reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
AL Code § 37-1-8 (2021)
2021 Code of Alabama|Title 37 - Public Utilities and Public Transportation.|Chapter 1 - Public Service Commission.|Article 1 - Organization and Personnel.|Section 37-1-8 - Office; Meetings; Record of Proceedings.

Section 37-1-8Office; meetings; record of proceedings. The commissioners shall have an office at Montgomery, Alabama, and shall meet there a minimum of once a month, with the public information officer giving notice of the monthly meeting at least one week prior to the meeting, and shall remain in session until all business before them is disposed of; and they shall hold other meetings at such times and places as may be necessary for the proper discharge of their duty, or as the convenience of parties in the judgment of the commission may require. They shall keep a record of all their proceedings, which shall be open at all times to the inspection of the public. (Code 1886, §1120; Code 1896, §3487; Code 1907, §5642; Code 1923, §9620; Code 1940, T. 48, §9; Acts 1996, No. 96-472, p. 586, §1; Act 2000-461, p. 859, §3.)
AL Code § 37-1-9 (2021)
2021 Code of Alabama|Title 37 - Public Utilities and Public Transportation.|Chapter 1 - Public Service Commission.|Article 1 - Organization and Personnel.|Section 37-1-9 - Residency of Commissioners; Full Time Devoted to Official Business.

Section 37-1-9Residency of commissioners; full time devoted to official business. Each member of the commission shall devote his or her full time to his or her official business and may reside anywhere within this state. (Acts 1920, No. 42, p. 92; Code 1923, §9615; Code 1940, T. 48, §10; Act 2013-375, p. 1377, §1.)
AL Code § 37-1-10 (2021)
2021 Code of Alabama|Title 37 - Public Utilities and Public Transportation.|Chapter 1 - Public Service Commission.|Article 1 - Organization and Personnel.|Section 37-1-10 - Domicile of Commission; Jurisdiction of Actions or Proceedings Against Commission.

Section 37-1-10Domicile of commission; jurisdiction of actions or proceedings against commission. The domicile of the Public Service Commission is fixed at the Capitol of the state in Montgomery, Montgomery County, and no court of the state other than those of Montgomery County shall have or take jurisdiction in any civil action or proceeding brought or instituted against said commission, unless otherwise expressly authorized by this Code. (Acts 1907, Ex. Sess., No. 15, p. 29; Code 1923, §9876; Code 1940, T. 48, §11.)
AL Code § 37-1-11 (2021)
2021 Code of Alabama|Title 37 - Public Utilities and Public Transportation.|Chapter 1 - Public Service Commission.|Article 1 - Organization and Personnel.|Section 37-1-11 - Salaries and Expense Allowances of Commissioners.

Section 37-1-11Salaries and expense allowances of commissioners. Subject to the provisions of this section, the President of the Public Service Commission and each of the Associate Commissioners of the Public Service Commission shall continue to receive the annual salary and the monthly expense allowance in the amount set by law on April 25, 1994. Effective at the beginning of the next term of office of any member of the commission, the President of the Public Service Commission shall receive a salary of seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) per year and the Associate Commissioners of the Public Service Commission shall receive a salary of seventy thousand dollars ($70,000) per year, and shall not receive a monthly expense allowance. The president and associate commissioners shall not receive any cost-of-living salary increase granted to state officers and employees for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 1994. (Code 1886, §1125; Code 1896, §3486; Code 1907, §5640; Acts 1919, No. 698, p. 1006; Code 1923, §9614; Acts 1933, Ex. Sess., No. 138, p. 124; Code 1940, T. 48, §12; Acts 1957, No. 572, p. 794; Acts 1966, Ex. Sess., No. 189, p. 220; Acts 1981, No. 81-773, p. 1334, §1; Acts 1983, No. 83-618, p. 958; Acts 1994, No. 94-610, p. 1125, §1.)
AL Code § 37-1-12 (2021)
2021 Code of Alabama|Title 37 - Public Utilities and Public Transportation.|Chapter 1 - Public Service Commission.|Article 1 - Organization and Personnel.|Section 37-1-12 - Employees - Appointment or Employment; Salaries; Special Counsel.

