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2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 12 - Services Supervised and Regulated by Department

Section 12. The department shall, so far as may be necessary for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of law relative thereto, have general supervision and regulation of, and jurisdiction and control over, the following services, when furnished or rendered for public use within the commonwealth, except when such services are provided by a municipal lighting plant or cooperative public corporation which provides telecommunications services pursuant to section 47E of chapter 164, and in the exercise thereof, the department shall take cognizance of all applicable transportation plans and programs adopted by the public works commission pursuant to section five A of chapter sixteen, and all persons, firms, corporations, associations and joint stock associations or companies furnishing or rendering any such service or services, in sections ten to forty-four, inclusive, collectively called common carriers and severally called a common carrier:
(a) The transportation or carriage of persons or property, or both, between points within the commonwealth by railroads, street railways, in this chapter called railways, electric railroads, trackless trolleys and ships or vessels in excess of one hundred gross tons using steam or Diesel engine as means of propulsion, including express service and car service carried on, upon or rendered in connection with such railroads, railways, electric railroads, trackless trolleys or ships or vessels in excess of one hundred gross tons using steam or Diesel engine as means of propulsion.
(b) The carriage of passengers for hire upon motor vehicles as provided in chapter one hundred and fifty-nine A, in section seventy A of chapter one hundred and sixty and in section forty-four of chapter one hundred and sixty-one, but only to the extent therein provided.
(c) The operation of all conveniences, appliances, facilities or equipment utilized in connection with, or appertaining to, such transportation or carriage of persons or property or such express service or car service, by whomsoever owned or provided, whether the service be common carriage or merely in facilitation of common carriage.
(d) The transmission of intelligence within the commonwealth by electricity, by means of telephone lines or telegraph lines or any other method or system of communication, including the operation of all conveniences, appliances, instrumentalities, or equipment appertaining thereto, or utilized in connection therewith. The provision of such services by a telecommunications system established and operated pursuant to section 47E of chapter 164 shall be subject to this chapter with respect to customer billing notification and termination, filing of tariffs, interconnection agreements, number pooling and filing of annual reports, to the same extent as privately owned and operated telecommunications systems.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 12e - Third Party Verification Service Providers; Registration

Section 12E. (a) (1) A company that provides third party verification services pursuant to section 109 of chapter 93 shall apply for registration with the department.
(2) The department shall allow a company to register as a third party verification service provider only if it:
(i) operates in a location physically separate from the IXC, LEC or telemarketing representative who has obtained the customer's oral authorization to submit a change order for an IXC or LEC;
(ii) is not directly or indirectly managed, controlled, directed, or owned wholly or partially, by an IXC or LEC; and
(iii) does not receive commissions or compensation based upon the number of customer authorizations confirmed or sales confirmed.
(3) A company seeking to register shall file a registration application with the department.
(b) The department shall promulgate rules and regulations specifying the form and content of such application necessary to demonstrate satisfaction of the requirements of clause (ii) of subsection (a).
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 14 - Unjust Rates, Fares or Charges; Orders to Fix; Orders for Reparation

Section 14. Whenever the department shall be of opinion, after a hearing had upon its own motion or upon complaint, that any of the rates, fares or charges of any common carrier for any services to be performed within the commonwealth, or the regulations or practices of such common carrier affecting such rates, are unjust, unreasonable, unjustly discriminatory, unduly preferential, in any wise in violation of any provision of law, or insufficient to yield reasonable compensation for the service rendered, the department shall determine the just and reasonable rates, fares and charges to be charged for the service to be performed, and shall fix the same by order to be served upon every common carrier by whom such rates, fares and charges or any of them are thereafter to be observed. Every such common carrier shall obey every requirement of every such order served upon it, and do everything necessary or proper in order to secure absolute compliance with every such order by all its officers, agents and employees. If, upon investigation, the department finds that in any case it is consistent with the public interests to authorize a common carrier to make its charge for transportation less for a longer than for a shorter distance, the department may grant such authority and may from time to time modify or revoke the same.
If complaint is made to the department concerning any rate, fare or charge demanded and collected by any railroad corporation for any service performed and the department finds after hearing and investigation that an unjustly discriminatory rate, fare or charge has been collected for any service, the department may order the railroad corporation which has collected the same to make due reparation to the person who has paid the same, with interest from the date of the payment of such unjustly discriminatory amount; but such order of reparation shall cover only payments made within two years before the date of filing the petition seeking to have reparation ordered. Such order may be made without formal hearing whenever the railroad corporation affected shall assent in writing thereto, or file or join in a petition therefor, but in no case shall any such order be made until the department shall be satisfied by such investigation as may be necessary that the rate, fare or charge collected was in fact unjustly discriminatory.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 15 - Free Service, Tickets, Passes or Transportation Prohibited; Exceptions

