Chapter 1. General Provisions And Definitions of California Public Utilities Code >> Division 1. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 1.

This part may be cited as the "Public Utilities Act."

Neither this part nor any provision thereof, except when specifically so stated, shall apply to commerce with foreign nations or to interstate commerce, except insofar as such application is permitted under the Constitution and laws of the United States; but with reference to passenger stage corporations operating in interstate commerce between any point within this State and any point in any other state or in any foreign nation, the commission may prescribe such reasonable, uniform and nondiscriminatory rules in the interest and aid of public health, security, convenience, and general welfare as, in its opinion, are required by public convenience and necessity.

Unless the context otherwise requires, the definitions and general provisions set forth in this chapter govern the construction of this part.

"Corporation" includes a corporation, a company, an association, and a joint stock association.

"Person" includes an individual, a firm, and a copartnership.

As used in this chapter "person" and "corporation" include the lessees, trustees, receivers or trustees appointed by any court whatsoever, of the person or corporation.

"Public or any portion thereof" means the public generally, or any limited portion of the public, including a person, private corporation, municipality, or other political subdivision of the State, for which the service is performed or to which the commodity is delivered.

"Transportation of persons" includes every service in connection with or incidental to the safety, comfort, or convenience of the person transported and the receipt, carriage, and delivery of such person and his baggage.

"Transportation of property" includes every service in connection with or incidental to the transportation of property, including in particular its receipt, delivery, elevation, transfer, switching, carriage, ventilation, refrigeration, icing, dunnage, storage, and handling, and the transmission of credit by express corporations.

"Rates" includes rates, fares, tolls, rentals, and charges, unless the context indicates otherwise.

"Common carrier" means every person and corporation providing transportation for compensation to or for the public or any portion thereof, except as otherwise provided in this part. "Common carrier" includes:
  (a) Every railroad corporation; street railroad corporation; dispatch, sleeping car, dining car, drawing-room car, freight, freightline, refrigerator, oil, stock, fruit, car-loaning, car-renting, car-loading, and every other car corporation or person operating for compensation within this state.
  (b) Every corporation or person, owning, controlling, operating, or managing any vessel used in the transportation of persons or property for compensation between points upon the inland waters of this state or upon the high seas between points within this state, except as provided in Section 212. "Inland waters" as used in this section includes all navigable waters within this state other than the high seas.
  (c) Every "passenger stage corporation" operating within this state.

"Common carrier" shall not include:
  (a) Any corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any vessel, by reason of the furnishing of water transportation service between points upon the inland waters of this state or upon the high seas between points within this state for affiliated or parent or subsidiary companies or for the products of other corporations or persons engaged in the same industry, if the water transportation service is furnished in tank vessels or barges specially constructed to hold liquids or fluids in bulk and if the service is not furnished to others not engaged in the same industry.
  (b) Any corporation or person who operates any vessel for the transportation of persons for compensation, between points in this state if one terminus of every trip operated by the corporation or person is within the boundaries of a United States military reservation and is performed under a contract with an agency of the federal government which specifies the terms of service to be provided; and provided that the corporation or person does not perform any service between termini within this state which are outside of a United States military reservation. For the purposes of this subdivision, the conditions of this exemption shall be reviewed by the Public Utilities Commission annually as of the first day of January of each year.
  (c) Any corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any recreational conveyance such as a ski lift, ski tow, J-bar, T-bar, chair lift, aerial tramway, or other device or equipment used primarily while participating in winter sports activities.
  (d) Any corporation or person furnishing or otherwise providing transportation by horse, mule, or other equine animal for entertainment or recreational purposes.
  (e) Any motor carrier of property, as defined in Section 34601 of the Vehicle Code.

With respect to a motor vehicle used in the transportation of passengers for compensation by a passenger stage corporation, "owner" means the corporation or person who is registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles as the owner of the vehicle, or who has a legal right to possession of the vehicle pursuant to a lease or rental agreement.

"Between fixed termini or over a regular route" means the termini or route between which, or over which any passenger stage corporation usually or ordinarily operates any passenger stage, even though there may be departures from the termini or route, whether these departures are periodic or irregular.

"Food products for human consumption" means articles used for human food or drink and articles used as components of any of those articles.

