(a) Any person who commits any of the following acts, shall, upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year or by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of § 1170 of the Penal Code for 16, 24, or 36 months:

(1)  Except as provided by Section 7724.1, knowingly fails to follow the direction or order of the secretary or the commission arising from a rail accident or release of a hazardous or potentially hazardous commodity from a railcar.

Terms Used In California Public Utilities Code 7724

  • Commission: means the Public Utilities Commission created by §. See California Public Utilities Code 20
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • County: includes city and county. See California Public Utilities Code 18
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Public Utilities Code 17
  • Subdivision: means a subdivision of the section in which that term occurs unless some other section is expressly mentioned. See California Public Utilities Code 10

(2) Knowingly causes, or aids or abets in, the discharge or spill of, a hazardous or potentially hazardous commodity from a railcar, unless the discharge is authorized by the United States, the state, or another agency with appropriate jurisdiction.

(3) Knowingly fails to comply with the regulations adopted pursuant to Section 7712, and that failure results in a rail accident or release of hazardous material or creates a significant risk of accident or release of hazardous material.

(b) The court shall also impose upon a person convicted of violating subdivision (a), a fine not to exceed five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) for each violation. For purposes of this subdivision, each day or partial day that a violation occurs is a separate violation.

(c) The court shall also impose upon a person convicted of violating paragraph (1) of subdivision (a), a fine equal to twice the cost of abating, repairing, and responding to the cost associated with the illegal discharge of a hazardous or potentially hazardous commodity from a railcar as a result of a rail accident.

(Amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 15, Sec. 562. (AB 109) Effective April 4, 2011. Operative October 1, 2011, by Sec. 636 of Ch. 15, as amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 39, Sec. 68.)

  Previous section
Next section  
 Article 10 Contents