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Ohio Laws and Rules
As used in sections 4923.01 to 4923.17, inclusive, of the Revised Code:
(A) “Public utility” has the meaning set forth in section 4905.02 of the Revised Code.
(B) “Telegraph company,” “telephone company,” “electric light company,” “gas company,” “natural gas company,” “pipe-line company,” “water-works company,” “sewage disposal system company,” “heating or cooling company,” “messenger company,” “street railway company,” “suburban railroad company,” “interurban railroad company,” and “motor-propelled vehicle” have the meaning set forth in section 4905.03 of the Revised Code.
(C) “Railroad” has the meaning set forth in section 4907.02 of the Revised Code.
(D) “Motor transportation company” has the meaning set forth in sections 4905.03 and 4921.02 of the Revised Code.
(E) “Trailer,” “public highway,” “fixed termini,” “regular route,” and “irregular route” have the meaning set forth in section 4921.02 of the Revised Code.
Effective Date: 09-19-1961
As used in sections 4923.01 to 4923.17 of the Revised Code:
(A) “Private motor carrier” or “contract carrier by motor vehicle” includes every corporation, company, association, joint-stock association, person, firm, or copartnership, their lessees, legal or personal representatives, trustees, or receivers or trustees appointed by any court, not included in the definition under section 4921.02 of the Revised Code, when engaged in the business of private carriage of persons or property, or both, or of providing or furnishing such transportation service, for hire, in or by motor-propelled vehicles of any kind, including trailers, over any public highway in this state, but does not include any corporation, company, association, joint-stock association, person, firm, or copartnership, their lessees, legal or personal representatives, trustees, or receivers or trustees appointed by any court:
(1) Engaged or proposing to engage, directly or indirectly, as a private owner or operator of motor vehicles employed or used by a private motor carrier, or by a motor transportation company as defined in section 4921.02 of the Revised Code;
(2) Insofar as they are engaged in the not-for-hire transportation of persons in church buses as defined in section 4503.07 of the Revised Code or the transportation of property, or both, when either transportation is performed exclusively within the territorial limits of a municipal corporation or within such limits and the territorial limits of municipal corporations immediately contiguous to such municipal corporations;
(3) Engaged in the transportation of persons in taxicabs in the usual taxicab business;
(4) Engaged in the transportation of pupils in school busses operating to or from school sessions or school events;
(5) Engaged, as a motor transportation company holding a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the transportation of persons, in the carriage of persons in emergency or additional motor vehicles on charter party trips to or from any point within the county or counties in or through which such motor transportation company provides regular route scheduled service, provided that such use of such emergency or additional motor vehicle is reported and the tax paid as prescribed by the public utilities commission by general rule or temporary order;
(6) Engaged in the transportation of farm supplies to the farm or farm products from farm to market;
(7) Engaged in the operation of motor vehicles for contractors on public road work;
(8) Engaged in the transportation of newspapers;
(9) Engaged in the transportation of crude petroleum incidental to gathering from wells and delivery to destination by pipe line;
(10) Engaged in the towing of disabled or wrecked motor vehicles;
(11) Engaged in the transportation of injured, ill, or deceased persons by hearse or ambulance;
(12) Engaged in transportation of compost (a combination of manure and sand or shredded bark mulch) or shredded bark mulch;
(13) Engaged in the transportation of persons in a ridesharing arrangement when any fee charged each person so transported is in such amount as to recover only the person’s share of the costs of operating the motor vehicle for such purpose.
(B) “Motor vehicle” includes any automobile, automobile truck, tractor, trailer, semitrailer, motor bus, or any other self-propelled vehicle not operated or driven upon fixed rails or tracks.
(C) “Charter party trip” means the carriage of persons in one or more motor vehicles under a special contract for the exclusive use of each such vehicle for each trip, which contract shall not provide for continuing operations between the same termini, and which operation shall in no event become regular. The limitations of section 4921.18 and any other sections of the Revised Code as to the seating capacity of such emergency or additional motor vehicles operated by a motor transportation company do not apply to charter party trips.
(D) “Ridesharing arrangement” has the same meaning as in section 4921.02 of the Revised Code.