Section 15. Except as provided by section two hundred of chapter one hundred and sixty, no common carrier shall, directly or indirectly, issue or give any free service, free tickets, free pass or free transportation for passengers or property between points within the commonwealth; but this section shall not prohibit any railroad corporation or railway company from giving free or reduced rate service to policemen, letter carriers and firemen while in uniform or engaged in the discharge of their duties, or prohibit any common carrier from giving free or reduced rate service to its employees, or in cases of public emergency, or for such charitable purposes as may be approved by the department, nor prohibit any telephone or telegraph company, unless the department shall otherwise order, from giving service at reduced rates to the commonwealth or to any city or town; nor shall this section prohibit the commissioners of the department, its experts, inspectors and counsel from being transported over the railroads and the railways of the commonwealth free of charge while engaged in the performance of their duties; nor shall this section prohibit the giving by any such common carrier of free or reduced rate service to the classes defined and provided for in the act of congress entitled ''An act to regulate commerce'' and acts amendatory thereof, or to a blind person identified by a certification of registration under section one hundred and thirty-five of chapter six from the commission of the blind.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 16 - Regulations, Practices, Equipment, Appliances or Service of Carrier; Department Control, Hearing and Order; Proof of Compliance

Section 16. If the department is of opinion, after a hearing had upon its own motion or upon complaint, that the regulations, practices, equipment, appliances or service of any common carrier are unjust, unreasonable, unsafe, improper or inadequate, the department shall determine the just, reasonable, safe, adequate and proper regulations and practices thereafter to be in force and to be observed, and the equipment, appliances and service thereafter to be used, and shall fix and prescribe the same by order to be served upon every common carrier to be bound thereby. The department may after such a hearing, order any railway company to build and operate any just and reasonable extensions of its lines for which it may have been or may be granted locations and order from time to time that a railroad company shall operate its lines, of standard gauge, or such parts thereof as the department shall prescribe, by electric power instead of steam power, and in its order shall prescribe the time within which the work of electrification shall be done. Before making such order, the department shall consider the relative importance and necessity of the changes in any specific regulations, practices, equipment and appliances proposed to be included therein and of other changes which may be brought to its attention in the course of the hearing, the financial ability of the carrier to comply with the requirements of the order, and the effect of the carrier's compliance therewith, upon its financial ability to make such other changes, if any, as may be deemed by the department of equal or greater importance and necessity in the performance of the service which the carrier has professed to render to the public. Every such common carrier shall obey every requirement of every such order so served upon it, and do everything necessary or proper in order to secure absolute compliance with every such order by all its officers, agents and employees. Every such common carrier, railroad or railway company shall submit evidence to the department within thirty days after such order is served upon it that it has complied, or is in the process of complying, with such order. The two preceding sentences shall not be applicable to any particular order issued under this section pending any appeal from such order.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 17 - Charges for Service; Regulation

