H. B. 3113
(By Delegates Caruth, Walters, H. White,
Frich, Long, Frederick and Trump)
[Introduced February 21, 2003; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section twelve, article five, chapter
eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended; to amend and reenact section one,
article one, chapter seventeen-a of said code; and to amend
article three of said chapter by adding thereto a new section,
designated section twelve-b, all relating to mobile homes
generally; classifying of certain mobile homes for assessment
purposes; excepting certain mobile homes permanently attached
to real estate from the definition of motor vehicle; and,
recording certain cancelled certificates of title for mobile
homes permanently attached to real property.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twelve, article five, chapter eleven of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; that section one, article one, chapter
seventeen-a of said code be amended and reenacted; and that article three of said chapter be amended by adding thereto a new section,
designated section twelve-b, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 11. TAXATION.
ARTICLE 5. ASSESSMENT OF PERSONAL PROPERTY.
§11-5-12. Mobile homes situate upon property owned by a person
other than owner of mobile home.
Mobile homes situate upon property owned by a person other
than the owner of the mobile home shall be classified as personal
property whether or not said mobile home is permanently affixed to
the real estate and unless subject to assessment as Class II
property under section eleven of this article or section two,
article four of this chapter, shall be assessed as Class III or
Class IV personal property, as may be appropriate in the
circumstances.
A mobile home permanently attached to the real estate of the
owner may not be classified as personal property if the owner has
filed a cancelled certificate of title
with the clerk of the county
commission and has recorded it in the same manner as deeds are
recorded and indexed.
CHAPTER 17A. MOTOR VEHICLE ADMINISTRATION, REGISTRATION,
CERTIFICATE OF TITLE, AND ANTITHEFT PROVISIONS.
ARTICLE 1. WORDS AND PHRASES DEFINED.
§17A-1-1. De
finitions.
Except as otherwise provided in this chapter the following words and phrases when used in this chapter shall have the meanings
respectively ascribed to them in this article:
(a) "Vehicle" means every device in, upon or by which any
person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a
highway, excepting devices moved by human power or used exclusively
upon stationary rails or tracks.
(b) "Motor vehicle" means every vehicle which is
self-propelled and every vehicle which is propelled by electric
power obtained from overhead trolley wires, but not operated upon
rails.
(c) "Motorcycle" means every motor vehicle, including
motor-driven cycles and mopeds as defined in sections five and
five-a, article one, chapter seventeen-c of this code, having a
saddle for the use of the rider and designed to travel on not more
than three wheels in contact with the ground but excluding a
tractor.
(d) "School bus" means every motor vehicle owned by a public
governmental agency and operated for the transportation of children
to or from school or privately owned and operated for compensation
for the transportation of children to or from school.
(e) "Bus" means every motor vehicle designed to carry more
than seven passengers and used to transport persons; and every
motor vehicle, other than a taxicab, designed and used to transport
persons for compensation.
(f) "Truck tractor" means every motor vehicle designed and
used primarily for drawing other vehicles and not so constructed as
to carry a load other than a part of the weight of the vehicle and
load so drawn.
(g) "Farm tractor" means every motor vehicle designed and used
primarily as a farm implement for drawing plows, mowing machines
and other implements of husbandry.
(h) "Road tractor" means every motor vehicle designed, used or
maintained for drawing other vehicles and not so constructed as to
carry any load thereon either independently or any part of the
weight of a vehicle or load so drawn.
(i) "Truck" means every motor vehicle designed, used or
maintained primarily for the transportation of property.
(j) "Trailer" means every vehicle with or without motive power
designed for carrying persons or property and for being drawn by a
motor vehicle and so constructed that no part of its weight rests
upon the towing vehicle but excluding recreational vehicles.
(k) "Semitrailer" means every vehicle with or without motive
power designed for carrying persons or property and for being drawn
by a motor vehicle and so constructed that some part of its weight
and that of its load rests upon or is carried by another vehicle.
(l) "Pole trailer" means every vehicle without motive power
designed to be drawn by another vehicle and attached to the towing
vehicle by means of a reach, or pole, or by being boomed or otherwise secured to the towing vehicle, and ordinarily used for
transporting long or irregularly shaped loads such as poles, pipes
or structural members capable, generally, of sustaining themselves
as beams between the supporting connections.
(m) "Specially constructed vehicles" means every vehicle of a
type required to be registered hereunder not originally constructed
under a distinctive name, make, model or type by a generally
recognized manufacturer of vehicles and not materially altered from
its original construction.
(n) "Reconstructed vehicle" means every vehicle of a type
required to be registered hereunder materially altered from its
original construction by the removal, addition or substitution of
essential parts, new or used.
