H. B. 2310
(By Delegates Amores, Staton,
Beane and Mahan)
[Introduced
February 19, 2001
; referred to the
Committee on Banking and Insurance then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article one; and
section five, article five, chapter twenty-four-a of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, all relating to minimum amounts of financial
responsibility required of certain motor carriers and that
said insurance amounts shall be regulated by the commission.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article one; and section five, article
five, chapter twenty-four-a of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and
reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. PURPOSES, DEFINITIONS AND EXEMPTIONS.
§24A-1-3. Exemptions from chapter.
The provisions of this chapter, except where specifically
otherwise provided, do not apply to:
(1) Motor vehicles operated exclusively in the
transportation of United States mail or in the transportation of
newspapers: Provided, That the vehicles and their operators
shall be subject to the safety rules promulgated by the
commission;
(2) Motor vehicles owned and operated by the United States
of America, the state of West Virginia or any county,
municipality or county board of education, urban mass
transportation authority established and maintained pursuant to
article twenty-seven, chapter eight of this code, or by any
department thereof, and any motor vehicles operated under a
contract with a county board of education exclusively for the
transportation of children to and from school or other legitimate
transportation for the schools as the commission may specifically
authorize;
(3) Motor vehicles used exclusively in the transportation of
agricultural or horticultural products, livestock, poultry and
dairy products from the farm or orchard on which they are raised
or produced to markets, processing plants, packing houses, canneries, railway shipping points and cold storage plants, and
in the transportation of agricultural or horticultural supplies
to farms or orchards to be used thereon;
(4) Motor vehicles used exclusively in the transportation of
human or animal excreta;
(5) Motor vehicles used exclusively in ambulance service or
duly chartered rescue squad service;
(6) Motor vehicles used exclusively for volunteer fire
department service;
(7) Motor vehicles used exclusively in the transportation of
coal from mining operations to loading facilities for further
shipment by rail or water carriers: Provided, That the vehicles
and their operators shall be subject to the safety rules
promulgated by the commission;
(8) Motor vehicles used by petroleum commission agents and
oil distributors solely for the transportation of petroleum
products and related automotive products when the transportation
is incidental to the business of selling the products: Provided,
That the vehicles and their operators shall be subject to the
safety rules promulgated by the commission;
(9) Motor vehicles owned, leased by or leased to any person and used exclusively for the transportation of processed
source-separated recycled materials, generated by commercial,
institutional and industrial customers, transported free of
charge from the customers to a facility for further processing:
Provided, That the vehicles and their operators shall be subject
to the safety rules promulgated by the commission;
(10) Motor vehicles specifically preempted from state
economic regulation of intrastate motor carrier operations by the
provisions of the federal aviation administration authorization
act of 1994 (Pub. L. 103-305 §601 108 Stat. 1605 (1994))
interstate commerce commission termination act of 1995 (49
U.S.C.A. § 14501(c) (1995): Provided, That the vehicles and
their operators shall be subject to the safety rules promulgated
by the commission: Provided, however,
That the vehicles and
their operators shall be subject to the authority of the
commission to impose highway route controls or limitations based
on the size or weight of the motor vehicle or the hazardous
nature of the cargo: Provided further, That the commission shall
retain the authority to regulate motor carriers with regard to
minimum amounts of financial responsibility relating to insurance
requirements and self-insurance authorization: And Provided further, That the commission shall regulate vehicles and their
operators which transport household goods: And Provided further,
That the commission shall regulate the price of for-hire motor
vehicle transportation by a tow truck, if the transportation is
preformed without the prior consent or authorization of the owner
or operator of the motor vehicle;
and
(11) Motor vehicles designated by the West Virginia bureau
of senior services for use and operation by local county aging
programs: Provided, That the vehicles and their operators shall
be subject to the safety rules promulgated by the commission.
§24A-5-5. Further regulatory powers of the commission.
The commission shall:
(a) Rules and practice and procedure. -- Prescribe rules of
practice and procedure, the method and manner of holding
hearings, and for taking evidence on all matters that may come
before it, and enter
such orders as may be just and lawful. In
the investigations, preparations, and hearings of cases, the
commission shall not be bound by the technical rules of pleading
and evidence, but in that respect it may exercise
such discretion
as will facilitate its efforts to understand and learn all the
facts bearing upon the right and justness of the matters before it.
(b) Employees. -- Appoint such employees as may be necessary
to carry out the provisions of this chapter, and shall fix their
respective salaries or compensation.
Such The employees shall
hold office during the pleasure of the commission. The
commission may designate such employees as it
deems considers
necessary to take evidence at any hearing held or required by the
provisions of this chapter, which employees are hereby empowered
to administer oaths in all parts of the state so far as the
exercise of such power is properly incidental to the performance
of their duties in connection with the provisions of this
chapter.
(c) Schedule of fees. -- Prescribe a schedule of fees to
accompany applications for certificates of convenience and
necessity and permits and for the filing and recordation of other
papers with the commission. The commission shall likewise
prescribe a schedule of fees to be charged for the certification
of all records and papers and sums to be paid witnesses and other
costs necessary and incident to hearings before it or its
employees and order the same paid by the unsuccessful party.