Section 17. All charges made, demanded or received by any common carrier for any service rendered or performed, or to be rendered or performed by it or in connection therewith in the conduct of its common carrier business, or made, demanded or received by any two or more common carriers joining in rendering or performing any service shall be just and reasonable, and every such common carrier and any two or more such common carriers joining in rendering or performing any service shall be entitled to make, demand and receive just and reasonable charges for any such service, and every unjust or unreasonable charge is hereby prohibited and declared unlawful; but charges heretofore established and set out in any schedule filed as provided in sections nineteen and nineteen A shall be deemed prima facie lawful until changed or modified by the department under the powers conferred upon it by this chapter, but this provision shall not give to such rates any greater weight as evidence of the reasonableness of other rates than they would otherwise have.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 18 - Classes of Rates Established by Carrier; Special Rates

Section 18. Subject to the powers of the department to regulate and prescribe rates and charges, a common carrier may make commodity, transit or other classes of rates. The furnishing by any common carrier of any service at the rates and upon the terms and conditions provided for in any existing contract executed prior to July first, nineteen hundred and thirteen, shall not constitute a discrimination unless the department so determines. The department shall not be prevented from taking such action as it deems proper by any commitment or agreement of a common carrier entered into by reason of any requirement or recommendation of any board or public officers acting under delegated authority from the general court prior to July first, nineteen hundred and thirteen. Unless the department determines otherwise, common carriers shall be permitted, whether required to do so by law or not, to issue mileage, workingmen's, excursion, school or commutation passenger tickets, or reduced rate tickets for the transportation of children under twelve years of age or of pupils attending school, or joint interchangeable mileage tickets, with special privileges as to the amount of free baggage which may be carried under mileage tickets of five hundred miles or more. All season tickets, before issuance, shall be subject to the approval of the department as to the form thereof and the conditions named therein.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 19a - Directory Assistance Rate Schedules

Section 19A. The department may approve a rate, fare, toll or charge for directory assistance service pursuant to schedules filed with the department; provided, however, that for each business or residence line and for each private branch exchange trunk line to which a customer subscribes, said customer shall be entitled to receive an allowance of ten direct dialed directory assistance calls per month; provided, further, that as of January, nineteen hundred and ninety-three, directory assistance calls for telephone numbers which are non-listed, or non-listed and non-published shall not be included in the ten call allowance; and provided, further, there shall be no rate, fare, toll or charge for said calls. The department shall determine an appropriate reduced monthly direct dialed directory assistance call allowance applicable to each Centrex line to which a business customer subscribes to provide a monthly call allowance equivalent to the allowance provided to each private branch exchange trunk line. Customers who are certified handicapped or elderly pursuant to regulations promulgated by the department shall be allowed an unlimited number of directory assistance calls without charge, and subject to such other terms and conditions as the department finds reasonable; provided, however, that no rate, fare, toll or charge for directory assistance service may be charged to users of coin operated telephones. The department may approve a rate, fare, toll or charge for directory assistance service to other common carriers as defined in paragraph (d) of section twelve for such directory assistance service as provided for herein.
For the purpose of this section, ''directory assistance service'' or ''directory assistance call'' shall mean information given to a customer of a telecommunications company to provide such customer with a telephone number for another customer within the commonwealth. A telecommunications company that provides a service which gives customers information about telephone numbers in another state shall not be required to file a schedule with the department to offer such service and the department shall have no authority to review or approve the offering of such service. Each customer shall be entitled without charge to a directory for each area within the commonwealth.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 19b - Automatic Telephone Dialing Systems; Definition

Section 19B. As used in sections nineteen C and nineteen D, the following words shall, unless the context requires otherwise, have the following meanings:—
''Automatic telephone dialing system'', any automatic terminal equipment which is capable of storing numbers to be called or producing numbers to be called, using a random or sequential number generator, and with the ability to call such numbers, and which is capable of delivering a prerecorded message to the number called with or without manual assistance.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 19c - Notification of Wish Not to Receive Calls From Automatic Telephone Dialing System