"Nonfood product" means any article, material, substance, or product which is not food.

(a) "Public utility" includes every common carrier, toll bridge corporation, pipeline corporation, gas corporation, electrical corporation, telephone corporation, telegraph corporation, water corporation, sewer system corporation, and heat corporation, where the service is performed for, or the commodity is delivered to, the public or any portion thereof.
  (b) Whenever any common carrier, toll bridge corporation, pipeline corporation, gas corporation, electrical corporation, telephone corporation, telegraph corporation, water corporation, sewer system corporation, or heat corporation performs a service for, or delivers a commodity to, the public or any portion thereof for which any compensation or payment whatsoever is received, that common carrier, toll bridge corporation, pipeline corporation, gas corporation, electrical corporation, telephone corporation, telegraph corporation, water corporation, sewer system corporation, or heat corporation, is a public utility subject to the jurisdiction, control, and regulation of the commission and the provisions of this part.
  (c) When any person or corporation performs any service for, or delivers any commodity to, any person, private corporation, municipality, or other political subdivision of the state, that in turn either directly or indirectly, mediately or immediately, performs that service for, or delivers that commodity to, the public or any portion thereof, that person or corporation is a public utility subject to the jurisdiction, control, and regulation of the commission and the provisions of this part.
  (d) Ownership or operation of a facility that employs cogeneration technology or produces power from other than a conventional power source or the ownership or operation of a facility which employs landfill gas technology does not make a corporation or person a public utility within the meaning of this section solely because of the ownership or operation of that facility.
  (e) Any corporation or person engaged directly or indirectly in developing, producing, transmitting, distributing, delivering, or selling any form of heat derived from geothermal or solar resources or from cogeneration technology to any privately owned or publicly owned public utility, or to the public or any portion thereof, is not a public utility within the meaning of this section solely by reason of engaging in any of those activities.
  (f) The ownership or operation of a facility that sells compressed natural gas or hydrogen at retail to the public for use only as a motor vehicle fuel, and the selling of compressed natural gas or hydrogen at retail from that facility to the public for use only as a motor vehicle fuel, does not make the corporation or person a public utility within the meaning of this section solely because of that ownership, operation, or sale.
  (g) Ownership or operation of a facility that is an exempt wholesale generator, as defined in the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 16451(6)), does not make a corporation or person a public utility within the meaning of this section, solely due to the ownership or operation of that facility.
  (h) The ownership, control, operation, or management of an electric plant used for direct transactions or participation directly or indirectly in direct transactions, as permitted by subdivision (b) of Section 365, sales into a market established and operated by the Independent System Operator or any other wholesale electricity market, or the use or sale as permitted under subdivisions (b) to (d), inclusive, of Section 218, shall not make a corporation or person a public utility within the meaning of this section solely because of that ownership, participation, or sale.
  (i) The ownership, control, operation, or management of a facility that supplies electricity to the public only for use to charge light duty plug-in electric vehicles does not make the corporation or person a public utility within the meaning of this section solely because of that ownership, control, operation, or management. For purposes of this subdivision, "light duty plug-in electric vehicles" includes light duty battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. This subdivision does not affect the commission's authority under Section 454 or 740.2 or any other applicable statute.

Notwithstanding Section 216, "public utility" does not include a motor carrier of property.

"Cable television corporation" shall mean any corporation or firm which transmits television programs by cable to subscribers for a fee.

"Cogeneration" means the sequential use of energy for the production of electrical and useful thermal energy. The sequence can be thermal use followed by power production or the reverse, subject to the following standards:
  (a) At least 5 percent of the facility's total annual energy output shall be in the form of useful thermal energy.
  (b) Where useful thermal energy follows power production, the useful annual power output plus one-half the useful annual thermal energy output equals not less than 42.5 percent of any natural gas and oil energy input.

"Commercial mobile radio service" means "commercial mobile service," as defined in subsection (d) of Section 332 of Title 47 of the United States Code and as further specified by the Federal Communications Commission in Parts 20, 22, 24, and 25 of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, and includes "mobile data service," "mobile paging service," "mobile satellite telephone service," and "mobile telephony service," as those terms are defined in Section 224.4.