(o) "Essential parts" means all integral and body parts of a
vehicle of a type required to be registered hereunder, the removal,
alteration or substitution of which would tend to conceal the
identity of the vehicle or substantially alter its appearance,
model, type or mode of operation.
(p) "Foreign vehicle" means every vehicle of a type required
to be registered hereunder brought into this state from another
state, territory or country other than in the ordinary course of
business by or through a manufacturer or dealer and not registered
in this state.
(q) "Implement of husbandry" means every vehicle which is designed for or adapted to agricultural purposes and used by the
owner thereof primarily in the conduct of his agricultural
operations, including, but not limited to, trucks used for spraying
trees and plants: Provided, That the vehicle may not be let for
hire at any time.
(r) "Special mobile equipment" means every self-propelled
vehicle not designed or used primarily for the transportation of
persons or property and incidentally operated or moved over the
highways, including, without limitation, road construction or
maintenance machinery, ditch-digging apparatus, stone crushers, air
compressors, power shovels, graders, rollers, well-drillers,
wood-sawing equipment, asphalt spreaders, bituminous mixers, bucket
loaders, ditchers, leveling graders, finishing machines, motor
graders, road rollers, scarifiers, earth-moving carryalls,
scrapers, drag lines, rock-drilling equipment and earth-moving
equipment. The foregoing enumeration shall be deemed partial and
may not operate to exclude other such vehicles which are within the
general terms of this subdivision.
(s) "Pneumatic tire" means every tire in which compressed air
is designed to support the load.
(t) "Solid tire" means every tire of rubber or other resilient
material which does not depend upon compressed air for the support
of the load.
(u) "Metal tire" means every tire the surface of which in contact with the highway is wholly or partly of metal or other
hard, nonresilient material.
(v) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of motor vehicles of
this state.
(w) "Department" means the department of motor vehicles of
this state acting directly or through its duly authorized officers
and agents.
(x) "Person" means every natural person, firm, copartnership,
association or corporation.
(y) "Owner" means a person who holds the legal title to a
vehicle, or in the event a vehicle is the subject of an agreement
for the conditional sale or lease thereof with the right of
purchase upon performance of the conditions stated in the agreement
and with an immediate right of possession vested in the conditional
vendee or lessee, or in the event a mortgagor of a vehicle is
entitled to possession, then the conditional vendee or lessee or
mortgagor shall be deemed the owner for the purpose of this
chapter.
(z) "Nonresident" means every person who is not a resident of
this state.
(aa) "Dealer" or "dealers" is a general term meaning,
depending upon the context in which used, either a new motor
vehicle dealer, used motor vehicle dealer, factory-built home
dealer, recreational vehicle dealer, trailer dealer or motorcycle dealer, as defined in section one, article six of this chapter, or
all of the dealers or a combination thereof, and in some instances
a new motor vehicle dealer or dealers in another state.
(bb) "Registered dealer" or "registered dealers" is a general
term meaning, depending upon the context in which used, either a
new motor vehicle dealer, used motor vehicle dealer, house trailer
dealer, trailer dealer, recreational vehicle dealer or motorcycle
dealer, or all of the dealers or a combination thereof, licensed
under the provisions of article six of this chapter.
(cc) "Licensed dealer" or "licensed dealers" is a general term
meaning, depending upon the context in which used, either a new
motor vehicle dealer, used motor vehicle dealer, house trailer
dealer, trailer dealer, recreational vehicle dealer or motorcycle
dealer, or all of the dealers or a combination thereof, licensed
under the provisions of article six of this chapter.
(dd) "Transporter" means every person engaged in the business
of delivering vehicles of a type required to be registered
hereunder from a manufacturing, assembling or distributing plant to
dealers or sales agents of a manufacturer.
(ee) "Manufacturer" means every person engaged in the business
of constructing or assembling vehicles of a type required to be
registered hereunder at a place of business in this state which is
actually occupied either continuously or at regular periods by the
manufacturer where his books and records are kept and a large share of his business is transacted.
(ff) "Street" or "highway" means the entire width between
boundary lines of every way publicly maintained when any part
thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular
travel.
(gg) "Motorboat" means any vessel propelled by an electrical,
steam, gas, diesel or other fuel propelled or driven motor, whether
or not the motor is the principal source of propulsion, but may not
include a vessel which has a valid marine document issued by the
bureau of customs of the United States government or any federal
agency successor thereto.
(hh) "Motorboat trailer" means every vehicle designed for or
ordinarily used for the transportation of a motorboat.
(ii) "All-terrain vehicle" (ATV) means any motor vehicle
designed for off-highway use and designed for operator use only
with no passengers, having a seat or saddle designed to be
straddled by the operator, and handlebars for steering control.
