§ 45:163 — Powers of commission; rates; insurance policies or bonds

Louisiana § 45:163

• Jurisdiction: Louisiana
• Title 45: Public Utilities and Carriers

Text

§163. Powers of commission; rates; insurance policies or bonds
A. The commission has the power and authority necessary to supervise, govern,
regulate, and control motor carriers, other than a contract carrier by bus, which transport
household goods, passengers, or waste intrastate and to fix reasonable and just rates, fares,
tolls, or charges for the commodities furnished or services rendered by such motor carriers.
The commission shall prescribe rules and regulations governing the operation of contract
carriers in competition with common carriers, and prescribe minimum rates, fares, and
charges to be collected by such carriers.
B. The power, authority, and duties of the commission shall include all matters
connected with the service to be given or rendered, the records to be kept by motor carriers,
and except as otherwise provided, the power to adopt and enforce such reasonable rules,
regulations, and modes of procedure as it may deem proper for the discharge of its duties, to
summon and compel the attendance of witnesses, to swear witnesses, to compel the
production of books and papers, to take testimony under commission and punish for
contempt as fully as is provided for by law by the district courts, and to prescribe and require
the furnishing and filing of tariffs and schedules.
C.(1) The commission shall be charged with the duty of policing and enforcing the
provisions of R.S. 45:161 through R.S. 45:178. Its duly appointed officers shall have
authority to make arrest for violations of any of the provisions of R.S. 45:161 through
45:178, orders, decisions, rules and regulations of the commission, or any part or portion
thereof, and to serve any notice, order or subpoena issued by any court, the commission, its
secretary or any employee authorized to issue same, and to this end shall have full authority
throughout the state.
(2) Such officers upon reasonable belief that any motor vehicle is being operated in
violation of any provisions of R.S. 45:161 through R.S. 45:178, shall be authorized to require
the driver thereof to stop and exhibit the registration certificate issued for such vehicle, to
submit to such officers for inspection any and all bills of lading, waybills, invoices or other
evidences of the character of the lading being transported in such vehicle and to permit such
officer to inspect the contents of such vehicle for the purpose of comparing same with bills
of lading, waybills, invoices or other evidence of ownership or of transportation for
compensation.
(3) It shall be the further duty of such enforcement officers to impound any books,
papers, bills of lading, waybills, and invoices that would indicate the transportation service
being performed is in violation of R.S. 45:161 through R.S. 45:178, subject to the further
orders of the commission.
(4) These officers shall also have the above authority with respect to anyone who
procures, aids, or abets any motor carrier in violation of R.S. 45:161 through R.S. 45:178 or
in his failure to obey, observe or comply with R.S. 45:161 through R.S. 45:178, or any such
order, decision, rule, regulation, direction or requirement of the commission or any part or
portion thereof.
(5) For the purposes of this Section, the terms "officers", "duly appointed officers",
and "enforcement officers" mean full-time employees of the commission who serve as
enforcement officers for the commission.
(6)(a) Each enforcement officer shall comply with the requirements of R.S. 40:2405
which apply to full-time law enforcement officers prior to carrying weapons in the course and
scope of their duties as Public Service Commission Enforcement Officers. Enforcement
officers shall be qualified annually in the use of firearms by the Council on Peace Officer
Standards and Training.
(b) Enforcement officers are specifically authorized to attend any school or training
course which is operated by a commercial entity, or which is operated by a public agency and
which is open to peace officers from more than one law enforcement agency. Each person
or agency operating a school or a training course which is attended by enforcement officers
shall award the appropriate document or documents to each enforcement officer who
successfully completes the requirements for certification, or for qualification, or for both.
(c) The Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement and the Council on Peace
Officer Standards and Training shall make the provisions which are necessary to enable
enforcement officers to attend the required schools and training courses and for those
enforcement officers who successfully complete the requirements for certification, or for
qualification, or for both, to receive the appropriate documents to demonstrate the
certification, or the qualification, or both.
(d) The Public Service Commission shall pay the cost of providing to each
enforcement agent the training necessary to meet the requirements of this Paragraph.
(7)(a) The commission shall issue a peace officer's commission to each enforcement
officer who meets the requirements of this Subsection. The authority granted by a peace
officer's commission which is issued under the provisions of this Subsection shall be limited
to the powers, functions, duties, and responsibilities which are set forth for enforcement
officers in this Subsection and which relate to the duty of the commission to police and
enforce the provisions of R.S. 45:161 through R.S. 45:178.
(b) A peace officer's commission which is issued under the provisions of this
Subsection shall not grant any authority other than the powers, functions, duties, and
responsibilities which are set forth for enforcement officers in this Subsection and which
relate to the duty of the commission to police and enforce the provisions of R.S. 45:161
through R.S. 45:178.
(c) For the purposes set forth in this Subsection, each enforcement officer who is
commissioned under the provisions of this Paragraph shall have all of the powers, functions,
duties, and responsibilities of a commissioned peace officer, including the power to carry
weapons while acting in the course and scope of their duties as enforcement officers.
(d) Enforcement officers may carry concealed weapons while acting in the course
and scope of their duties and the provisions of R.S. 14:95 shall not apply to enforcement
officers who carry concealed weapons while acting in the course and scope of their duties.
(8)(a) Enforcement officers who are acting in the course and scope of their duties as
enforcement officers shall wear uniforms which clearly and conspicuously identify the
enforcement officers as Public Service Commission Enforcement Officers.
(b) Enforcement officers who are acting in the course and scope of their duties as
enforcement officers and who are patrolling the public streets and highways in motor
vehicles shall patrol only in motor vehicles which are clearly and conspicuously marked as
motor vehicles in the service of the Public Service Commission.
D.(1) The commission shall require the following policies of insurance and
indemnity bonds:
(a) Public liability and property damage insurance on trucks transporting household
goods and salt water utilized in oil well exploration and production and passenger carrying
vehicles operated by both common and contract carriers providing coverage of two hundred
fifty thousand dollars for injury or death to any one person not to exceed five hundred
thousand dollars per occurrence, and twenty-five thousand dollars property damage.
(b) Public liability and property damage insurance for tow trucks or wreckers
providing coverage of not less than five hundred thousand dollars combined single limits
coverage.
(c) Public liability and property damage insurance on trucks transporting waste by
both common and contract carriers providing coverage of not less than seven hundred fifty
thousand dollars combined single limits coverage.
(d) Public liability insurance on passenger buses providing coverage of two hundred
fifty thousand dollars for injury or death to any one person not to exceed five hundred
thousand dollars per occurrence, and property damage insurance on passenger buses
providing coverage of twenty-five thousand dollars.
(2) These insurance policies and indemnity bonds shall be written by companies
qualified to do business in this state.
E. Repealed by Acts 2012, No. 804, §2.

Legislative History

Amended by Acts 1962, No. 216, §1; Acts 1984, No. 819, §1; Acts 1995, No. 301, §2, eff. June 15, 1995; Acts 1997, No. 273, §3; Acts 1999, No. 631, §2; Acts 2001, No. 935, §1; Acts 2003, No. 313, §1; Acts 2006, No. 837, §1, eff. July 5, 2006, and §2, eff. Dec. 31, 2007; Acts 2008, No. 724, §§2, 3, eff. July 6, 2008; Acts 2012, No. 804, §§1, 2; Acts 2024, No. 747, §1.