Effective Date: 09-01-2000
The public utilities commission may:
(A) Supervise and regulate each private motor carrier in this state;
(B) Prescribe reasonable safety rules;
(C) Prescribe safety rules applicable to the transportation and offering for transportation of hazardous materials in intrastate commerce within this state by a private motor carrier or a contract carrier by motor vehicle. The rules shall be consistent with, and equivalent in scope, coverage, and content to, the “Hazardous Materials Transportation Act,” 88 Stat. 2156 (1975), 49 U.S.C. 1801, as amended, and regulations adopted under it. No person shall violate a rule adopted under this division or an order of the commission issued to secure compliance with any such rule.
(D) Prescribe reasonable rules for the administration and enforcement of this chapter and Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., and 4921. of the Revised Code applying to each such contract carrier by motor vehicle in this state;
(E) Require the filing of such annual and other reports as the commission prescribes;
(F) Supervise and regulate the operation of private motor carriers to the exclusion of all local authorities in this state except as provided in this section.
In the exercise of the jurisdiction conferred upon it by those chapters, the commission may prescribe rules affecting private motor carriers, notwithstanding any ordinance, resolution, license, or permit enacted, adopted, or granted by any township, municipal corporation, municipal corporation and county, or county. In case of conflict between any such ordinance, resolution, license, or permit, the order or rule of the commission shall prevail. Local subdivisions may make reasonable local police rules within their respective boundaries not inconsistent with sections 4921.18, 4921.30, 4921.32, and 4923.02 to 4923.17 of the Revised Code.
The commission has jurisdiction to receive, hear, and determine as a question of fact, upon complaint of any party or upon its own motion, and upon not less than fifteen days’ notice of the time and place of the hearing and the matter to be heard, whether any corporation, company, association, joint-stock association, person, firm, or copartnership, or their lessees, legal or personal representatives, trustees, or receivers or trustees appointed by any court, is engaged as a private motor carrier. The finding of the commission on such a question is a final order that may be reviewed as provided in section 4923.10 of the Revised Code.
Effective Date: 09-17-1991
No private motor carrier shall operate any motor vehicle for the transportation of persons or property, or both, for hire, on any public highway in this state except in accordance with Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., 4923., and 4925. of the Revised Code. No such private motor carrier shall continue or commence its operation as such in this state without obtaining a permit from the public utilities commission as provided in sections 4923.05 to 4923.07, inclusive, of the Revised Code.
Effective Date: 10-01-1953
The public utilities commission shall adopt rules prescribing the manner and form in which private motor carriers shall apply for permits. Among other things, such rules shall provide that such applications shall:
(A) Be made in writing on blanks furnished by the commission;
(B) Show the principal office or place of business of such private motor carrier;
(C) Contain full information concerning the number, kind, and capacity of motor vehicles used or to be used by the applicant;
(D) Contain the names of the persons, firms or corporations, and their addresses, with whom the applicant has contracted or proposes to contract as a private motor carrier;
(E) Have attached to and made a part of such application an affidavit signed by each such person, firm, or corporation so named by and proposing to employ the applicant as its private contract carrier by motor vehicle, which affidavit shall be in the form prescribed by the commission and shall evidence that a bona fide special contract of carriage in writing has been entered into and signed by the applicant and each such employer, which contract is effective only upon the granting by the commission of the permit sought or required;
(F) Be accompanied by such contract, or any change or modification of such contract, duly executed by the applicant and each such person, firm, or corporation employing or proposing to employ the applicant, which contract, among other things, shall be bilateral, shall specify the transportation service to be rendered for the contracting party employing such carrier provided such transportation service shall not include transportation from possession or control for the purposes of storage or transportation by the contracting party, the full compensation to be paid to the applicant for its services, and the basis upon which such rates and charges are computed, shall provide for a series of shipments during a stated period of time, and shall provide that the full compensation for the services rendered or proposed to be rendered under such contract shall be paid to such contract carrier by motor vehicle by the other contracting party.