Section 19C. Any person who is a customer of a common carrier and who wishes not to receive telephone calls from an automatic telephone dialing system may notify such common carrier which provides telephone exchange service that he does not wish to receive such calls.
The department shall prescribe regulations specifying the manner in which such notification shall be given, specifying the manner in which common carriers shall make available to persons using an automatic dialing system the names and telephone numbers of persons who do not wish to receive such calls, and specifying the time at which and manner in which a subscriber may give or revoke such notification. The regulations shall require that a customer be given the opportunity to give such notification whenever a telephone is installed, and not less frequently than annually thereafter.
A common carrier shall not make any charge to a customer for the service of listing him as not wishing to receive such calls. The costs incurred by any common carrier to administer the provisions of this section shall be borne by those persons or institutions obtaining the names and telephone numbers of those subscribers who do not wish to receive calls under a schedule to be approved by the department.
Nothing in this section or regulation promulgated thereunder shall be deemed to impose any liability on a common carrier providing local exchange service arising or resulting from the use of an automatic dialing system except in producing or using such a system.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 19d - Design and Operation of Automatic Telephone Dialing Systems

Section 19D. Any automatic telephone dialing system sold in the commonwealth shall be designed to prevent the selection or dialing of any telephone numbers listed pursuant to section nineteen C.
Any person using an automatic telephone dialing system shall prevent such system from selecting or dialing any telephone numbers listed pursuant to said section nineteen C.
Any automatic telephone dialing system used in the commonwealth shall be operated so that the system will, within five seconds after the called party hangs up, automatically create a disconnect signal or on-hook condition which allows the called party's line to be released.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 19e - Solicitations by Telephone; Required Disclosures; Misrepresentation

Section 19E. No person shall solicit a sale or order for sale of goods or services at the residence of a prospective buyer by means of a telephone without expressly revealing at the time the person initially contacts the prospective buyer, and before making any other statement, except a greeting, or asking the prospective buyer any other questions, that the purpose of the contact is to effect a sale, by doing all of the following:—
(1) stating the identity of the person making the solicitations;
(2) stating the trade name of the person represented by the person making the solicitation; and
(3) stating the kind of goods or services being offered for sale.
No person shall, in soliciting a sale or order for the sale of goods or services at the residence of a prospective buyer by the telephone, use any plan, scheme, or ruse which misrepresents his true status or mission for the purpose of making such sale or order for the sale of goods or services.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 19f - Posting Rates, Terms and Conditions of Retail Services on Website; Department Notification of Changes

Section 19F. (a) Notwithstanding section 19, a common carrier furnishing service described in clause (d) of section 12 may post on its website the rates, terms and conditions of any retail service it offers, renders or furnishes within the commonwealth. Section 19 shall not apply to any such retail service so posted and no such common carrier shall be required to file with the department or obtain department approval of any schedule for such service. No such common carrier shall, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, charge, demand, exact, receive or collect a rate in excess of the rate posted to its website under this paragraph. Upon written notice to the department, such common carrier may withdraw any schedule, contract or agreement previously filed with the department under section 19 for any such retail service so posted under this paragraph. This subsection shall not apply to a rural telephone company as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 153 except upon approval of the department. Nothing in this section shall affect the authority of the department (i) to require 30 days' notice to any affected consumer of any increase in rates for retail services so posted; (ii) to require its prior approval of any increase in rates for residential basic exchange service offered by an incumbent local exchange carrier, as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 251(h); (iii) under sections 13, 14 and 20; or (iv) over switched access or wholesale services.
(b) Common carriers shall electronically notify the department on the same business day of posting any change in rates and terms or conditions for a retail service posted under this section and not subject to section 19, unless the department exempts a common carrier from this subsection.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 20 - Notice and Hearing Upon Proposed Rate Schedule Changes; Order

