Chapter 4931 | Companies - Telegraph; Telephone

Section
Section 4931.01 \| "Telephone company" defined. Effective: September 13, 2010 Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 162 - 128th General Assembly PDF: Download Authenticated PDF As used in sections 4931.02 to 4931.05 of the Revised Code, "telephone company" has the same meaning as in section 4927.01 of the Revised Code.
Section 4931.02 \| Acquisition or construction of other lines. Effective: September 13, 2010 Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 162 - 128th General Assembly PDF: Download Authenticated PDF (A) A telephone company may construct, own, use, and maintain telecommunications lines and facilities, whether described in its original articles of incorporation or not, and whether such lines or facilities are wholly within or partly beyond the limits of this state. It may join with another company or association in conducting, leasing, owning, using, or maintaining such lines or facilities, on terms agreed upon between the directors or managers of the respective companies. Such companies may own and hold any interest in such lines or facilities, or become lessees thereof on such terms as they agree upon, but no such company and the owner of rights of way shall contract for the exclusive use of such rights of way for telecommunications purposes. (B) A telephone company's lines and facilities shall not unreasonably interfere with the practical uses of the property on which they are located. A telephone company shall repair defective lines and facilities, which repairs shall be consistent with reasonable business practices and applicable industry standards.
Section 4931.03 \| Construction in unincorporated area of township. Effective: September 13, 2010 Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 162 - 128th General Assembly PDF: Download Authenticated PDF (A) A telephone company may do either of the following in the unincorporated area of the township: (1) Construct telecommunications lines or facilities upon and along any of the public roads and highways and across any waters within that area by the erection of the necessary fixtures, including posts, piers, or abutments for sustaining the cords or wires of those lines or facilities. The lines and facilities shall be constructed so as not to incommode the public in the use of the roads or highways, or endanger or injuriously interrupt the navigation of the waters. (2) Construct telecommunications lines and facilities in such a manner as to protect them beneath the surface of any of the public roads and highways and beneath any waters within that area. Those lines and facilities shall be constructed so as not to incommode the public in the use of the roads or highways, or endanger or injuriously interrupt the navigation of the waters. (B)(1) This section does not authorize the construction of a bridge across any waters within the state. (2) Construction under this section is subject to section 5571.16 of the Revised Code, as applicable, and any other applicable law, including, but not limited to, any law requiring approval of the legislative authority, the county engineer, or the director of transportation.
Section 4931.04 \| Right of entry. Effective: September 13, 2010 Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 162 - 128th General Assembly PDF: Download Authenticated PDF A telephone company may enter upon any land held by an individual or a corporation, whether such land was acquired by purchase, appropriation, or by virtue of any provision in its charter, for the purpose of making preliminary examination and surveys, with a view to the location and construction of telecommunications lines and facilities, and may appropriate so much of such land in accordance with sections 163.01 to 163.22 of the Revised Code, as it deems necessary for the construction and maintenance of those lines and facilities, and the right of way in, through, over, across, and under such lands and adjacent lands, sufficient to enable it to construct and repair the lines and facilities.
Section 4931.05 \| Powers and restrictions. Effective: September 13, 2010 Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 162 - 128th General Assembly PDF: Download Authenticated PDF Any company organized at any time to transact a telephone or communications business may construct, reconstruct, own, use, lease, operate, maintain, and improve communications systems for the transmission of voices, sounds, writings, signs, signals, pictures, visions, images, or other forms of intelligence, as public utility services, by means of wire, cable, radio, radio relay, or other telecommunications facilities, methods, or media. Any such company has the powers and is subject to the restrictions prescribed in sections 4931.02 to 4931.04 of the Revised Code for telephone companies.
Section 4931.06 \| Privileged communications of person with communicative impairment. Effective: September 13, 2010 Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 162 - 128th General Assembly PDF: Download Authenticated PDF (A) As used in this section and in sections 2317.02 and 2921.22 of the Revised Code: (1) "Communications assistant" means a person who transliterates conversation from text to voice and from voice to text between the end users of a telecommunications relay service provided pursuant to this section or Title II of the "Communications Act of 1934," 104 Stat. 366 (1990), 47 U.S.C. 225. (2) "Communicative impairment" means deafness or speech impairment. (3) "Deafness" means a hearing loss that prevents a person from being able to understand speech over the telephone. (4) "Speech impairment" means a speech impairment that renders a person's speech unintelligible on the telephone. (5) "Telecommunications relay service" means telephone transmission services that provide the ability for an individual who has a communicative impairment to engage in a communication by wire or radio with a hearing individual in a manner that is functionally equivalent to the ability of an individual who does not have a communicative impairment to communicate using voice communication services by wire or radio. "Telecommunications relay service" includes services that enable two-way communication between an individual who uses a text telephone or other nonvoice terminal device and an individual who does not use such a device. (B) Any communication made by or to a person with a communicative impairment with the assistance of a communications assistant at a telecommunications relay service is confidential and privileged and shall not be disclosed by the communications assistant in any civil case or proceeding or in any legislative or administrative proceeding, unless the person making the communication and the person to whom the communication is made each waive the privilege of confidentiality or the obligation to divulge the communication is mandated by federal law or regulation or pursuant to subpoena in a criminal proceeding. (C) A communications assistant or a telecommunications relay service provider is not subject to criminal prosecution and is not liable in damages in any civil action on account of the act of transliterating or the content of any communication transliterated, or any injury, death, or loss to person or property allegedly arising from the act of transliterating or the content of any communication transliterated, between the end users of a telecommunications relay service, except in cases of willful or wanton misconduct.
Section 4931.10 \| Transmitting advertising by facsimile device. Effective: December 20, 2012 Latest Legislation: House Bill 360 - 129th General Assembly PDF: Download Authenticated PDF (A) As used in this section: (1) "Advertisement" means a message or material intended to cause the sale of realty, goods, or services. (2) "Facsimile device" means a device that electronically or telephonically receives and copies onto paper reasonable reproductions or facsimiles of documents and photographs through connection with a telephone network. (3) "Pre-existing business relationship" does not include transmitting an advertisement to the owner's or lessee's facsimile device. (B)(1) No person shall transmit an advertisement to a facsimile device unless the person has received prior permission from the owner or, if the device is leased, from the lessee of the device to which the message is to be sent to transmit the advertisement; or the person has a pre-existing business relationship with such owner or lessee. Division (B)(1) of this section does not apply to a person who transmits an advertisement to a facsimile device located on residential premises. (2) No person shall transmit an advertisement to a facsimile device located on residential premises unless the person has received prior written permission from the owner or, if the device is leased, from the lessee of the device to which the message is to be sent to transmit the advertisement. In addition to any other penalties or remedies, a recipient of an advertisement transmitted in violation of division (B)(2) of this section may bring a civil action against the person who transmitted that advertisement or caused it to be transmitted. In that action, the recipient may recover one thousand dollars for each violation. (C) When requested by the owner or lessee, the transmission shall occur between seven p.m. and five a.m. This section applies to all such advertisements intended to be so transmitted within this state.
Section 4931.99 \| Penalties. Effective: December 20, 2012 Latest Legislation: House Bill 360 - 129th General Assembly PDF: Download Authenticated PDF (A) Whoever violates division (B) of section 4931.06 of the Revised Code is guilty of a misdemeanor in the first degree. (B) Whoever violates section 4931.10 of the Revised Code is guilty of a minor misdemeanor for a first offense and a misdemeanor of the first degree on each subsequent offense.