"Electric plant" includes all real estate, fixtures and personal property owned, controlled, operated, or managed in connection with or to facilitate the production, generation, transmission, delivery, or furnishing of electricity for light, heat, or power, and all conduits, ducts, or other devices, materials, apparatus, or property for containing, holding, or carrying conductors used or to be used for the transmission of electricity for light, heat, or power.

(a) "Electrical corporation" includes every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any electric plant for compensation within this state, except where electricity is generated on or distributed by the producer through private property solely for its own use or the use of its tenants and not for sale or transmission to others.
  (b) "Electrical corporation" does not include a corporation or person employing cogeneration technology or producing power from other than a conventional power source for the generation of electricity solely for any one or more of the following purposes:
  (1) Its own use or the use of its tenants.
  (2) The use of or sale to not more than two other corporations or persons solely for use on the real property on which the electricity is generated or on real property immediately adjacent thereto, unless there is an intervening public street constituting the boundary between the real property on which the electricity is generated and the immediately adjacent property and one or more of the following applies:
  (A) The real property on which the electricity is generated and the immediately adjacent real property is not under common ownership or control, or that common ownership or control was gained solely for purposes of sale of the electricity so generated and not for other business purposes.
  (B) The useful thermal output of the facility generating the electricity is not used on the immediately adjacent property for petroleum production or refining.
  (C) The electricity furnished to the immediately adjacent property is not utilized by a subsidiary or affiliate of the corporation or person generating the electricity.
  (3) Sale or transmission to an electrical corporation or state or local public agency, but not for sale or transmission to others, unless the corporation or person is otherwise an electrical corporation.
  (c) "Electrical corporation" does not include a corporation or person employing landfill gas technology for the generation of electricity for any one or more of the following purposes:
  (1) Its own use or the use of not more than two of its tenants located on the real property on which the electricity is generated.
  (2) The use of or sale to not more than two other corporations or persons solely for use on the real property on which the electricity is generated.
  (3) Sale or transmission to an electrical corporation or state or local public agency.
  (d) "Electrical corporation" does not include a corporation or person employing digester gas technology for the generation of electricity for any one or more of the following purposes:
  (1) Its own use or the use of not more than two of its tenants located on the real property on which the electricity is generated.
  (2) The use of or sale to not more than two other corporations or persons solely for use on the real property on which the electricity is generated.
  (3) Sale or transmission to an electrical corporation or state or local public agency, if the sale or transmission of the electricity service to a retail customer is provided through the transmission system of the existing local publicly owned electric utility or electrical corporation of that retail customer.
  (e) "Electrical corporation" does not include an independent solar energy producer, as defined in Article 3 (commencing with Section 2868) of Chapter 9 of Part 2.
  (f) The amendments made to this section at the 1987 portion of the 1987-88 Regular Session of the Legislature do not apply to any corporation or person employing cogeneration technology or producing power from other than a conventional power source for the generation of electricity that physically produced electricity prior to January 1, 1989, and furnished that electricity to immediately adjacent real property for use thereon prior to January 1, 1989.

(a) "Electric service provider" means an entity that offers electrical service to customers within the service territory of an electrical corporation and includes the unregulated affiliates and subsidiaries of an electrical corporation.
  (b) "Electric service provider" does not include an entity that offers electrical service solely to service customer load consistent with subdivision (b) of Section 218, and does not include an electrical corporation or a public agency that offers electrical service to residential and small commercial customers within its jurisdiction, or within the service territory of a local publicly owned electric utility.
  (c) "Electric service provider" does not include an independent solar energy producer, as defined in Article 3 (commencing with Section 2868) of Chapter 9 of Part 2.

(a) The following terms have the following meanings:
  (1) "Exempt wholesale generator" has the same meaning as defined in the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 16451(6)).
  (2) "Qualifying small power producer," "small power production facility," and "qualifying small power production facility" have the same meanings as found in Section 796 of Title 16 of the United States Code and the regulations enacted pursuant thereto.
  (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a qualifying small power producer owning or operating a small power production facility is not a public utility subject to the general jurisdiction of the commission solely because of the ownership or operation of the facility.
  (c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an exempt wholesale generator is not a public utility subject to the general jurisdiction of the commission solely due to the ownership or operation of the facility.