Section 37-1-12Employees - Appointment or employment; salaries; special counsel. The commission, under the provisions of the merit system, shall have the authority to appoint or employ attorneys, officers, and such accountants, engineers, experts, inspectors, clerks and other employees as are necessary or expedient to carry out the duties conferred by law upon the commission, and the salaries therefor shall be fixed according to the provisions of the merit system. The commission shall also, by and with the approval of the Governor, have authority to employ and discharge special counsel or attorneys as it may be deemed necessary for such purpose. (Acts 1920, No. 37, p. 38; Acts 1920, No. 42, p. 92; Code 1923, §9617; Code 1940, T. 48, §13.)
AL Code § 37-1-12.1 (2021)
2021 Code of Alabama|Title 37 - Public Utilities and Public Transportation.|Chapter 1 - Public Service Commission.|Article 1 - Organization and Personnel.|Section 37-1-12.1 - Employees - Accountant, Utility Rates Analyst, Economist, Etc.

Section 37-1-12.1Employees - Accountant, utility rates analyst, economist, etc. The commission is hereby authorized and empowered to employ technically qualified personnel to serve as members of its staff and under its direction and supervision, including but not limited to an accountant, a utility rates analyst, an economist and such other experts as the commission may determine to be necessary in the proper discharge of the commission's duties as prescribed by law. (Acts 1977, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 44, p. 1458, §1.)
AL Code § 37-1-12.2 (2021)
2021 Code of Alabama|Title 37 - Public Utilities and Public Transportation.|Chapter 1 - Public Service Commission.|Article 1 - Organization and Personnel.|Section 37-1-12.2 - Employees - Stenographic and Other Clerical Assistants; Special Investigators.

Section 37-1-12.2Employees - Stenographic and other clerical assistants; special investigators. The commission shall employ such stenographic and other clerical assistants, and special investigators, as it may require for the performance of its duties. Such assistants and investigators shall be employed subject to the provisions of the state merit system law. (Acts 1977, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 44, p. 1458, §2.)
AL Code § 37-1-13 (2021)
2021 Code of Alabama|Title 37 - Public Utilities and Public Transportation.|Chapter 1 - Public Service Commission.|Article 1 - Organization and Personnel.|Section 37-1-13 - Employees - Penalty for Divulging Certain Information.

Section 37-1-13Employees - Penalty for divulging certain information. Any regular or special employee of the Public Service Commission who divulges any fact or information coming to his knowledge respecting any inspection, examination or investigation of any account, record, memorandum, book or paper, or of the property and facilities of a utility, except insofar as he may be authorized by the commission or a court of competent jurisdiction, or a judge thereof, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined not more than $1,000.00. (Acts 1907, Ex. Sess., No. 15, p. 29; Acts 1920, No. 42, p. 92; Code 1923, §5388; Code 1940, T. 48, §15.)
AL Code § 37-1-14 (2021)
2021 Code of Alabama|Title 37 - Public Utilities and Public Transportation.|Chapter 1 - Public Service Commission.|Article 1 - Organization and Personnel.|Section 37-1-14 - Bond of Supervisor of Accounts.

Section 37-1-14Bond of supervisor of accounts. Before entering upon the duties of his office, the supervisor of accounts of the Public Service Commission shall execute to the State of Alabama a bond, to be approved by the Governor, in an amount to be fixed by the Public Service Commission, for the faithful performance of his duties. (Acts 1943, No. 122, p. 123; Acts 1961, Ex. Sess., No. 208, p. 2190.)
AL Code § 37-1-15 (2021)
2021 Code of Alabama|Title 37 - Public Utilities and Public Transportation.|Chapter 1 - Public Service Commission.|Article 1 - Organization and Personnel.|Section 37-1-15 - Free Tickets, Free Passes or Free Transportation.