Effective Date: 09-14-1957
The applicant for a permit to operate as a private motor carrier shall give notice of the filing of such application by publication in the form prescribed by the public utilities commission made once a week for three consecutive weeks prior to hearing or granting such application, in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county in which the principal place of business of the applicant is located, or in a newspaper of general circulation published at the county seat of Franklin county when no principal place of business of the applicant is located in this state. Such notice shall state that such application has been filed, the number and capacity of vehicles to be used, and the names and addresses of those for whom the applicant proposes to operate.
The commission may permit the correction, amendment, modification, or alteration of any such application at or before its action on such application when, in its opinion, the original application and notice are in substantial compliance with the law. Otherwise, it may direct the filing of a new application or the giving of new notice, or both. The commission shall, after the filing of such application, fix a date for hearing upon it unless the commission deems such hearing unnecessary and the best interests of the public and others concerned require that said application be granted or rejected without such hearing.
Effective Date: 10-25-1961
Before granting any permit authorizing the operation of a private motor carrier, the public utilities commission shall consider and determine whether the applicant has complied with the law and with the rules and regulations of the commission governing private motor carriers, and whether the operation proposed by the applicant comes within the definition of a private motor carrier, and also whether such proposed operation comes within the definition of a motor transportation company as provided in section 4921.02 of the Revised Code. If the applicant has complied with the law and the rules and regulations of the commission governing private motor carriers, and the commission finds the proposed operation and contract of carriage of the applicant and the other contracting party to be that of a private motor carrier and such contract to be in full compliance with Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., and 4923. of the Revised Code and the rules of the commission governing the same, and if the applicant is a proper person to whom to grant a permit, and the granting of such permit, or the approval of the contract as to any change or modification of it is and will be consistent with the declared policy and purpose of the regulation of transportation by common and contract carriers by motor vehicle, as provided in such chapters, then a permit shall be granted; otherwise the application shall be denied, and any such contract, or change or modification of such contract, shall be rejected by the commission. The commission in making its decision shall not be governed solely by the matter of rates. Should the commission find that the proposed operation of the applicant is that of a motor transportation company as defined by section 4921.02 of the Revised Code, it shall forthwith dismiss such application and refuse a permit, and shall make such further order as it deems proper upon the facts presented.
Upon request of any party to the proceeding, the commission shall make, and serve on each party or his attorney of record, its findings setting forth the specific reasons for the granting, denial, approval, or rejection of any such application, or of any such contract or change or modification of such contract.
Neither the contract carrier by motor vehicle nor the other contracting party shall collect, accept, or pay, in any form, any rate, charge, fee, or compensation other than that specifically provided under the effective contract on file with the commission.
No such contract of carriage shall be effective unless it is duly filed with the commission, and the required permit or approval of the contract has been granted.
No corporation, company, association, joint-stock association, person, firm, or copartnership, their lessees, legal or personal representatives, or receivers or trustees appointed by any court, shall hold, operate, manage, or control more than one permit.
Effective Date: 10-14-1963
No permit shall be issued by the public utilities commission to any private motor carrier until there has been filed with the commission a liability insurance certificate, policy, or bond satisfactory to the commission, in such sum and with such provisions as the commission deems necessary adequately to protect the public, having due regard for the number of persons and amount of property affected. Such certificate, policy, or bond shall insure the private motor carrier and each employer authorized in its permit against loss sustained by reason of the death of or injury to persons and the loss of or damage to property resulting from the negligence of such carrier or its agents or employees.
Such certificate, policy, or bond shall provide that ten days’ notice in writing shall be given to the commission and to each such employer of such carrier of intention to cancel such certificate, policy, or bond.
If such certificate, policy, or bond is canceled during its term or lapses for any reason, the commission shall require such carrier to replace such certificate, policy, or bond with another fully complying with the requirements of this section. In default of such replacement, all operations under the permit shall cease immediately and further operations shall not be conducted without the specific approval of the commission, which may be given after the private motor carrier has complied with this section. The commission shall not reinstate such permit until satisfactory insurance certificate, policy, or bond has been filed.
Effective Date: 01-23-1963
Upon the death of a person operating as a private motor carrier under a permit, his personal representatives may operate under such permit while the same remains in force and, with the consent of the public utilities commission, may transfer such permit.
