or charge...
• Section 37-8-23 Charging or collecting higher than lawful rate
  Any corporation, partnership, association or person owning or operating a railroad or other utility transporting passengers or property, or officer, servant or agent of any...
• Section 37-8-24 Granting unlawful concessions or rebates
  Any utility doing business in this state or any of its authorized agents, officers or employees who are guilty of knowingly or willfully granting or...
• Section 37-8-25 Accepting rebates, concessions or discrimination
  Any person who shall demand or knowingly accept or receive any rebate, concession or discrimination in respect to charges or rates of service of any...
• Section 37-8-27 Free passes, rebates or discounts, etc. - Penalties for violations
  Any common carrier, whether a corporation, association, partnership or person, engaged in the business of a common carrier of passengers in this state, or the...
• Section 37-8-28 Free passes, rebates or discounts, etc. - Exemptions
  Section 37-8-27 shall not apply to employees of railroads, or other common carriers and their families, nor to the widows and dependent children of deceased...
• Section 37-8-30 Unlawful pooling of freights
  Any officer, agent or servant of a person or corporation operating a railroad who aids in making or carrying out an agreement between railroads, commonly...
• Section 37-8-31 Failure of railroad to post freight tariffs at depots
  Any person or corporation operating a railroad who fails to post and keep posted at all freight depots the tariff of rates for transporting freight,...
• Article 3 Offenses Involving Sale, Use, or Distribution of Electricity.
• Section 37-8-52 Operations in proximity to high voltage overhead conductors of electricity - Generally
  (a) No person shall either personally or through an employee or agent, or as an employee or agent of another, use, operate, place, erect, or...
• Section 37-8-53 Operations in proximity to high voltage overhead conductors of electricity - Warnings signs
  Whoever operates or employs any person to operate any crane, derrick, power shovel, drilling rig, pile driver, or like apparatus, any part of which is...
• Section 37-8-54 Operations in proximity to high voltage overhead conductors of electricity - Exemptions
  The provisions of Sections 37-8-52 through 37-8-55 shall not apply to: (1) The construction, reconstruction, operation or maintenance of any overhead conductor or its supporting...
• Section 37-8-55 Operations in proximity to high voltage overhead conductors of electricity - Utility companies not relieved of civil liability
  Nothing in Sections 37-8-52 through 37-8-55 shall be interpreted to relieve any utility company of civil liability that it would otherwise have except for Sections...
• Article 4 Offenses Involving Sale, Use or Distribution of Gas.
• Article 5 Offenses Involving Common Carriers Generally.
• Division 1 General Provisions.
• Section 37-8-91 Jumping on or off trains
  Any person not a passenger or intended passenger, employee or agent of a railroad, or an officer of any city or town, or sheriff or...
• Section 37-8-94 Venue for violations committed on trains or buses
  Any person charged with a violation of the provisions of this article committed on a train or bus may be tried in any county in...
• Division 2 Violations by Railroad or Its Employees.
• Section 37-8-110 Noncompliance with commission order to erect depot or to provide conveniences for travelers - Generally
  Any person or corporation operating a railroad which fails for more than 90 days after its receipt, and for such further time, if any, as...
• Section 37-8-111 Noncompliance with commission order to erect depot or to provide conveniences for travelers - Failure of commission to notify district attorney or Attorney General
  For failure to notify the proper district attorney and Attorney General, or either, of the failure of any railroad company or person operating the railroad...
• Section 37-8-112 Failure to ring bell or blow horn or whistle on trains
  Any engineer or other person having the control of the running of a locomotive on any railroad who shall fail to perform any of the...
• Section 37-8-113 Failure of railroad superintendent to instruct engineers and conductors regarding blowing horn, whistle, etc
  Any superintendent of a railroad who fails to instruct the engineers and conductors thereof as to the provisions of this title in regard to blowing...
• Section 37-8-114 Failure to use proper precautions to prevent accidents
  Any engineer, conductor or other person who, having the control or management of any engine or electric motor running on any railroad in this state,...
• Section 37-8-115 Crew member acting on instructions not responsible for obstructing streets, etc
  No member of a train crew, yard crew or engine crew of a railroad, which is a common carrier, shall be held personally responsible or...
• Section 37-8-117 Failure to provide power headlights on engines
  Any company, corporation, lessee, owner, operator, receiver or officer of any company, corporation, owner, lessee, operator or receiver owning or operating a railroad or railway...
