49 U.S.C. § 5124 — Criminal penalty

Page 228 TITLE 49—TRANSPORTATION § 5124 tions described in section 5123(a) of title 49, United States Code (as amended by this section), that occur on or after the date of enactment of this Act [Aug. 10, 2005].’’ § 5124. Criminal penalty (a) IN GENERAL.—A person knowingly vio- lating section 5104(b) or willfully or recklessly violating this chapter or a regulation, order, special permit, or approval issued under this chapter shall be fined under title 18, imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both; except that the maximum amount of imprisonment shall be 10 years in any case in which the violation in- volves the release of a hazardous material that results in death or bodily injury to any person. (b) KNOWING VIOLATIONS.—For purposes of this section— (1) a person acts knowingly when— (A) the person has actual knowledge of the facts giving rise to the violation; or (B) a reasonable person acting in the cir- cumstances and exercising reasonable care would have that knowledge; and (2) knowledge of the existence of a statutory provision, or a regulation or a requirement re- quired by the Secretary, is not an element of an offense under this section. (c) WILLFUL VIOLATIONS.—For purposes of this section, a person acts willfully when— (1) the person has knowledge of the facts giv- ing rise to the violation; and (2) the person has knowledge that the con- duct was unlawful. (d) RECKLESS VIOLATIONS.—For purposes of this section, a person acts recklessly when the person displays a deliberate indifference or con- scious disregard to the consequences of that per- son’s conduct. (Pub. L. 103–272, § 1(d), July 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 781; Pub. L. 109–59, title VII, § 7121, Aug. 10, 2005, 119 Stat. 1906.) HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES Revised Section Source (U.S. Code) Source (Statutes at Large) 5124 ............ 49 App.:1809(b). Jan. 3, 1975, Pub. L. 93–633, § 110(b), 88 Stat. 2161; re- stated Nov. 16, 1990, Pub. L. 101–615, § 12(b), 104 Stat. 3259. Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 2005—Pub. L. 109–59 reenacted section catchline with- out change and amended text generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: ‘‘A person knowingly violating section 5104(b) of this title or willfully vio- lating this chapter or a regulation prescribed or order issued under this chapter shall be fined under title 18, imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both.’’ § 5125. Preemption (a) GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub- sections (b), (c), and (e) of this section and un- less authorized by another law of the United States, a requirement of a State, political sub- division of a State, or Indian tribe is preempted if— (1) complying with a requirement of the State, political subdivision, or tribe and a re- quirement of this chapter, a regulation pre- scribed under this chapter, or a hazardous ma- terials transportation security regulation or directive issued by the Secretary of Homeland Security is not possible; or (2) the requirement of the State, political subdivision, or tribe, as applied or enforced, is an obstacle to accomplishing and carrying out this chapter, a regulation prescribed under this chapter, or a hazardous materials trans- portation security regulation or directive issued by the Secretary of Homeland Security. (b) SUBSTANTIVE DIFFERENCES.—(1) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section and un- less authorized by another law of the United States, a law, regulation, order, or other re- quirement of a State, political subdivision of a State, or Indian tribe about any of the following subjects, that is not substantively the same as a provision of this chapter, a regulation pre- scribed under this chapter, or a hazardous mate- rials transportation security regulation or di- rective issued by the Secretary of Homeland Se- curity, is preempted: (A) the designation, description, and classi- fication of hazardous material. (B) the packing, repacking, handling, label- ing, marking, and placarding of hazardous ma- terial. (C) the preparation, execution, and use of shipping documents related to hazardous ma- terial and requirements related to the number, contents, and placement of those documents. (D) the written notification, recording, and reporting of the unintentional release in transportation of hazardous material and other written hazardous materials transpor- tation incident reporting involving State or local emergency responders in the initial re- sponse to the incident. (E) the designing, manufacturing, fabri- cating, inspecting, marking, maintaining, re- conditioning, repairing, or testing a package, container, or packaging component that is represented, marked, certified, or sold as qualified for use in transporting hazardous material in commerce. (2) If the Secretary prescribes or has pre- scribed under section 5103(b), 5104, 5110, or 5112 of this title or prior comparable provision of law a regulation or standard related to a subject re- ferred to in paragraph (1) of this subsection, a State, political subdivision of a State, or Indian tribe may prescribe, issue, maintain, and en- force only a law, regulation, standard, or order about the subject that is substantively the same as a provision of this chapter or a regulation prescribed or order issued under this chapter. The Secretary shall decide on and publish in the Federal Register the effective date of section 5103(b) of this title for any regulation or stand- ard about any of those subjects that the Sec- retary prescribes. The effective date may not be earlier than 90 days after the Secretary pre- scribes the regulation or standard nor later than the last day of the 2-year period beginning on the date the Secretary prescribes the regulation or standard. (3) If a State, political subdivision of a State, or Indian tribe imposes a fine or penalty the