Upon the dissolution of a partnership operating as a private motor carrier under a permit, caused by death or otherwise, if the surviving or remaining partners acquire the assets of the partnership the partners so acquiring such assets may continue to operate under such permit while it remains in force and, with the consent of the commission, may transfer such permit. Where such dissolution is caused by death, if the surviving partners do not acquire the assets of the partnership, then such surviving partners and the personal representative of the deceased partner may transfer such permit with the consent of the commission.
A receiver or trustee of a private motor carrier appointed by any court of competent jurisdiction may operate under any permit held by such private motor carrier while such permit remains in force and, with the consent of the commission, may transfer such permit.
In all other cases, a permit may be transferred with the consent of the commission after a public hearing, unless the commission in its discretion deems such hearing unnecessary and the best interests of the public and others concerned require that any application to transfer a permit be granted or rejected without such hearing.
Applications for the transfer of permits under this section shall be in writing and shall be in such form as the commission requires. The applicant shall give notice of the filing of such application by publication made once a week for three consecutive weeks prior to hearing or granting such application, in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county in which is located the principal place of business of the applicant, or in a newspaper of general circulation published at the county seat of Franklin county when no principal place of business of the applicant is located in this state. The commission shall give such applicant or any others who may have become parties in such proceedings at least ten days’ written notice of the time and place of such hearing.
If the proposed transferee of any such permit is already the holder of a permit under sections 4923.02 to 4923.17, inclusive, of the Revised Code, and the commission is of the opinion that such transfer should be approved, it shall designate the number under which such operation shall continue and shall cancel the other number.
Effective Date: 10-25-1961
Proceedings of the public utilities commission for the assessment of forfeitures for violations of division (F) of section 4905.80, division (B) of section 4905.81, or division (E) of section 4923.20 of the Revised Code or for violations of rules adopted under division (B) or (C) of section 4923.03 or division (B) or (C) of section 4923.20 of the Revised Code applicable to the transportation or offering for transportation of hazardous materials and appeals from orders of the commission assessing such forfeitures, and from orders of the commission to secure compliance with rules adopted under section 4905.80, section 4905.81, division (B) or (C) of section 4923.03, and division (B) or (C) of section 4923.20 of the Revised Code applicable to the transportation or offering for transportation of hazardous materials, are subject to and governed by section 4905.83 of the Revised Code. In all other respects in which the commission has power and authority under sections 4923.02 to 4923.17 and section 4923.20 of the Revised Code, applications and complaints may be made and filed with the commission, processes may be issued, hearings may be held, opinions, orders, and decisions may be made and filed, petitions for rehearing may be filed and acted upon, and all proceedings before the supreme court of this state may be considered and disposed of by that court in the manner, under the conditions, subject to the limitations, and with the effect specified in the sections of the Revised Code governing the supervision of public utilities by the commission.
Effective Date: 07-22-1994
(A) Every private motor carrier or contract carrier by motor vehicle operating in this state shall, at the time of the issuance of its permit, and annually thereafter on or between the first and fifteenth days of July of each year, pay to the public utilities commission for and on behalf of the treasurer of state, the following taxes:
(1) For each motor-propelled or motor-drawn vehicle used for transporting persons, thirty dollars;
(2) For each commercial tractor, as defined in section 4501.01 of the Revised Code, used for transporting property, thirty dollars;
(3) For each motor truck transporting property, twenty dollars.
(B) A trailer used by a private motor carrier or contract carrier by motor vehicle shall not be taxed under this section.
(C) The annual tax levied by this section does not apply in those cases where the commission finds that the movement of agricultural commodities or foodstuffs produced from agricultural commodities requires a temporary and seasonal use of vehicular equipment for a period of not more than ninety days. In that event the tax on such vehicular equipment shall be twenty-five per cent of the annual tax levied by this section. If any vehicular equipment is used in excess of such ninety-day period the annual tax levied by this section shall be paid.
(D) Any motor-propelled or motor-drawn vehicle used for transporting persons, commercial tractor as defined in section 4501.01 of the Revised Code, or motor truck used for the transportation of property, with respect to which the tax imposed by this section has been paid, may be used by a motor transportation company or common carrier, or by another private motor carrier or contract carrier, without further payment of the tax imposed by this section or by section 4921.18 of the Revised Code.