(jj) "Travel trailer" means every vehicle, mounted on wheels,
designed to provide temporary living quarters for recreational,
camping or travel use of such size or weight as not to require
special highway movement permits when towed by a motor vehicle and
of gross trailer area less than four hundred square feet.
(kk) "Fold down camping trailer" means every vehicle
consisting of a portable unit mounted on wheels and constructed with collapsible partial sidewalls which fold for towing by another
vehicle and unfold at the camp site to provide temporary living
quarters for recreational, camping or travel use.
(ll) "Motor home" means every vehicle, designed to provide
temporary living quarters, built into an integral part of or
permanently attached to a self-propelled motor vehicle, chassis or
van including: (1) Type A motor home built on an incomplete truck
chassis with the truck cab constructed by the second stage
manufacturer; (2) Type B motor home consisting of a van-type
vehicle which has been altered to provide temporary living
quarters; and (3) Type C motor home built on an incomplete van or
truck chassis with a cab constructed by the chassis manufacturer.
(mm) "Snowmobile" means a self-propelled vehicle intended for
travel primarily on snow and driven by a track or tracks in contact
with the snow and steered by a ski or skis in contact with the
snow.
(nn) "Recreational vehicle" means a motorboat, motorboat
trailer, all-terrain vehicle, travel trailer, fold down camping
trailer, motor home or snowmobile.
(oo) "Mobile equipment" means every self-propelled vehicle not
designed or used primarily for the transportation of persons or
property over the highway but which may infrequently or
incidentally travel over the highways among job sites, equipment
storage sites or repair sites, including farm equipment, implements of husbandry, well-drillers, cranes and wood-sawing equipment.
(pp) "Factory-built home" includes mobile homes, house
trailers and manufactured homes.
(qq) "Manufactured home" has the same meaning as the term is
defined in section two, article nine, chapter twenty-one of this
code which meets the National Manufactured Housing Construction and
Safety Standards Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. §5401 et seq.), effective
on the fifteenth day of June, one thousand nine hundred
seventy-six, and the federal manufactured home construction and
safety standards and regulations promulgated by the secretary of
the United States department of housing and urban development.
(rr) "Mobile home" means a transportable structure that is
wholly, or in substantial part, made, fabricated, formed or
assembled in manufacturing facilities for installation or assembly
and installation on a building site and designed for long-term
residential use and built prior to enactment of the federal
Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974
(42 U.S.C. §5401 et seq.), effective on the fifteenth day of June,
one thousand nine hundred seventy-six, and usually built to the
voluntary industry standard of the American national standards
institute (ANSI) -- A119.1 standards for mobile homes: Provided,
That a mobile home permanently attached to real estate is not a
motor vehicle for the purposes of this chapter if the owner thereof
notifies the division of motor vehicles that the mobile home has been permanently attached to real estate and requests that the
certificate of title be canceled as set forth in section twelve-b,
article three of this chapter.
(ss) "House trailers" means all trailers designed and used for
human occupancy on a continual nonrecreational basis, but may not
include fold down camping and travel trailers, mobile homes or
manufactured homes.
(tt) "Parking enforcement vehicle" means a motor vehicle which
does not fit into any other classification of vehicle in this
chapter, has three or four wheels and is designed for use in an
incorporated municipality by a city, county, state or other
governmental entity primarily for parking enforcement or other
governmental purposes with an operator area with sides permanently
enclosed with rigid construction and a top which may be
convertible, sealed beam headlights, turn signals, brake lights,
horn, at least one rear view mirror on each side and such other
equipment that will enable it to pass a standard motorcycle vehicle
inspection.
ARTICLE 3. ORIGINAL AND RENEWAL OF REGISTRATION; ISSUANCE OF
CERTIFICATES OF TITLE.
§17A-3-12b. Canceled certificate of title for certain mobile
homes.
If the owner provides the commissioner with a signed and
notarized statement that a mobile home that he or she owns has been permanently attached to real estate of the owner
, there are no
liens or encumbrances on the mobile home and the owner requests
that the certificate of title required by this chapter be canceled,
the commissioner shall cancel the certificate of title and return
it to the owner.
Upon receipt of the canceled certificate of title,
the owner may file the canceled certificate with the clerk of the
county commission to be recorded and indexed in the same manner as
deeds are recorded and indexed.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide a procedure to
permit owners of mobile homes to obtain cancellation of
certificates of title when the mobile home is permanently attached
to the owner's real estate. The bill also permits the filing of
canceled certificates of title in the office of the clerk of the
county commission. In addition, the bill provides that mobile
homes permanently attached to real estate of the owner may not be
considered as personal property.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
§17A-3-12b
is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.
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