Section 20. Whenever the department receives notice of any changes proposed to be made in any schedule filed by any common carrier not furnishing the service of transmission of intelligence by electricity under this chapter, it may, either upon complaint or upon its own motion, and after notice, hold a public hearing and make investigation as to the propriety of such proposed changes. Whenever the department receives notice of any changes proposed to be made in any schedule filed under this chapter which represent a general increase in rates by a common carrier furnishing the service of transmission of intelligence by electricity, it shall notify the attorney general of the same forthwith, and shall thereafter hold a public hearing and make an investigation as to the propriety of such proposed changes after first causing notice of the time, place and the subject matter of such hearing to be published at least twenty-one days before such hearing in such local newspapers as the department may select. Pending any such investigation and the decision thereon, the department may, by order served upon the common carrier affected, suspend, from time to time, the taking effect of such changes, but not for a longer period than ten months in the aggregate beyond the time when the same would otherwise take effect. After such hearing and investigation, the department may make, in reference to any new rate, joint rate, fare, telephone rental, toll, classification, charge, rule, regulation or form of contract or agreement proposed, such order as would be proper in a proceeding under section fourteen. At any such hearing involving any proposed increase in any rate, joint rate, fare, telephone rental, toll or charge, the burden of proof to show that such increase is necessary to obtain a reasonable compensation for the service rendered shall be upon the common carrier. If, at a hearing involving any proposed decrease in any rate, joint rate, fare, telephone rental, toll or charge demanded by any common carrier, it shall appear to the department that the said rate, joint rate, fare, telephone rental, toll or charge is insufficient to yield reasonable compensation for the service rendered, the department may determine what will be a just and reasonable minimum to be charged, and make an order that the common carrier shall not thereafter demand or collect less than the minimum so prescribed without first obtaining the consent of the department, after a public hearing.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 23 - Notice to Railway of Recommended Improvements and Changes

Section 23. If the department is of opinion that repairs are necessary upon any railroad or railway, or that an addition to its rolling stock, or an addition to or change or relocation of its stations or station houses or waiting rooms, or a change in its rates of fares for transporting freight or passengers, or in the mode of operating the railroad or railway and conducting its business, is reasonable and expedient to promote the security, convenience and accommodation of the public, it shall in writing inform the corporation or company of the improvement and changes which it recommends.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 24 - Hearing Upon Complaint Concerning Service or Rates of Carrier Transmitting Intelligence by Electricity

Section 24. Upon written complaint, relative to the service or charges for service in, to or from any city or town as rendered or made by any company engaged therein in the transmission of intelligence by electricity, by the mayor or selectmen, or by twenty customers of the company, the department shall grant a public hearing, first giving to the complainants and the company reasonable written notice of the time and place thereof. Upon written complaint of the mayor, selectmen or twenty legal voters of a city or town within which any railroad, railway or other carrier of passengers under the jurisdiction of the department is located or renders service, alleging grounds of complaint, the department shall examine the condition and operation of such carrier, first giving to the complainants and such carrier reasonable written notice of the time and place thereof.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 26 - Valuation and Revaluation of Carrier's Property

Section 26. The department may investigate and determine the fair value for any purpose of all the property of any common carrier rendering a public service subject to the supervision of the department, actually used or useful for the convenience of the public, whenever it deems the ascertainment of such value necessary to carry into effect any provision of this chapter, and may at any time make a revaluation of such property. In making any valuation under this section, the department shall have access to and may use any books, documents or records in the possession of any department or board of the commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 27 - Inspections

Section 27. The department may, either through its members or responsible agents, engineers, inspectors or examiners duly authorized by it, enter upon any premises occupied by any carrier subject to its jurisdiction for any purpose consistent with this chapter. It may inspect the property, equipment, buildings, plants, factories, power houses, ducts, conduits and offices of any such carrier. It may, in connection with such inspection, have performed for it such service of the kind rendered by the carrier as it may reasonably require, including passage upon any locomotive, car, vessel or vehicle while in service, and, upon reasonable notice, the use of an inspection locomotive, car, vessel or vehicle whenever that is necessary, in the opinion of the department, for a physical inspection of all or any of the lines and stations of any such carrier.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 28 - Notice of Accidents