(E) The commission shall account for the taxes collected pursuant to this section, and shall pay such taxes to the treasurer of state pursuant to section 4923.12 of the Revised Code on or before the fifteenth day of each month for the taxes collected in each preceding month.
(F) All taxes levied upon the issuance of a permit to any private motor carrier or contract carrier by motor vehicle shall be reckoned as from the beginning of the quarter in which such permit is issued or the use of equipment under any existing permit began.
Effective Date: 09-05-2001
(A) The taxes imposed by sections 4921.18 and 4923.11 of the Revised Code shall be paid to the treasurer of state. The first received remittances of the taxes in each fiscal year shall be credited to the public utilities fund until the aggregate credit from the taxes, and from the fees collected under division (B) of this section, in a fiscal year amounts to a sum equal to the appropriation from the public utilities fund made by the general assembly for defraying all expenses incident to maintaining the nonrailroad transportation activities of the public utilities commission. Receipt of the taxes subsequent thereto, after receipt by the treasurer of state of certifications from the commissioners of the sinking fund certifying, as required by sections 5528.15 and 5528.35 of the Revised Code, that there are sufficient moneys to the credit of the highway improvement bond retirement fund created by section 5528.12 of the Revised Code to meet in full all payments of interest, principal, and charges for the retirement of bonds and other obligations issued pursuant to Section 2g of Article VIII, Ohio Constitution and sections 5528.10 and 5528.11 of the Revised Code, due and payable during the current calendar year, and that there are sufficient moneys to the credit of the highway obligations bond retirement fund created by section 5528.32 of the Revised Code to meet in full all payments of interest, principal, and charges for the retirement of highway obligations issued pursuant to Section 2i of Article VIII, Ohio Constitution and sections 5528.30 and 5528.31 of the Revised Code due and payable during the current calendar year, shall be paid into the state treasury to the credit of the state highway safety fund created by section 4501.06 of the Revised Code, and shall be subject to appropriation solely for the expense of operation and maintenance of the department of public safety.
(B) The fees set by the commission in accordance with sections 4919.76 and 4919.77 of the Revised Code shall be credited to the public utilities fund except for those fees collected on behalf of other states participating in the single state insurance registration program, which shall be credited to the base state registration fund, which is hereby created in the state treasury.
(C) The forfeitures imposed by sections 4919.99, 4921.99, and 4923.99 of the Revised Code shall be paid to the treasurer of state. The first received remittances of the forfeitures in each fiscal year shall be credited to the transportation enforcement fund, which is hereby created in the state treasury, until the aggregate credit in the fiscal year is equal to the appropriation in the fund for the fiscal year less any outstanding unencumbered cash balance from the previous fiscal year in the fund. All forfeitures subsequently received shall be credited to the general revenue fund. The public utilities commission shall use the transportation enforcement fund to administer the civil forfeiture program of sections 4919.99, 4921.99, and 4923.99 of the Revised Code.
(D) If the director of budget and management determines that the balance of the public utilities fund will be less than the appropriations from the fund, the director shall transfer from the general revenue fund to the public utilities fund an amount equal to the difference between the balance of the public utilities fund and the amount needed to support the appropriations from that fund. If the director subsequently determines that the balance and revenues of the public utilities fund during the fiscal year will exceed the amount needed to support the appropriations from the fund, the director shall transfer the excess, up to the amount of the original transfer, back to the general revenue fund.
Effective Date: 06-30-1997
The fees and charges provided under section 4923.11 of the Revised Code shall be in addition to taxes, fees, and charges fixed and exacted by other general laws of this state, except the assessments required by section 4905.10 of the Revised Code and the taxes imposed by section 4921.18 of the Revised Code, but all fees, license fees, annual payments, license taxes, taxes, or other money exactions assessed, charged, fixed, or exacted by local authorities, such as municipal corporations, townships, counties, or other local boards, or by the officers of such subdivisions, are deemed illegal and superseded by sections 4921.18, 4921.32, and 4923.02 to 4923.17 of the Revised Code. Upon compliance by such private motor carrier with sections 4921.18, 4921.32, and 4923.02 to 4923.17 of the Revised Code, all local ordinances, resolutions, bylaws, and rules in force shall cease to be operative as to such carrier, except that such local subdivisions may make reasonable local police regulations within their respective boundaries not inconsistent with such sections.
