§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.

            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.