"Express corporation" includes every corporation or person engaged in or transacting the business of transporting any freight, merchandise, or other property for compensation on the line of any common carrier or stage or auto stage line within this State.

"Freight forwarder" means any corporation or person who for compensation undertakes the collection and shipment of property of others, and as consignor or otherwise ships or arranges to ship the property via the line of any common carrier at the tariff rates of such carrier, or who receives such property as consignee thereof. This section shall not apply to any agricultural or horticultural cooperative organization operating under and by virtue of the laws of this or any other state or the District of Columbia or under federal statute in the performance of its duties for its members, or the agents, individual or corporate, of such organization in the performance of their duties as agents. This section shall not apply to the operation of a shipper, or a group or association of shippers, in consolidating or distributing freight for themselves or for the members thereof, on a nonprofit basis, for the purpose of securing the benefits of carload, truckload, or other volume rates, or to the operations of a shippers' agent, in consolidating or distributing pool cars, whose services and responsibilities to shippers in connection with such operations are confined to the terminal area in which such operations are performed.

"Gas plant" includes all real estate, fixtures, and personal property, owned, controlled, operated, or managed in connection with or to facilitate the production, generation, transmission, delivery, underground storage, or furnishing of gas, natural or manufactured, except propane, for light, heat, or power.

"Gas corporation" includes every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any gas plant for compensation within this state, except where gas is made or produced on and distributed by the maker or producer through private property alone solely for his own use or the use of his tenants and not for sale to others. "Gas corporation" shall not include a corporation or person employing landfill gas technology for the production of gas for its own use or the use of its tenants or for sale to a gas corporation or state or local public agency, except that if the gas produced is of such insufficient quality or heating value that it is unacceptable for introduction into the line, plant, or system of a gas corporation or state or local public agency, the person or corporation employing landfill gas technology may without becoming a gas corporation for purposes of this part sell the gas so produced to not more than four other corporations or persons.

"Heating plant" includes all real estate, fixtures, and personal property owned, controlled, operated, or managed in connection with or to facilitate the production, generation, transmission, delivery or furnishing of heat for domestic, business, industrial, or public use.

"Heat corporation" includes every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any heating plant for compensation within this state, except where heat is generated on or distributed by the producer through private property alone solely for his own use or the use of his tenants and not for sale to others. "Heat corporation" shall not include a corporation or person employing landfill gas technology for the production or generation of heat for its own use or the use of its tenants or for sale to a heat corporation or state or local public agency.

"Landfill gas technology" means the process of extraction of gas or gaseous compounds from sanitary landfill areas which gas or compound was generated as a byproduct of the materials composing the landfill. For purposes of this division, real estate, fixtures, and personal property including gas extraction wells, engines and compressors for gas removal or storage, gas cleaning or rectifying equipment, equipment for the generation or production of steam, electricity, heat, or other form of energy through the use of landfill gas, and facilities for the transmission or distribution of landfill gas or other form of energy generated or produced therefrom shall not be considered an electrical, gas, or heat plant or pipeline.

"Local publicly owned electric utility" means a municipality or municipal corporation operating as a "public utility" furnishing electric service as provided in Section 10001, a municipal utility district furnishing electric service formed pursuant to Division 6 (commencing with Section 11501), a public utility district furnishing electric services formed pursuant to the Public Utility District Act set forth in Division 7 (commencing with Section 15501), an irrigation district furnishing electric services formed pursuant to the Irrigation District Law set forth in Division 11 (commencing with Section 20500) of the Water Code, or a joint powers authority that includes one or more of these agencies and that owns generation or transmission facilities, or furnishes electric services over its own or its member's electric distribution system.

(a) "Mobile data service" means the delivery of nonvoice information to a mobile device and includes nonvoice information communicated to a mobile telephony services handset, nonvoice information communicated to handheld personal digital assistant (PDA) devices and laptop computers, and mobile paging service carriers offering services on pagers and two-way messaging devices. Unless specified, "mobile data service" does not include nonvoice information communicated through a wireless local area network operating in the unlicensed radio bands, commonly known as a "Wi-Fi" network.
  (b) "Mobile paging service" means the transmission of coded radio signals for the purpose of activating specific small radio receivers designed to be carried by a person and to give an aural, visual, or tactile indication when activated.
  (c) "Mobile satellite telephone service" means voice communication to end users over a mobile satellite service involving the provision of commercial mobile radio service, pursuant to Parts 20 and 25 of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
  (d) "Mobile telephony service" means commercially available interconnected mobile phone services that provide access to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) via mobile communication devices employing radiowave technology to transmit calls, including cellular radiotelephone, broadband Personal Communications Services (PCS), and digital Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR). "Mobile telephony services" does not include mobile satellite telephone services or mobile data services used exclusively for the delivery of nonvoice information to a mobile device.