Section 37-1-15Free tickets, free passes or free transportation. The following persons may, at the discretion of such carrier, pass free of charge on all railroads and all other common carriers and may, at the discretion of such carrier, receive free tickets, passes and transportation from such carriers: employees of railroads and any and all other common carriers and their families; widows and dependent children of deceased employees; employees who have retired from active service, by reason of age or physical infirmities, and the wives and dependent children of the latter; officers or agents, surgeons, physicians and attorneys-at-law of any such railroads and other common carriers, and the immediate families of such persons; sheriffs; ministers of religion; traveling secretaries of the Young Men's Christian Association and the Young Women's Christian Association; inmates of hospitals and charitable and eleemosynary institutions and persons exclusively engaged in charitable and eleemosynary work; indigent, destitute and homeless persons; persons transported by charitable societies and hospitals and the necessary agents employed in such transportation; widows of soldiers who served during the War Between the States; inmates of a national home or state home for disabled volunteer soldiers and the sailors' and soldiers' homes, including those persons about to enter and those returning home after discharge and boards of managers of such homes; necessary caretakers of livestock, poultry and fruit; employees on sleeping cars, express cars and buses; linemen of telegraph and telephone companies; railway mail service employees; post-office inspectors; custom inspectors; immigration inspectors; newsboys on trains; baggage agents; witnesses attending any legal investigation or civil action in which such carrier is interested; persons injured in wrecks, when being transported from the place of injury to their homes or places of treatment and physicians and nurses attending such persons. Members of the Public Service Commission and its agents and employees, when traveling on official business, may pass free of charge on all the railroads and all other common carriers and may receive free tickets, passes and transportation from such carriers. Also, all such carriers may interchange passes, free tickets and transportation for the officers, agents and employees and their immediate families of all such carriers, and all such carriers may carry passengers free with the object of providing relief in cases of general epidemic, pestilence or other calamitous visitation. Editors and publishers of newspapers in Alabama may exchange with all railroads and all other common carriers in this state advertisements and space in the columns of their newspapers for mileage issued to such editors and publishers of newspapers. (Code 1923, §§5373, 9638; Acts 1931, No. 273, p. 303; Code 1940, T. 48, §14.)
AL Code § 37-1-16 (2021)
2021 Code of Alabama|Title 37 - Public Utilities and Public Transportation.|Chapter 1 - Public Service Commission.|Article 1 - Organization and Personnel.|Section 37-1-16 - Assignment of Assistant Attorney General to Represent Consumers and State in Proceedings Before Commission; Powers and Duties of Attorney General in Connection With Public Utility Services Generally; Commission to Furnish Copies of Applications, Pleadings, etc., Filed With It to Attorney General.

Section 37-1-16Assignment of Assistant Attorney General to represent consumers and state in proceedings before commission; powers and duties of Attorney General in connection with public utility services generally; commission to furnish copies of applications, pleadings, etc., filed with it to Attorney General. (a) In addition to such staff assistants and investigators as are provided for in Sections 37-1-12.1 and 37-1-12.2, the Attorney General shall assign an Assistant Attorney General and such staff attorneys as may be necessary to the handling of matters and proceedings before the commission, who shall be under the direction of the Attorney General. Such Assistant Attorney General shall be assigned the duty and responsibility, when the Attorney General deems it to be advisable in the public interest, of intervening in proceedings before the commission on behalf of the using and consuming public, including utility users generally and agencies of the state, such appearances including, but not being limited to, rate applications, rate changes and curtailments of service. Such Assistant Attorney General shall also have the authority to institute and originate proceedings before the commission in the name of the state, its agencies and citizens in all matters within the jurisdiction of the commission, and shall have authority to appear before such other state and federal agencies and courts as he deems advisable on behalf of the state and its agencies and citizens in all matters affecting public utility services. He shall have the assistance and cooperation of the commission's staff, when available, and access to the commission's books, records, studies and reports. (b) In the performance of the duties set forth in this section, the Attorney General shall have the right to employ additional attorneys, expert witnesses and office and clerical help and to incur expenses in connection therewith, and the compensation and expenses therefor shall be paid from the consumer's utility rate hearing fund as provided for in Section 37-1-18. (c) The commission shall furnish the Attorney General with copies of all applications, petitions and pleadings filed with it by public utilities doing business in this state or by any other persons in matters affecting the duties under this section. (Acts 1977, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 44, p. 1458, §3.)
AL Code § 37-1-17 (2021)
2021 Code of Alabama|Title 37 - Public Utilities and Public Transportation.|Chapter 1 - Public Service Commission.|Article 1 - Organization and Personnel.|Section 37-1-17 - Economic and Financial Studies and Surveys of Public Utility Services; Compilation of Financial and Economic Data, Statistics and Analysis; Evaluations of Future Needs.

