<P> The act also created the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), the first independent regulatory agency of the US government . As part of its mission, the ICC heard complaints against the railroads and issued cease and desist orders to combat unfair practices . While the ICC was empowered to investigate and prosecute railroads and other transportation companies that were alleged to have violated the act, its jurisdiction was limited to companies that operated across state lines . Over time the courts would further narrow the agency's authority, and in 1903 congress established the Department of Commerce and Labor and its Bureau of Corporations to study and report on wider industries and their monopolistic practices . By 1906, the Supreme Court had ruled in favor of a railroad company in fifteen out of the sixteen cases over which it presided . </P> <P> The commission later regulated many other forms of surface transportation, including trucking and bus transportation . Congress abolished the ICC in 1995 (see Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act) and many of its remaining functions were transferred to a new agency, the Surface Transportation Board . </P> <P> Congress passed a minor amendment to the Act in 1903, the Elkins Act . Major amendments were enacted in 1906 and 1910 . The Hepburn Act of 1906 authorized the ICC to set maximum railroad rates, and extended the agency's authority to cover bridges, terminals, ferries, sleeping cars, express companies and oil pipelines . The Mann - Elkins Act of 1910 strengthened ICC authority over railroad rates and expanded its jurisdiction to include regulation of telephone, telegraph, and cable companies . The Valuation Act of 1913 required the ICC to organize a Bureau of Valuation that would assess the value of railroad property . This information would be used to set freight shipping rates . </P> <P> In 1935, Congress passed the Motor Carrier Act, which amended the Interstate Commerce Act to regulate bus lines and trucking as common carriers . </P>

List one of the significant changes of the conception of interstate commerce