Section 28. Every railroad corporation, railway company and carrier of passengers for hire by motor vehicle under the jurisdiction of the department shall give immediate notice of an accident on its railroad or railway or on or connected with a motor vehicle belonging to it, resulting in a loss of life, to the medical examiner of the county who resides nearest to the place of accident, and shall also, within twenty-four hours, give notice to the department of any such accident or of any accident of the description of accidents of which it may require notice to be given. For each omission to give such notice, the corporation, company or other carrier shall forfeit not more than one hundred dollars.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 29 - Investigation of Accidents

Section 29. An inspector shall, under the direction of the department, investigate as promptly as may be any accident upon a railroad, railway or motor vehicle of a carrier of passengers under the jurisdiction of the department, or in which such railroad, railway or motor vehicle is concerned, which causes the death or imperils the life of any person, and shall report thereon to the department, which shall investigate the cause of any such accident resulting in loss of life, and may investigate any other accident. The inspector shall attend the inquest held in case of any such death by accident and may cause any person who has knowledge of the facts or circumstances connected with such death to be summoned as a witness to testify at the inquest.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 30 - Defects; Information by Employee; Protection of Source

Section 30. An employee may make written complaint to the department of a defect in the ways, works, machinery or appliances, or any car or vehicle, of a railroad, railway or other carrier of passengers under its jurisdiction, and the name of the complainant shall not be divulged.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 31 - Forms of Accounts, Records and Memoranda

Section 31. The department may, from time to time, prescribe forms of accounts, records and memoranda for the common carriers under its supervision, or for such classes of common carriers as it shall establish. The forms shall conform as nearly as may be to those established by the interstate commerce commission. The accounts of such common carriers shall be kept in accordance with the forms prescribed. It shall have access to the list of stockholders of any railroad corporation or railway company and may cause the said list or any part thereof to be copied for its information or for the information of said stockholders. Any railroad corporation or railway company which refuses to submit its books to the examination of the department or unreasonably neglects to keep its accounts in the method prescribed by the department shall forfeit not more than five thousand dollars.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 32 - Annual Return; Form; Time of Filing; Amendment

Section 32. The department shall prescribe the forms for the annual returns to be made to it by the several kinds of common carriers and may from time to time make changes and additions in any such form; provided, that changes therein or additions thereto requiring any alteration in the method or form of keeping the accounts of such common carriers shall not be effective until after notice thereof shall have been given, at least six months before the beginning of the year or other period for which such changes or additions are prescribed, by the department to the common carriers affected thereby. The annual returns required by law to be made to the department shall be returns for the year ending on December thirty-first, and shall be transmitted thereto, upon blank forms to be furnished by the department, on or before March thirty-first following, or such subsequent date as in any case, for good cause shown, the department may fix. If a return is defective or appears erroneous, the department shall forthwith order the common carrier to amend it within fifteen days. The original of each return or amended return, subscribed and sworn to as required by law, shall be preserved in the office of the department.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 33 - Express Business; Annual Return

Section 33. Every person doing an express business upon either a railroad or railway in the commonwealth shall annually transmit to the department a return on oath of his doings setting forth copies of all contracts made during the year with other persons doing a transportation or express business upon any railroad or railway in the commonwealth, and shall give complete information in reply to the questions presented in the form for such return which shall be prescribed by the department. A person neglecting to make such return or, if defective or erroneous, to amend it within fifteen days after a request so to do shall forfeit twenty-five dollars for each day during which such neglect continues.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 34 - Examination of Books, etc.; Subpoena Duces Tecum

Section 34. The department, through its commissioners or by employees duly authorized, may examine all books, contracts, records, documents, papers and memoranda of any common carrier, and by subpoena duces tecum compel the production thereof, or of duly verified copies of the same or any of them, and compel the attendance of such witnesses as the department may require to give evidence at any such examination.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 35 - Examination of Condition of Company on Request of Interested Party