"Motor carrier of property" means a motor carrier of property as defined in Section 34601 of the Vehicle Code.

"Network railroad transportation" means railroad transportation that is subject to the jurisdiction of the federal Surface Transportation Board pursuant to subsection (a) or (b) of Section 10501 of Title 49 of the United States Code.

"Passenger stage" includes every stage, auto stage, or other motor vehicle used in the transportation of persons, or persons and their baggage or express, or persons or baggage or express, when such baggage or express is transported incidental to the transportation of passengers.

(a) "Passenger stage corporation" includes every corporation or person engaged as a common carrier, for compensation, in the ownership, control, operation, or management of any passenger stage over any public highway in this state between fixed termini or over a regular route except those, 98 percent or more of whose operations as measured by total route mileage operated, which are exclusively within the limits of a single city or city and county, or whose operations consist solely in the transportation of bona fide pupils attending an institution of learning between their homes and that institution. For purposes of this section, the percentage of the route mileage within the limits of any city shall be determined by the Public Utilities Commission on the first day of January of each year, and the percentage so determined shall be presumed to continue for the year.
  (b) "Passenger stage corporation" does not include that part of the operations of any corporation or person engaged in the ownership, control, operation, or management of any passenger stage over any public highway in this state, whether between fixed termini or over a regular route or otherwise, engaged in the transportation of any pupils or students to and from a public or private school, college, or university, or to and from activities of a public or private school, college, or university, where the rate, charge, or fare for that transportation is not computed, collected, or demanded on an individual fare basis.
  (c) "Passenger stage corporation" does not include the transportation of persons between home and work locations or of persons having a common work-related trip purpose in a vehicle having a seating capacity of 15 passengers or less, including the driver, which is used for the purpose of ridesharing, as defined in Section 522 of the Vehicle Code, when the ridesharing is incidental to another purpose of the driver. This exemption also applies to a vehicle having a seating capacity of more than 15 passengers if the driver files with the commission evidence of liability insurance protection in the same amount and in the same manner as required for a passenger stage corporation, and the vehicle undergoes and passes an annual safety inspection by the Department of the California Highway Patrol. The insurance filing shall be accompanied by a one-time filing fee of seventy-five dollars ($75). This exemption does not apply if the primary purpose for the transportation of those persons is to make a profit. "Profit," as used in this subdivision, does not include the recovery of the actual costs incurred in owning and operating a vanpool vehicle, as defined in Section 668 of the Vehicle Code.
  (d) "Passenger stage corporation" does not include that part of the operations of any corporation or person engaged in the ownership, control, operation, or management of any medical transportation vehicles, including vehicles employed to transport developmentally disabled persons for regional centers established pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 4620) of Division 4.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
  (e) "Passenger stage corporation" does not include the transportation of persons which is ancillary to commercial river rafting and is for the sole purpose of returning passengers to the point of origin of their rafting trip.
  (f) "Passenger stage corporation" does not include social service transportation delivered by a nonprofit social service transportation provider or a locally licensed or franchised for-profit transportation provider which operates, in dedicated vehicles, social service transportation pursuant to contract with a nonprofit social service transportation provider organization as long as the provider does not use a vehicle designed for carrying more than 16 persons, including the driver, or does not operate vehicles which offer transportation services over regularly scheduled or fixed routes.
  (g) "Passenger stage corporation" does not include intrastate passenger transportation service conducted pursuant to federal operating authority to the extent that regulation of these intrastate operations by the commission is preempted by the federal Bus Regulatory Reform Act of 1982 (P.L. 97-261), as amended.

