2021 Georgia Code
Title 40 - Motor Vehicles and Traffic
Chapter 1 - Identification and Regulation
Article 3 - Motor Carriers
Part 2 - Certification of Motor Carriers
§ 40-1-104. Revocation, Alteration, or Amendment of Certificate or Permit; Suspension; Out-of-Service Orders

1. The commissioner may, at any time after notice and opportunity to be heard and for reasonable cause, revoke, alter, or amend any motor carrier certificate or permit, if it shall be made to appear that the holder of the certificate has willfully violated or refused to observe any of the lawful and reasonable orders, rules, or regulations prescribed by the commissioner or any of the provisions of this part or any other law of this state regulating or taxing motor vehicles, or both, or if in the opinion of the commissioner the holder of the certificate is not furnishing adequate service.
2. The commissioner may, at any time, after reasonable attempt at notice, immediately suspend any motor carrier certificate or permit, if the commissioner finds such suspension necessary:
   1. To protect life, health, or safety;
   2. For the protection of consumers; or
   3. Based upon a finding that the carrier no longer meets the qualification or fitness requirements of Code Section 40-1-103 or 40-1-106.

      Certificate holders affected by such suspension may appeal to the commissioner for review pursuant to Chapter 13 of Title 50, the "Georgia Administrative Procedure Act." The commissioner may exercise his or her discretion to designate a hearing officer for such appeals.

3. The commissioner, or his or her designated employees, may issue an out-of-service order or orders to a certificate or permit holder, pursuant to the provisions of this article or the department's rules.

(Code 1981, §40-1-104, enacted by Ga. L. 2012, p. 580, § 1/HB 865; Ga. L. 2013, p. 141, § 40/HB 79; Ga. L. 2013, p. 838, § 8/HB 323.)

- Ga. L. 2013, p. 838, § 20/HB 323, not codified by the General Assembly, provides, in part: "This Act shall become effective on July 1, 2013, and shall apply to violations committed on or after such date".

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under former Code 1933, § 68-607 are included in the annotations for this Code section.

- When a certificate of public convenience and necessity has been granted by the commission to a motor common carrier to operate a passenger, baggage, and express service by motor vehicles over a specified route between certain named cities in this state, and, thereafter such certificate is revoked and canceled by order of the commission, after hearing pursuant to a rule nisi, because of the carrier's failure to operate passenger bus service under said certificate, the motor common carrier has not the right to review such order or judgment of the commission by writ of certiorari from the superior court, as the act of the commission in the revocation of such certificate was not a judicial function, but was the exercise of administrative power, to which action the writ of certiorari does not lie. Southeastern Greyhound Lines v. Georgia Pub. Serv. Comm'n, 181 Ga. 75, 181 S.E. 834, answer conformed to, 52 Ga. App. 35, 182 S.E. 204 (1935);(decided under former Code 1933, § 68-607).

- When a Class "B" certificate authorizing a holder to transport household, kitchen, office furniture, and store fixtures between all points in Georgia, which, under former Code 1933, § 68-607, the commission was authorized to "suspend, revoke, alter, or amend," and under former Code 1933, § 68-608, was authorized to transfer, was altered or amended and transferred, being limited to between all points within a 20 mile radius of Atlanta, there was no merit in the contention that the commission was without authority to transplant a one-truck operation from the outskirts of Calhoun to an eleven-truck operation in the metropolis of Atlanta. Woodside Transf. & Storage Co. v. Georgia Pub. Serv. Comm'n, 212 Ga. 625, 94 S.E.2d 706 (1956);(decided under former Code 1933, § 68-607).

- Control of pedestrians and motor vehicles on municipal streets, including those on and around school grounds was a governmental function within the police power of the municipality. Fletcher v. Russell, 151 Ga. App. 229, 259 S.E.2d 212 (1979), rev'd on other grounds, 244 Ga. 854, 262 S.E.2d 138 (1979);(decided under former Code 1933, § 68-607).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, opinions under former Code 1933, § 68-607, which was subsequently repealed but was succeeded by provisions in this Code section, are included in the annotations for this Code section.

Former Code 1933, § 68-607 was plain and unambiguous, and hence not subject to legal interpretation; it clearly authorized the commission to revoke or amend a certificate if the carrier was not furnishing adequate service. The only question to be determined in such a case was whether or not the service was inadequate from any cause; it made no difference whether that inadequacy may have resulted from abandonment of other services by the applicant or any other carrier, or whether it arises from gradual population shifts. 1957 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 222 (decided under former Code 1933, § 68-607).

- In determining whether a branch line should be discontinued, public convenience and necessity - not loss to the utility - when the operation as a whole is profitable, is the determinative factor, and the commission may consider the return from the entire system rather than just the branch line. Of course, under the guise of regulation the property of a carrier may not be taken by requiring it to furnish services or facilities not reasonably necessary to serve the public. 1957 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 222 (decided under former Code 1933, § 68-607).

- When the commission, under former Code 1933, § 68-607, after notice and opportunity to be heard, and for reasonable cause, revoked and canceled a certificate of public convenience and necessity, such certificate became forever dead and the original holder thereof had no further privileges thereunder, and before the holder of such canceled and revoked certificate can again enjoy the privileges the holder formerly enjoyed under the certificate, the holder must first file a new application and it then became the duty of the commission to assign the application for a hearing so that the commission may determine that the public interest required such operations. 1945-47 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 403 (decided under former Code 1933, § 68-607).

- Former Code 1933, § 68-607 was simply one expression of the principle which permeated all public utility regulations - the duty of the utility to furnish adequate service, which was a correlative of its right to serve. 1957 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 222 (decided under former Code 1933, § 68-607).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 13 Am. Jur. 2d, Carriers, §§ 140 et seq., 155.

- 60 C.J.S., Motor Vehicles, §§ 258 et seq., 300, 301.