Effective Date: 12-31-1990
After a permit has been issued to a private motor carrier and such carrier has paid the required taxes and complied with such permit and the order granting it, no change shall be made to substitute, increase, or decrease the number of, or seating or carrying capacity of, motor vehicles operated under such permit, or to substitute, increase, or decrease the persons, firms, or corporations with whom such carrier has contracts. No change or modification shall be made in any such contract of carriage except upon notice to the public utilities commission, the payment of any additional taxes which are due, the filing of any contract of carriage or change or modification of such contract, and the approval of it, as required by Chapters 4901., 4903., 4905., 4907., 4909., 4921., 4923., and 4925. of the Revised Code and the rules of the commission, and the furnishing of the names and addresses of all persons, firms, or corporations with whom such carrier has contracted and proposes to contract.
Such notice or application to substitute or increase the persons, firms, or corporations employing such private motor carriers shall be in the form and governed as provided in the case of an original application for a permit.
The commission may, for good cause, upon at least fifteen days’ notice to the holder of any permit, and after granting an opportunity to be heard, revoke, suspend, alter, or amend any such permit.
Effective Date: 10-01-1953
Effective Date: 07-01-1989
Effective Date: 12-31-1990
No private motor carrier, officer, agent, or employee of a private motor carrier, or other corporation, company, association, joint-stock association, person, firm, or copartnership, shall violate, or procure, aid, or abet the violation of sections 4923.02 to 4923.17, inclusive, of the Revised Code, or fail to comply with any order, decision, rule, or regulation of the public utilities commission, or procure, aid, or abet any private motor carrier in its failure to comply with such order, decision, rule, or regulation. Information of a conviction of a violation of this section shall be reported to the commission by the clerk of the court in which such conviction was obtained or, if there is no clerk, by the presiding officer of the court. Such report shall be made a part of the records of the commission relating to such private motor carrier.
Effective Date: 10-01-1953
(A) As used in this section:
(1) “Private motor carrier” has the same meaning as in section 4923.02 of the Revised Code, except that it includes only private motor carriers operating on a not-for-hire basis and excludes all private motor carriers operating on a for-hire basis.
(2) “Commercial motor vehicle” has the same meaning as in the “Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986,” 49 U.S.C.A. 2701, as amended, except that “commerce” means trade, traffic, and transportation solely within this state.
(B) The public utilities commission may adopt and enforce rules concerning the safety of operation of commercial motor vehicles by private motor carriers, except that the rules shall not affect any rights or duties granted to or imposed upon the operator of such a motor vehicle by Chapter 4511. of the Revised Code.
(C) The commission may adopt safety rules applicable to the transportation of hazardous materials by private motor carriers by means of commercial motor vehicles and applicable to the offering of hazardous materials for such transportation. The rules shall be consistent with, and equivalent in scope, coverage, and content to, the “Hazardous Materials Transportation Act,” 88 Stat. 2156 (1975), 49 U.S.C.A. 1801, as amended, and regulations adopted under it.
(D) To achieve the purposes of this section, the commission may, through inspectors or other authorized employees, inspect any motor vehicles of such carriers and may enter upon the premises and vehicles of the carriers to examine any of the carriers’ records or documents that relate to the safety of operation of private motor carriers. In order to assist the commission in performing its duties under this section, authorized employees of the motor carrier enforcement unit, created under section 5503.34 of the Revised Code in the division of state highway patrol, of the department of public safety may enter in or upon, for purposes of inspection, any motor vehicle of any such carrier.
In order to inspect motor vehicles owned or operated by private motor carriers engaged in the transportation of persons, authorized employees of the motor carrier enforcement unit, division of state highway patrol, of the department of public safety may enter in or upon the premises of any private motor carrier engaged in the intrastate transportation of persons.
(E) No private motor carrier or person offering hazardous materials for transportation by private motor carrier shall fail to comply with any order, decision, or rule adopted under this section or any order of the commission issued to secure compliance with any such rule.