"Pipe line" includes all real estate, fixtures, and personal property, owned, controlled, operated, or managed in connection with or to facilitate the transmission, storage, distribution, or delivery of crude oil or other fluid substances except water through pipe lines.

"Pipeline corporation" includes every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any pipeline for compensation within this state. "Pipeline corporation" shall not include a corporation or person employing landfill gas technology and owning, controlling, operating, or managing any pipeline solely for the transmission or distribution of landfill gas or other form of energy generated or produced therefrom.

"Railroad" includes every commercial, interurban, and other railway, other than a street railroad, and each branch or extension thereof, by whatsoever power operated, together with all tracks, bridges, trestles, rights of way, subways, tunnels, stations, depots, union depots, ferries, yards, grounds, terminals, terminal facilities, structures, and equipment, and all other real estate, fixtures, and personal property of every kind used in connection therewith, owned, controlled, operated, or managed for public use in the transportation of persons or property.

"Railroad corporation" includes every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any railroad for compensation within this State.

"Service area," for purposes of the operations of a telephone corporation, means a local access and transport area as defined and approved by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia circuit in the case of the United States v. Western Electric Co., Inc., and American Telephone and Telegraph Co., CA 82-0192, April 20 and July 8, 1983, and in a Memorandum and Order of August 5, 1983.

"Sewer system" includes all real estate, fixtures, and personal property owned, controlled, operated, or managed in connection with or to facilitate sewage collection, treatment, or disposition for sanitary or drainage purposes, including any and all lateral and connecting sewers, interceptors, trunk and outfall lines and sanitary sewage treatment or disposal plants or works, and any and all drains, conduits, and outlets for surface or storm waters, and any and all other works, property or structures necessary or convenient for the collection or disposal of sewage, industrial waste, or surface or storm waters. "Sewer system" shall not include a sewer system which merely collects sewage on the property of a single owner.

"Sewer system corporation" includes every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any sewer system for compensation within this state.

"Street railroad" includes every railway, and each branch or extension thereof, by whatsoever power operated, being mainly upon, along, above or below any street, avenue, road, highway, bridge, or public place within any city or city and county, together with all real estate, fixtures, and personal property of every kind used in connection therewith, owned, controlled, operated, or managed for public use in the transportation of persons or property, but does not include a railway constituting or used as a part of a commercial or interurban railway.

"Street railroad corporation" includes every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any street railroad for compensation within this State, or owning, controlling, operating, or managing as a part of or in conjunction with such street railroad any automobile, jitney bus, stage, or auto stage used in the business of transportation of persons or property for compensation over any public highway in this State between fixed termini or over a regular route.

"Telephone line" includes all conduits, ducts, poles, wires, cables, instruments, and appliances, and all other real estate, fixtures, and personal property owned, controlled, operated, or managed in connection with or to facilitate communication by telephone, whether such communication is had with or without the use of transmission wires.

(a) "Telephone corporation" includes every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any telephone line for compensation within this state.
  (b) "Telephone corporation" does not include any of the following:
  (1) Any hospital, hotel, motel, or similar place of temporary accommodation owning or operating message switching or billing equipment solely for the purpose of reselling services provided by a telephone corporation to its patients or guests.
  (2) Any one-way paging service utilizing facilities that are licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, including, but not limited to, narrowband personal communications services described in Subpart D (commencing with Section 24.100) of Part 24 of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect on June 13, 1995.

"Telegraph line" includes all conduits, ducts, poles, wires, cables, instruments, and appliances, and all other real estate, fixtures, and personal property owned, controlled, operated, or managed in connection with or to facilitate communication by telegraph, whether such communication is had with or without the use of transmission wires.

"Telegraph corporation" includes every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any telegraph line for compensation within this State.

"Toll-bridge corporation" includes every private corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any bridge or appurtenance thereto, used for the transportation of persons or property for compensation in this State.

"Transportation electrification" means the use of electricity from external sources of electrical power, including the electrical grid, for all or part of vehicles, vessels, trains, boats, or other equipment that are mobile sources of air pollution and greenhouse gases and the related programs and charging and propulsion infrastructure investments to enable and encourage this use of electricity.