Section 35. Upon the written application of a director, or of any person owning one fiftieth part of the paid-in capital stock of a corporation or company operating a railroad or railway, or who owns the bonds or other evidences of indebtedness of such corporation or company equal in amount to one fiftieth part of its paid-in capital stock, the department shall examine the books and the financial condition of said corporation or company, and shall cause the result of such examination to be published in one or more daily newspapers in Boston, and in some newspaper published in the county where such applicant resides.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 37 - Service of Orders of Department; Notification of Receipt and Acceptance

Section 37. Every order of the department shall be served upon every person or corporation to be affected thereby, either by personal delivery of a certified copy thereof, or by mailing a certified copy thereof, in a sealed package, postage prepaid, to the person to be affected thereby or, in the case of a corporation, to any officer or agent thereof upon whom a summons may be served under the laws of the commonwealth. Every person and corporation shall notify the department forthwith, in writing, of the receipt of the certified copy of every order so served, and in the case of a corporation such notification shall be signed and acknowledged by a person or officer duly authorized by the corporation to admit such service. Within a time specified in the order, every person and corporation upon whom it is served shall, if so required in the order, notify the department in like manner whether the terms of the order are accepted and will be obeyed. Every such order shall take effect at a time therein specified and shall continue in force either for a period designated therein or until changed or abrogated by the department.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 38 - Effect of Request or Advice of Department

Section 38. No request or advice of the department shall in any manner impair the legal duties and obligations of a railroad corporation or railway company or its legal liability for the consequences of its acts or of the neglect or mismanagement of any of its agents or servants.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 39 - Violations; Action by Attorney General

Section 39. If in the judgment of the department any common carrier violates or neglects in any respect to comply with the provisions of any law, and after written notice by the department continues such violation or neglect, or neglects to make returns as required by law, or to amend the same when lawfully required so to do, the department shall forthwith present the facts to the attorney general for action.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 40 - Violations or Threatened Violations; Mandamus or Injunction

Section 40. Whenever the department is of opinion that a common carrier subject to its supervision is failing or omitting or about to fail or omit to do anything required of it by law or by order of the department, or is doing anything or about to do anything or permitting anything or about to permit anything to be done, contrary to or in violation of the law or of any order of the department, it shall direct its counsel to begin, subject to the supervision of the attorney general, an action or proceeding in the supreme judicial court in the name of the department for the purpose of having such violations or threatened violations stopped and prevented either by mandamus or injunction.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 41 - Representation at Hearings Concerning Proposed Legislation Affecting Department

Section 41. The department may be represented at any public hearing before any legislative committee or public board in the commonwealth, or of any other state or of the United States, with respect to any proposed legislation or action by public authorities within or without the commonwealth affecting any public service within the commonwealth subject to its supervision, whenever it deems such representation desirable in the interests of the commonwealth. It may apply by petition to the interstate commerce commission for relief, and may present evidence and arguments to the said commission, in any case in which it is of opinion that a common carrier subject to its supervision is violating any provision of the interstate commerce law or any valid order or regulation made under authority thereof. The department may also confer with or appear before boards of other states having powers over any common carrier when in its judgment the interests of the commonwealth will be promoted thereby.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 43 - Annual Report of Department

Section 43. The department shall make an annual report including such statements, facts and explanations as will describe the actual working of the system of carriers under its supervision in its bearing upon the business and prosperity of the commonwealth, with such tables and abstracts of all the returns required and such suggestions as to its general policy or any part thereof, or the condition, affairs or conduct of the activities under its supervision as may seem appropriate, together with a report of any proceeding had under authority of section twenty-three and the result thereof.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 44 - Examinations or Audits by Department; Divulging Information; Penalty

Section 44. Any employee or agent of the department who divulges any fact or information coming to his knowledge during the course of any examination or audit under this chapter, except in so far as he may be directed by the department, or by a court or judge, or be authorized by law, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 50 - Offer of New Capital Stock to Stockholders; Notice; Price; Time of Acceptance

