96509.docx

MEMORANDUM
TO:RON LAW, ADMINISTRATOR
MOTOR CARRIER DIVISION
FROM:WELDON STUTZMAN
DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL
DATE:MAY 9, 1996
RE:IDAHO STATUTES REGARDING REGULATION OF  RAILROAD SAFETY
Recently we discussed the Idaho statutes that address rail safety issues.  Under Idaho law, the Public Utilities Commission is vested with the authority and responsibility to safeguard the public welfare in railroad operations.  The state Department of Transportation is primarily responsible for safety at railroad and roadway crossings.  This memorandum briefly outlines the state statutes that provide for regulation of rail safety.
Idaho Code § 61-517.  This section requires the Commission to investigate the cause of all accidents occurring upon the property of any public utility or arising from a utility’s maintenance or operation of its property.  This section also requires every public utility to file with the Commission “under such rules and regulations as the Commission may prescribe, a report of each accident so occurring of such kinds or classes as the Commission may from time-to-time designate.”  For the purposes of this section, railroads are public utilities.  Idaho Code § 61-129 defines public utility to include “common carrier,” and Idaho Code § 61-113, as well as Article 11, Section 5 of the Idaho State Constitution, includes railroads within the definition of “common carrier.”  
Idaho Code § 61-515.  This section grants the Commission authority to require every public utility to maintain and operate its plants and equipment in a manner to promote and safeguard the health and safety of its employees, customers and the public.  The Commission by this section may prescribe “appropriate safety or other devices or appliances, to establish uniform or other standards of equipment, and to require the performance of any other act, which the health or safety  of its employees, customers or the public may demand.”  This section broadly authorizes Commission rules to establish and oversee safety programs, for example, rail safety inspection programs.
Idaho Code § 61-515A.  This section requires every railroad to equip its locomotive and caboose with a first aid kit of the type approved by the Commission.
Idaho Code Title 62, Chapter 3.  This chapter establishes a dedicated fund in the state treasury, identified as the railroad grade crossing protection account, “in order to promote the public safety at railroad grade crossings and public streets, roads or highways, and to provide for the payment of all or part of the costs of installing, reconstructing, maintaining or improving automatic or other safety appliances, signals or devices at railroad grade crossings of public streets, roads or highways.”  Section 62-304B gives the Idaho Department of Transportation responsibility for administration of the railroad grade crossing protection account.  Idaho Code § 62-304D requires the accident reports filed with the Commission pursuant to § 61-517 to also be provided to the Department of Transportation.

Weldon Stutzman
vld/M:Law.ws