Sums collected in this manner, except witness fees, shall be paid into the state treasury and be credited to the public service
commission motor carrier fund provided for in section six of
article six of this chapter. The witness fees shall be paid to
the persons who are entitled thereto.
(d) System of accounts. -- Establish a system of accounts to
be kept by motor carriers or classify motor carriers and
establish a system of accounts for each class, and prescribe the
manner in which
such the accounts shall be kept. It may also in
its discretion prescribe the form of accounts, records, and
memoranda to be kept by
such the motor carriers, including the
accounts, records, and memoranda for the movement of traffic as
well as the receipts and expenditures of money, and any other
forms, records and memoranda which in the judgment of the
commission may be necessary to carry out any of the provisions of
this chapter.
(e) Information to be furnished commission. -- Require
persons subject to the provisions of this chapter, to furnish any
information which may be in their possession, or obtainable from
their accounting or other records, respecting rates, charges,
classifications or practices in conducting their business, and to
furnish the commission at all times for inspection any books or papers or reports and statements, which reports and statements
shall be under oath, when so required by the commission, and the
form of all reports required under this chapter shall be
prescribed by the commission.
(f) Witnesses; testimony; subpoenas. -- Either as a
commission or by any of its members, or by designated employees,
subpoena witnesses and take testimony, and administer oaths to
any witness in any proceeding or examination instituted before it
or conducted by it with reference to any matter within its
jurisdiction. In all hearings or proceedings before the
commission or its designated employees the evidence of witnesses
and the production of documentary evidence may be required at any
designated place of hearing within the state; and in the case of
disobedience to a subpoena or other process the commission or any
party to the proceedings before the commission may invoke the aid
of any circuit court in the state in requiring the evidence and
testimony of witnesses and the production of papers, books and
documents. And
such the court, in case of refusal to obey the
subpoena issued to any person or to any motor carrier subject to
the provisions of this chapter, shall issue an order requiring
such the motor carrier or any person to appear before the commission or designated employees and produce all books and
papers, if so ordered, and give evidence touching the matter in
question. Any failure to obey
such the order of the court may be
punished by
such the court as contempt thereof. A claim that
such testimony or evidence may tend to incriminate the person
giving the same shall not excuse such witness from testifying,
but such witness shall not be prosecuted for any offense
concerning which he
or she is compelled hereunder to testify.
(g) Insurance. -- Require common carriers by motor vehicle
and contract carriers by motor vehicle subject to the provisions
of this chapter either to procure insurance from a company
authorized to write such insurance in West Virginia, or to
qualify as a self-insurer, or to deposit
such security, upon such
terms and conditions and for such limits of liability as the
commission shall determine to be necessary for the reasonable
protection of the traveling, shipping, and general public against
injury, loss, damage or default for which
such the carrier may be
liable, and prescribe rules
and regulations governing the filing
of evidence of
such the insurance and
such the security with the
commission. In fixing the amount of
such the insurance policy
or policies, the qualifications as a self-insurer, or the deposit of security, the commission shall give due consideration to the
character and amount of traffic, the value of the property
transported, the number of persons affected, and the degree of
danger involved in any
such motor carrier operation
: Provided,
That the amount set by the commission for for-hire vehicles,
hauling nonhazardous property with a gross weight of ten thousand
or more pounds, not be set below the minimum amount set by the
federal government in the federal motor carrier safety
regulations. (Pub. L. 49 C.F.R. § 1043.1 (1994), et seq.; 49
C.F.R. § 387.9 (1994).
(h) Cooperation with federal government. -- Cooperate with
the federal government and the interstate commerce commission of
the United States or any other commission or organized delegated
authority to regulate interstate or foreign commerce by motor
vehicles, and it shall be its duty so to do, to the end that the
transportation of persons and property by motor vehicles in
interstate and foreign commerce into and through the state of
West Virginia may be regulated and the laws of the United States
and the state of West Virginia enforced and administered
cooperatively in the public interest.
(i) Reciprocal agreements. -- Make agreements on behalf of the state of West Virginia with any other state or states
providing for reciprocal rights, privileges, and courtesies
between the licensees or holders of certificates and permits of
the said state or states and the state of West Virginia
respecting certificates and permits, fees, assessments and
uniform vehicle identification cards, and the transportation of
either persons or property into or through the respective state
or states and the state of West Virginia, and all existing
agreements between a state or states and the state of West
Virginia for reciprocal rights, privileges, and courtesies may,
provided constitutional and contractual rights are not violated,
be declared void by the commission, and new agreements
negotiated.
(j) Safety rules. and regulations -- Promulgate safety
rules and regulations applicable to motor vehicles subject to the
provisions of this chapter and promulgate regulations governing
the qualifications and maximum hours of service of drivers and
chauffeurs of common and contract carriers by motor vehicle of
passengers and property subject to the provisions of this
chapter, and promulgate any other rules and regulations which the
commission may deem consider proper to carry out the provisions and intent of this chapter.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to direct the public
service commissioner to regulate the minimum amount of liability
insurance carried by motor carriers. The bill also provides that
the commission may not set minimum insurance requirements for
vehicles hauling nonhazardous property below the minimum amount
set by the federal government.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
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