Section 50. Any corporation which owns or operates a railroad, railway, electric railroad or elevated railway shall, upon any increase of its capital stock, except as provided in the following section, offer the new shares proportionately to its stockholders at such price, not less than the par value thereof, as may be determined by its stockholders. The directors upon the approval of such increase, as provided in section forty-eight of chapter one hundred and sixty and section twenty-eight of chapter one hundred and sixty-one, shall give written notice of the increase to each stockholder of record upon the books of the company at a date designated by vote of the directors passed after the approval by the department of such issue, stating the amount of the increase, the number of shares to which, according to the proportionate number of his shares at said date designated by the vote of the directors, he is entitled, the price at which he is entitled to take them, and fixing a time not less than fifteen days after said date designated by vote of the directors within which he may subscribe for such additional stock. Each stockholder may, within the time limited, subscribe for his portion of such stock, to be paid for in cash before the issue of a certificate therefor. No fractions of shares shall be issued, but stockholders may combine them by purchase or sale of rights to subscribe.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 51 - Auction of New Capital Stock

Section 51. If such increase does not exceed four per cent of the existing capital stock of the company, the directors, without first offering the same to the stockholders, may sell the shares by auction to the highest bidder, at not less than the par value thereof, to be actually paid in cash. They may also so sell at public auction any shares, which, after the expiration of the time limited in the notice required by the preceding section, remain unsubscribed for by the stockholders entitled to take them. Such shares shall be offered for sale in Boston, or in such other town as may be prescribed by the department; and notice of the time and place of such sale shall be published at least five times during the ten days immediately preceding the sale in each of at least three of such daily newspapers as may be prescribed by the department.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 52 - Basis of Determination by Department as to Amount of New Capital Stock

Section 52. The determination by the department, under the provisions of section forty-eight of chapter one hundred and sixty and section twenty-eight of chapter one hundred and sixty-one, as to the amount of stock which is reasonably necessary for the purpose for which such stock has been authorized shall, in the case of the corporations described in section fifty, be based upon the price at which such stock is to be issued as fixed by the stockholders; but the department shall refuse to approve any particular issue of stock if, in its opinion, the price fixed by the stockholders is so low as to be inconsistent with the public interest.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 53 - Computation of Amount of Capital Stock as Basis for Bond Issue

Section 53. In computing the amount of capital stock of a railroad corporation, electric railroad, railway or elevated railway company in order to determine the maximum amount of bonds, coupon notes or other evidences of indebtedness, payable at periods of more than twelve months after the date thereof, under sections forty-seven, forty-eight and sixty-four of chapter one hundred and sixty or section twenty-nine of chapter one hundred and sixty-one, and under any similar provisions of any special acts limiting the amount of such securities, which a railroad corporation, electric railroad, railway or elevated railway company may issue, there shall be added to the par value of the capital stock all cash premiums paid into the corporation on all shares issued by such corporation or company subsequent to July ninth, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, under chapter four hundred and sixty-two of the acts of eighteen hundred and ninety-four or any similar provisions of law.
2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XXII - Corporations › Chapter 159 - Common Carriers › Section 54 - Approval by Department; Public Hearing

Section 54. A lease or purchase and sale of the franchise and property of a railroad corporation, or railway company, and a consolidation of two or more railroad corporations, or railway companies, or a contract that either corporation or company shall perform all the transportation upon and over the road of the other, whether authorized by general laws or a special act, shall not be valid or binding until the terms thereof shall, after public notice and a hearing, have been approved by the department, and a certificate signed by it, setting forth the vote of approval, shall have been filed in the office of the state secretary. The department shall announce its decision within thirty days after the final hearing upon the application of any railroad corporation or railway company for permission to lease or sell to, consolidate with or purchase the franchise and other property of, any other railroad corporation or railway company, or to contract with any other railroad corporation or railway company that either corporation or company shall perform all the transportation upon and over the road of the other.
This section may be enforced as provided in section two hundred and fifty-two of chapter one hundred and sixty.