(a) "Vessel" includes every species of watercraft, by whatsoever power operated, which is owned, controlled, operated or managed for public use in the transportation of persons or property, except rowboats, sailing boats, barges under 20 tons dead weight carrying capacity, and vessels which are both under the burden of five tons net register and under 30 feet in length. However, a vessel which is under the burden of five tons net register but is 30 or more feet in length is not a "vessel" for the purpose of this section if it is used to provide ship-to-shore services by which stores, supplies, spares, passengers, or crew of oceangoing ships are transported to or from ship and shore and payment for such services is made by, or arranged through, the oceangoing shipping company (commonly referred to as water taxi services).
  (b) Nothing in this code except those provisions relating to the regulation of rates shall apply to the transportation by a water carrier of commodities in bulk when the cargo space of the vessel in which such commodities are transported is being used for the carrying of not more than three such commodities. This subsection shall apply only in the case of commodities, in bulk which are loaded and carried without wrappers or containers and received and delivered by the carrier without transportation mark or count. For the purposes of this subsection two or more vessels while navigated as a unit shall be considered to be a single vessel.
  (c) Nothing in this code shall apply to the transportation by water of liquid cargoes in bulk in tank vessels designed for use exclusively in such service.
  (d) Any person or corporation lawfully engaged in business in the transportation of persons or property during the entire one-year period preceding March 1, 1993, and continuously thereafter, and which, solely by virtue of the amendment to subdivision (a) made by the act that adds this subdivision, will become subject to commission regulation as a common carrier by vessel, shall file with the commission, prior to March 1, 1994, an application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity to operate as a common carrier by vessel. However, in lieu of all other fees required by law, the applicant shall pay a fee of fifty dollars ($50). The commission shall issue the certificate without further proceedings authorizing operation over the specific routes or within the specific area which conforms to proof of actual service in the transportation of persons or property as produced by the applicant with respect to its operations during the entire one-year period preceding March 1, 1993, and continuously thereafter.

(a) (1) "Voice over Internet Protocol" or "VoIP" means voice communications service that does all of the following:
  (A) Uses Internet Protocol or a successor protocol to enable real-time, two-way voice communication that originates from, or terminates at, the user's location in Internet Protocol or a successor protocol.
  (B) Requires a broadband connection from the user's location.
  (C) Permits a user generally to receive a call that originates on the public switched telephone network and to terminate a call to the public switched telephone network.
  (2) A service that uses ordinary customer premises equipment with no enhanced functionality that originates and terminates on the public switched telephone network, undergoes no net protocol conversion, and provides no enhanced functionality to end users due to the provider's use of Internet Protocol technology is not a VoIP service.
  (b) "Internet Protocol enabled service" or "IP enabled service" means any service, capability, functionality, or application using existing Internet Protocol, or any successor Internet Protocol, that enables an end user to send or receive a communication in existing Internet Protocol format, or any successor Internet Protocol format through a broadband connection, regardless of whether the communication is voice, data, or video.

"Water system" includes all reservoirs, tunnels, shafts, dams, dikes, headgates, pipes, flumes, canals, structures, and appliances, and all other real estate, fixtures, and personal property, owned, controlled, operated, or managed in connection with or to facilitate the diversion, development, storage, supply, distribution, sale, furnishing, carriage, apportionment, or measurement of water for power, irrigation, reclamation, or manufacturing, or for municipal, domestic, or other beneficial use.

"Water corporation" includes every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any water system for compensation within this State.

This part shall not release or waive any right of action by the State, the commission, or any person or corporation for any right, penalty, or forfeiture which may have arisen or accrued or may hereafter arise or accrue under any law of this State.

No transit district, common carrier, or publicly owned transit system shall require any person to waive, limit, or qualify any right to recover damages for injury in exchange for such person being granted a reduction in price or fare for any service offered by the transit district, common carrier, or publicly owned transit system. "Person," as used in this section, shall not include an employee of the transit district, common carrier, or publicly owned transit system.