Section 37-1-17Economic and financial studies and surveys of public utility services; compilation of financial and economic data, statistics and analysis; evaluations of future needs. It shall be the duty and responsibility of the commission's staff to make economic and financial studies and surveys of the public utility services in the state and evaluations of future needs for such services and to compile financial and economic data, statistics and analysis on such services. Such information shall be kept on file for reference by the commission. (Acts 1977, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 44, p. 1458, §4.)
AL Code § 37-1-18 (2021)
2021 Code of Alabama|Title 37 - Public Utilities and Public Transportation.|Chapter 1 - Public Service Commission.|Article 1 - Organization and Personnel.|Section 37-1-18 - Consumer's Utility Rate Hearing Fund.

Section 37-1-18Consumer's Utility Rate Hearing Fund. Each fiscal year, including the fiscal year of the enactment of this section, there is hereby appropriated from the State General Fund the sum of $250,000.00, which funds shall be immediately deposited into a Consumer's Utility Rate Hearing Fund in the State Treasury under the Office of the Attorney General, to be drawn upon by the Attorney General for purposes of hiring attorneys, staff personnel, and expert witnesses to present the case for the consumer in utility rate increase hearings and all appeals arising therefrom. At the end of each fiscal year, any surplus remaining in the Consumer's Utility Rate Hearing Fund shall forthwith be transferred to the State General Fund. (Acts 1977, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 44, p. 1458, §5; Acts 1994, No. 94-691, p. 1331, §1.)
AL Code § 37-4-2 (2021)
2021 Code of Alabama|Title 37 - Public Utilities and Public Transportation.|Chapter 4 - Public Utilities Other Than Transportation Companies or Motor Vehicle Carriers.|Article 1 - Rate and Other Regulations.|Section 37-4-2 - Jurisdiction of Commission Limited as to Nonutilities.

Section 37-4-2Jurisdiction of commission limited as to nonutilities. The commission shall not have any jurisdiction, authority, power or control in any respect whatsoever over any nonutility, as defined in Section 37-4-1, except as may be provided in Division 2 of Article 2 of this chapter. Any utility, as defined by Section 37-4-1, may sell, lease or otherwise dispose of any or all of its property, including, without limitations, any franchise, rights, contracts, business, good will, capital stock and all other assets to any such nonutility without the approval or consent of the commission, except as may be provided in Division 2 of Article 2 of this chapter. (Acts 1935, No. 1, p. 1; Code 1940, T. 48, §303.)
AL Code § 37-4-2.1 (2021)
2021 Code of Alabama|Title 37 - Public Utilities and Public Transportation.|Chapter 4 - Public Utilities Other Than Transportation Companies or Motor Vehicle Carriers.|Article 1 - Rate and Other Regulations.|Section 37-4-2.1 - Regulation of Certain Private Water System Utilities in Class 8 Municipalities.

Section 37-4-2.1Regulation of certain private water system utilities in Class 8 municipalities.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any private water system utility which serves less than 1,000 customers and purchases its water from a municipal water system in a Class 8 municipality may elect to be exempt from all regulation of the Public Service Commission and subject to regulation by the municipality from which it purchases its water in the manner set forth in this section. An initial election under this section shall be effective upon filing of a written notification to the Public Service Commission and the municipality, and shall remain effective until and unless revoked in the same manner. Any private water system utility making an election under this section may maintain its rates and charges which are in effect at the time of the election without further approval from the municipality. The municipality shall thereafter approve any changes in rates and charges for the private water system utility that are fair, just, and reasonable to the water system and the customers. Approval of the changes may be set forth in a water purchase agreement between the private water system and the municipality, or by other written means, and may allow for prospective rate adjustments based on specified criteria. (Act 2013-247, p. 606, §1.)
AL Code § 37-4-3 (2021)
2021 Code of Alabama|Title 37 - Public Utilities and Public Transportation.|Chapter 4 - Public Utilities Other Than Transportation Companies or Motor Vehicle Carriers.|Article 1 - Rate and Other Regulations.|Section 37-4-3 - Officers and Directors Occupy Fiduciary Relationship.