• Section 37-8-118 Violation of judgment confirming commission award regulating railroad's business with connecting line
  Any officer or agent of a person or corporation operating a railroad who knowingly violates a judgment of the circuit court confirming the public service...
• Division 3 Damages to or Interference With Railroad Property.
• Section 37-8-148 Procuring railroad cars without bona fide intention for use
  Any person, firm, company or corporation who shall make application to any common carrier by rail for, and shall procure from such common carrier any...
• Section 37-8-149 Unlawful purchase or receipt, etc., of railroad property
  Any person who shall, without written authority from the railroad company owning the same, purchase or receive for sale, or in pledge or on storage,...
• Division 4 Public Drinking or Intoxication.
• Section 37-8-160 Public drinking of prohibited liquors and beverages on railway passenger cars or in waiting rooms
  Repealed by Act 2015-70 effective April 21, 2015.
• Section 37-8-161 Intoxication of persons employed upon railways or vessels while engaged in discharge of duties
  Every person who, being employed upon any railway as engineer, conductor, baggage master, brakeman, switch tender, flagman or signal man or person having charge of...
• Division 5 Transportation of Explosives.
• Section 37-8-180 Prohibited generally on passenger conveyances; exceptions
  It shall be unlawful to transport, carry or convey, or cause to be transported, carried or conveyed, any dynamite, gunpowder or other explosive, between any...
• Section 37-8-181 Nitroglycerine or other like explosives
  It shall be unlawful to transport, carry or convey, or cause to be transported, carried or conveyed, liquid nitroglycerine, fulminate in bulk in dry condition...
• Section 37-8-182 Marking of packages containing explosives
  Every package containing explosives or other dangerous articles, when presented to a common carrier for shipment, shall have plainly marked on the outside thereof the...
• Section 37-8-183 Regulations
  The Public Service Commission of Alabama shall formulate regulations for the safe transportation of explosives between points or places in Alabama, which shall be binding...
• Section 37-8-184 Penalties for violations
  (a) Any person, partnership or corporation who knowingly violates or causes to be violated any of the foregoing provisions of this division or any regulation...
• Division 6 Signs Resembling Railroad Signs.
• Section 37-8-200 Erection or maintenance of advertising signs resembling railroad signs
  (a) No person, firm, association or corporation shall erect or maintain on any public road or street in the State of Alabama, or no private...
• Article 6 Offenses Involving Telephones and Telegraphs.
• Section 37-8-212 Unlawful disclosure of messages
  (a) Any owners, manager, operator or employee of any telegraph or telephone lines operated in the State of Alabama who shall publish or communicate in...
• Section 37-8-213 Failure to relinquish party line for emergency call; falsely requesting party line for emergency; notice in directories
  Repealed by Act 2015-70 effective April 21, 2015.
• Section 37-8-217 Prohibited instruments - Defined
  For the purposes of this section, and Sections 37-8-218, 37-8-220, and 37-8-221, the term "prohibited instrument" shall mean and include any instrument, apparatus, equipment, device...
• Section 37-8-218 Prohibited instruments - Manufacture or sale, etc
  (a) It shall be unlawful for any person to make, manufacture, possess, use, employ, transport, purchase, sell, give, transfer to another or offer or advertise...
• Section 37-8-220 Prohibited instruments - Penalties
  Any person who violates any provision of this section, Section 37-8-217, Section 37-8-218, or Section 37-8-221 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a...
• Section 37-8-221 Prohibited instruments - Search and seizure
  (a) In addition to the grounds enumerated in Section 15-5-2 for the issuance of search warrants, search warrants may be issued as prescribed in Title...
• Article 7 Offenses Involving Sale, Use or Distribution of Water.
• Article 8 Offenses Involving Reports and Records.
• Article 9 Offenses Involving Payment of Wages.
• Section 37-8-270 Biweekly payment of wages
  Every public service corporation engaged in transportation doing business in this state, employing as many as 50 or more employees, shall be required to make...
• Article 10 Unlawful Solicitation of Claims.
• Section 37-8-280 Soliciting claims from shippers or consignees against carriers
  Any agent, officer or attorney of any traffic association or freight bureau who asks, solicits or bids for any claim from any shipper or consignee...

Last modified: May 3, 2021