Effective Date: 09-01-2000; 09-16-2004
There is hereby created in the state treasury the federal commercial vehicle transportation systems fund. The fund shall consist of money received from the United States department of transportation’s commercial vehicle intelligent transportation systems infrastructure deployment program. The public utilities commission shall use the fund to deploy the Ohio commercial vehicle information systems networks project and to improve safety of motor carrier operations through electronic exchange of data by means of on-highway electronic systems.
Effective Date: 2007 HB119 09-29-2007
(A)(1) Except for those violations for which a forfeiture is provided in section 4905.83 of the Revised Code, whoever violates a provision of this chapter is liable to the state for a forfeiture of not more than ten thousand dollars for each day of each violation. The public utilities commission, after providing reasonable notice and the opportunity for a hearing in accordance with the procedural rules adopted under section 4901.13 of the Revised Code, shall assess, by order, a forfeiture upon a person who the commission determines, by a preponderance of the evidence, committed the violation. In determining the amount of the forfeiture for a violation discovered during a roadside inspection, the commission shall be consistent with the recommended fine or penalty schedule and recommended civil penalty procedure adopted by the commercial vehicle safety alliance, but shall not exceed one thousand dollars. In determining the amount of the forfeiture for a violation discovered during a compliance review of fixed facilities, the commission shall be consistent with the civil penalty guidelines adopted by the United States department of transportation’s federal highway administration, but shall not exceed ten thousand dollars.
The attorney general, upon the written request of the commission, shall bring a civil action in the court of common pleas of Franklin county to collect a forfeiture assessed under this section. The commission shall account for the forfeitures collected under this section and pay them to the treasurer of state pursuant to section 4923.12 of the Revised Code.
(2) The attorney general, upon the written request of the commission, shall bring an action for injunctive relief in the court of common pleas of Franklin county against any person who has violated or is violating any order issued by the commission to secure compliance with a provision of this chapter. The court of common pleas of Franklin county has jurisdiction to and may grant preliminary and permanent injunctive relief upon a showing that the person against whom the action is brought has violated or is violating any order issued by the commission to secure compliance with this chapter. The court shall give precedence to such an action over all other cases.
(B) The amount of any forfeiture may be compromised at any time prior to collection of the forfeiture. The commission shall adopt rules governing the manner in which the amount of forfeiture may be established by agreement prior to the hearing on the forfeiture before the commission.
(C) The proceedings of the commission specified in division (A) of this section are subject to and governed by Chapter 4903. of the Revised Code, except as otherwise specifically provided in this section. The court of appeals of Franklin county has exclusive, original jurisdiction to review, modify, or vacate an order of the commission issued to secure compliance with a provision of this chapter and an order issued under division (A)(1) of this section assessing a forfeiture. The court of appeals shall hear and determine those appeals in the same manner, and under the same standards, as the supreme court hears and determines appeals under Chapter 4903. of the Revised Code.
The judgment of the court of appeals is final and conclusive unless reversed, vacated, or modified on appeal. Such appeals may be taken either by the commission or the person to whom the compliance order or forfeiture assessment was issued and shall proceed as in the case of appeals in civil actions as provided in the Rules of Appellate Procedure and Chapter 2505. of the Revised Code.
(D) Section 4903.11 of the Revised Code does not apply to an appeal of an order issued to secure compliance with this chapter or an order issued under division (A)(1) of this section assessing a forfeiture. Any person to whom any such order is issued who wishes to contest the compliance order, the fact of the violation, or the amount of the forfeiture shall file a notice of appeal, setting forth the order appealed from and the errors complained of, within sixty days after the entry of the order upon the journal of the commission. The notice of appeal shall be served, unless waived, upon the chairman of the commission or, in the event of his absence, upon any public utilities commissioner, or by leaving a copy at the office of the commission at Columbus. An order issued by the commission to secure compliance with a provision of this chapter or an order issued under division (A)(1) of this section assessing a forfeiture shall be reversed, vacated, or modified on appeal if, upon consideration of the record, the court is of the opinion that the order was unlawful or unreasonable.
Effective Date: 09-29-1995