Massachusetts · statute · Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 159B · 35 active provisions
Section 1. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the commonwealth to regulate transportation of property by motor carriers upon its ways in such manner as to recognize and preserve the inherent advantages of such transportation, and to foster sound economic conditions in such transportation and among carriers engag…
Section 2. The following words and phrases as used in this chapter shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly requires otherwise: ''Agricultural carrier by motor vehicle'', any person whose principal business is agriculture, who owns or occupies lands used for the production of agricultural products,…
Section 3. No person shall engage in the business of a common carrier by motor vehicle upon any way unless there is in effect with respect to such carrier a certificate issued by the department authorizing the operations to be performed by such person. (a) A certificate shall be issued to any qualified applicant theref…
Section 4. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the commonwealth that the business of contract carriage is affected with the public interest and that the safety and welfare of the public upon the ways within the commonwealth, the preservation and maintenance of said ways and the proper regulation of common carrier…
Section 5. (a) No person shall for compensation sell or offer for sale transportation subject to this chapter, and no person shall make any contract, agreement or arrangement to provide, procure, furnish or arrange for such transportation or hold himself out by advertisement, solicitation or otherwise as one who sells,…
Section 6. Every common carrier by motor vehicle shall publish and file with the department and keep open for public inspection tariffs containing all the rates and charges for transportation of property and all services in connection therewith between points on its own routes, and between points on its own routes and…
Section 6A. No common carrier by motor vehicle shall charge, demand, collect or receive a different compensation for transportation or for any service in connection therewith between the points enumerated in such tariffs than the rates and charges specified in the tariffs in effect at the time; and no such carrier shal…
Section 6B. The department shall establish the maximum charges that may be made by persons subject to the provisions of this chapter for the towing away of motor vehicles, when such towing is ordered by the police or other public authority. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, a city or town by v…
Section 6D. Common or contract carriers shall not purchase from shippers for the purpose of immediate resale after transportation any commodity which is listed in the authority granted such carrier unless the transportation charge included in or deducted from such resale produces revenues identical to the rates publish…
Section 7. (a) Every contract carrier by motor vehicle, other than contract carriers by armored motor vehicles of bullion, currency, securities, negotiable and non-negotiable documents, jewels, and other precious and very valuable articles, shall file with the department a copy of every contract for the transportation…
Section 8. No carrier shall be permitted to hold both a common carrier certificate and a contract carrier permit until after having shown to the satisfaction of the department at a public hearing that operation under such certificate and permit is consistent with the public interest and with the policy declared in sect…
Section 9. A single distinguishing plate shall be prescribed and furnished by the department annually for each of the vehicles necessary for the conduct of the business of the holder of the certificate or permit, upon his application to the department, and said plates shall be prominently displayed on the front of each…
Section 10. Each interstate carrier by motor vehicle transporting over the ways within the commonwealth for compensation shall register and identify with the department pursuant to the federal Unified Carrier Registration Act of 2005. Each registration shall be accompanied by a fee, the amount of which shall be determi…
Section 10A. When a distinguishing plate issued by the department is lost or mutilated or the number thereon becomes illegible, the carrier to whom such plate was issued shall make application for a plate replacement. The department may issue additional plates to replace such plates issued under section nine or ten as…
Section 10B. The department may issue distinguishing plates to motor carriers and interstate licensees to be used only on motor vehicles temporarily leased by such carriers. Any plates so issued may be transferred from one such vehicle to another such vehicle leased by a carrier to whom such plate was originally issued…
Section 11. Any irregular route certificate or any permit may be wholly assigned and transferred, and any regular route certificate or license may be assigned and transferred, in whole or in part, if consistent with the public interest and with the approval and consent of the department after public notice in the manne…
Section 11A. In the event temporary approval for transfer under the Interstate Commerce Act has been granted by the Interstate Commerce Commission and upon application and payment of the fees required by section eleven, the department may, after hearing and upon a finding that such action is otherwise consistent with t…
Section 12. Any certificate, permit or license may, upon application of the holder thereof and after notice and hearing as provided by paragraph (b) of section three, be amended. Any permit, certificate or license, upon written application of the holder thereof to the department, may, without such notice and hearing, b…
Section 12A. The director of the transportation division may destroy applications filed under this chapter for distinguishing plates, except those of the current calendar year and the year next preceding. He may destroy or dispose of any returned or obsolete distinguishing plates which, in his opinion, are no longer of…
Section 13. Motor vehicles owned by the commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions and motor vehicles engaged in the transportation of non-hazardous waste materials shall be subject to section eighteen, but shall be exempt from all other provisions of this chapter. Motor vehicles while engaged exclusively in the…
Section 14. Investigators and examiners appointed under section twelve F of chapter twenty-five, with respect to the enforcement of the laws relating to commercial motor vehicles, including laws and regulations relating to safety on public ways, shall have and exercise throughout the commonwealth all the powers of cons…
Section 14A. Every motor carrier, including private carriers and interstate licensees, their agents and employees, when requested by a duly authorized state police officer who is in uniform or displays the proper insignia of his office, shall stop and submit to said duly authorized state police officer all transportati…
Section 14B. Any person who, while operating or in charge of a commercial motor vehicle, refuses, when requested by an investigator or examiner of the commercial motor vehicle division, to give his name and address and the name and address of the owner of such commercial motor vehicle, or who gives a false name or addr…
Section 15. The department may, upon application therefor, when consistent with the public interest and the policy of this chapter, as set forth in section one, issue such temporary certificates to common carriers by motor vehicles and such temporary permits to contract carriers by motor vehicle as it deems necessary t…
Section 15A. No person shall engage in the business of an agricultural carrier by motor vehicle unless there is in effect with respect to such carrier an agricultural carrier's permit issued by the department. Each application for such a permit shall be in writing in such form and contain such information as the depart…