Marvin Mandel, Governor                        1187

CHAPTER 543
(House Bill 579)

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Section 2(o) of
Article 78 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1969 Replacement
Volume), title "Public Service Commission Law," subtitle "Gen-
eral Provisions"; to add new Section 2(ii) to the Article, to follow
immediately after Section 2(hh) thereof; and to add new Section
55A to the Article, subtitle "Public Service Companies," to follow
immediately after Section 55 thereof and to be under the new sub-
heading "Radio Common Carriers," to add radio common carrier
to the list of the types of companies included in the term "Public
Service Company," to add a definition of "Radio Common Carrier,"
and to provide for the regulation of and the granting of jurisdiction
to the Public Service Commission over Radio Common Carriers.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Section 2(o) of Article 78 of the Annotated Code of Maryland
(1969 Replacement Volume), title "Public Service Commission Law,"
subtitle "General Provisions," be and it is hereby repealed and
re-enacted, with amendments; and that new Section 2(ii) be and it
is hereby added to the Article, to follow immediately after Section
2(hh) thereof, and that new Section 55A be and it is hereby added to
the Article, subtitle "Public Service Companies," to follow imme-
diately after Section 55 thereof, and to be under the new subheading
"Radio Common Carriers," and all to read as follows:

2.

(o) "Public Service Company" means a common carrier company,
gas company, electric company, steam heating company, telephone
company, telegraph company, radio common carrier, water com-
pany, sewage disposal company, and/or any combination thereof.
Two public service companies shall be considered of the same class,
where they are both common carrier companies or both gas com-
panies, electric companies, gas and electric companies, steam heating
companies, telephone companies, telegraph companies, water com-
panies or sewage disposal companies.

2.

(ii) "Radio Common Carrier" shall mean every public service
company operating or managing a radio common carrier engaged
in the business of providing a service of one way or two way radio
communications and licensed as a miscellaneous common carrier by
the Federal Communications Commission, but not engaged in the
business of providing a public land line message telephone service or
a public message telegraph service. The terms "telegraph com-
pany," "telephone company," or "a person operating telegraph or
telephone lines" when used in this Article, shall not be construed to
include radio common carriers.

55A.                       RADIO COMMON CARRIERS

(a) No radio common carrier shall begin or continue the con-
struction or operation of any radio common carrier system or any
extension thereof, either directly or indirectly, without first obtain-