Section 37-4-3Officers and directors occupy fiduciary relationship. The officers and directors of every corporation operating as a utility shall be deemed to stand in a fiduciary relation to the corporation, and shall discharge the duties of their respective offices or positions in good faith and with that diligence, care and skill which ordinary prudent men would exercise under similar circumstances and conditions. (Acts 1932, Ex. Sess., No. 232, p. 233; Code 1940, T. 48, §305.)
AL Code § 37-4-4 (2021)
2021 Code of Alabama|Title 37 - Public Utilities and Public Transportation.|Chapter 4 - Public Utilities Other Than Transportation Companies or Motor Vehicle Carriers.|Article 1 - Rate and Other Regulations.|Section 37-4-4 - Directors Not to Delegate or Relinquish Duties.

Section 37-4-4Directors not to delegate or relinquish duties. The directors of corporations which are utilities engaged in any intrastate business in this state shall not, in any manner, delegate or temporarily or permanently relinquish or surrender their duty or obligation while occupying said office. (Acts 1932, Ex. Sess., No. 232, p. 233; Code 1940, T. 48, §306.)
AL Code § 37-4-5 (2021)
2021 Code of Alabama|Title 37 - Public Utilities and Public Transportation.|Chapter 4 - Public Utilities Other Than Transportation Companies or Motor Vehicle Carriers.|Article 1 - Rate and Other Regulations.|Section 37-4-5 - Sale or Purchase of Securities by Utility Employees.

Section 37-4-5Sale or purchase of securities by utility employees. No utility shall permit any employee to sell, offer for sale, or solicit the purchase of any security of any other person or corporation during such hours as such employee is engaged to perform any duty of such utility; nor shall any utility by any means or device whatsoever require any employee to purchase or contract to purchase any of its securities or those of any other person or corporation; nor shall any utility require any employee to permit the deduction from his wages or salary of any sum as a payment or to be applied as a payment on any purchase or contract to purchase any security of such utility or of any other person or corporation. (Acts 1932, Ex. Sess., No. 232, p. 233; Code 1940, T. 48, §304.)
AL Code § 37-4-6 (2021)
2021 Code of Alabama|Title 37 - Public Utilities and Public Transportation.|Chapter 4 - Public Utilities Other Than Transportation Companies or Motor Vehicle Carriers.|Article 1 - Rate and Other Regulations.|Section 37-4-6 - Payment of Dividends.

Section 37-4-6Payment of dividends. (a) No utility engaged in intrastate business in this state shall pay any dividend upon its common stock until: The utility's earnings and earned surplus are sufficient to declare and pay same after provision is made for reasonable and proper reserves. The dividend then proposed to be paid upon such common stock can reasonably be declared and paid without impairment of the ability of the utility to perform its duty to render reasonable and adequate service at reasonable rates. If any common stock dividends are proposed to be declared and paid other than as above provided, the utility shall give the commission at least 30 days' notice in writing of its intention to so declare and pay such dividends. (b) If at any time the commission shall find that the capital of any utility is impaired, the commission may, after due notice, investigation and hearing, issue an order directing such utility to cease paying dividends on its common stock until reasonable proof has been made to the commission that such impairment has been made good, and that the status of the utility has become such that common stock dividends may reasonably and properly be paid after the utility has made full compliance with the law and with the commission's rules and regulations pertaining thereto. (Acts 1932, Ex. Sess., No. 232, p. 233; Code 1940, T. 48, §§307, 308.)