A person or corporation shall not be a public utility subject to the jurisdiction, control and regulation of the commission and the provisions of this part solely because such person or corporation owns or controls any electric plant (a) which is leased or held for lease or sale to any public utility, or (b) the operation and use of which is vested by lease or other contract in a public utility, or (c) for a period of not more than 90 days after termination of any lease or contract with a public utility or after repossession of such property following a breach of such lease or contract. The commission may upon application issue its order approving the terms of any such lease or contract for the purpose of qualifying such person or corporation for an exemption by the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States from the federal Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, as amended (Chapter 2C (commencing with Section 79) of Title 15, United States Code). This section shall apply only to persons or corporations for which such lease or contract was approved by the commission prior to January 1, 1979. Nothing in this section shall alter or modify the authority of the commission to regulate the rates and service of a person or corporation which is a public utility subject to the provisions of this part.

Any provision of this part that is in conflict with the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, (47 U.S.C. Sec. 332(c)(3)) shall not apply to commercial mobile radio service to the extent of that conflict. If any provision contained in this part applicable to commercial mobile radio service, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is invalid as a result of federal preemption, the remainder of this part, or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances, shall not be affected thereby.

(a) The Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act (Public Law 106-252) was enacted for the purpose of establishing nationwide uniform sourcing rules for the imposition of state and local taxes, fees, and surcharges on mobile telecommunications services. In order to establish a single, uniform sourcing rule, the federal act partially preempted state and local law imposing taxes, fees, and surcharges on a mobile telecommunications services customer whose place of primary use is outside of the state in which the state and local taxes, fees, or surcharges are imposed.
  (b) In accordance with the Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act, which is incorporated herein by reference, and notwithstanding Sections 275.6, 276.5, 280, 431, 879, and 2881, the surcharges or fees under these sections do not apply to any charges for mobile telecommunications services billed to a customer where those services are provided, or deemed provided, to a customer whose place of primary use is outside this state. Mobile telecommunications services shall be deemed provided by a customer's home service provider to the customer if those services are provided in a taxing jurisdiction to the customer, and the charges for those services are billed by or for the customer's home service provider.
  (c) For purposes of this section:
  (1) "Charges for mobile telecommunications services" means any charge for, or associated with, the provision of commercial mobile radio service, as defined in Section 216.8, or any charge for, or associated with, a service provided as an adjunct to a commercial mobile radio service, that is billed to the customer by or for the customer's home service provider, regardless of whether individual transmissions originate or terminate within the licensed service area of a home service provider.
  (2) "Customer" means either (A) the person or entity that contracts with the home service provider for mobile telecommunications services, or (B) if the end user of mobile telecommunications services is not the contracting party, the end user of the mobile telecommunications service. This paragraph applies only for the purpose of determining the place of primary use. The term "customer" does not include either (A) a reseller of mobile telecommunications service, or (B) a serving carrier under an arrangement to serve the customer outside the home service provider's licensed service area.
  (3) "Home service provider" means the facilities-based carrier or reseller with which the customer contracts for the provision of mobile telecommunications services.
  (4) "Licensed service area" means the geographic area in which the home service provider is authorized by law or contract to provide commercial mobile radio service to the customer.
  (5) "Mobile telecommunications service" means commercial mobile radio service, as defined in Section 216.8.
  (6) "Place of primary use" means the street address representative of where the customer's use of the mobile telecommunications service primarily occurs, that must be:
  (A) The residential street address or the primary business street address of the customer.
  (B) Within the licensed area of the home service provider.
  (7) (A) "Reseller" means a provider who purchases telecommunications services from another telecommunications service provider and then resells the services, or uses the services as a component part of, or integrates the purchased services into a mobile telecommunications service.
  (B) "Reseller" does not include a serving carrier with which a home service provider arranges for the services to its customers outside the home service provider's licensed service area.
  (8) "Serving carrier" means a facilities-based carrier providing mobile telecommunications service to a customer outside a home service provider's or reseller's licensed area.
  (9) "Taxing jurisdiction" means any of the several states, the District of Columbia, or any territory or possession of the United States, any municipality, city, county, township, parish, transportation district, or assessment jurisdiction, or any other political subdivision within the territorial limits of the United States with the authority to impose a tax, charge, or fee.

Any provision of the Public Utilities Act that is in conflict with the railroad provisions of Part A of Subtitle 4 of Title 49 of the United States Code shall be inapplicable to railroad transportation to the extent of that conflict. If any provision in the Public Utilities Act applicable to railroad transportation, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is in conflict with Part A of Subtitle 4 of Title 49 of the United States Code, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances shall be unaffected to the extent no conflict exists.