ENROLLED
Senate Bill No. 244
(By Senator Ross)
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[Passed March 13, 1999; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact sections two and seven, article
fourteen-a, chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
changing the definition of "motor carrier"; and eliminating
the limitation that a trip permit can only be issued three
times in one fiscal year.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections two and seven, article fourteen-a, chapter
eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 14A. MOTOR CARRIER ROAD TAX.
§11-14A-2. Definitions.
For purposes of this article:
(1) "Commissioner" or "tax commissioner" means the tax
commissioner of the state of West Virginia or his duly authorized
agent.
(2) "Gallon" means two hundred thirty-one cubic inches of
liquid measurement, by volume: Provided, That the commissioner
may by rule and regulation prescribe other measurement or definition of gallon.
(3) "Gasoline" means any product commonly or commercially
known as gasoline, regardless of classification, suitable for use
as fuel in an internal combustion engine, except special fuel as
hereinafter defined.
(4) "Highway" means every way or place of whatever nature
open to the use of the public as a matter of right for the
purpose of vehicular travel, which is maintained by this state or
some taxing subdivision or unit thereof or the federal government
or any of its agencies.
(5) "Identification marker" means the decal issued by the
commissioner for display upon a particular motor carrier and
authorizing a person to operate or cause to be operated a motor
carrier upon any highway of the state.
(6) "Lease" means any oral or written contract for valuable
consideration granting the use of a motor carrier.
(7) "Motor carrier" means any vehicle used, designed or
maintained for the transportation of persons or property and
having two axles and a gross vehicle weight exceeding twenty-six
thousand pounds or having three or more axles regardless of
weight or is used in combination when the weight of such
combination exceeds twenty-six thousand pounds or registered
gross vehicle weight: Provided, That the gross vehicle weight
rating of the vehicles being towed is in excess of ten thousand
dollars. passenger vehicle which has seats for more than nine
passengers in addition to the driver, or any road tractor, or any
tractor truck, or any truck having more than two axles which is
operated or caused to be operated by any person on any highway in
this state. The term motor carrier does not include any type of
recreational vehicle.
(8) "Operation" means any operation of any motor carrier,
whether loaded or empty, whether for compensation or not, and
whether owned by or leased to the person who operates or causes
to be operated such motor carrier.
(9) "Person" means and includes any individual, firm,
partnership, limited partnership, joint adventure, association,
company, corporation, organization, syndicate, receiver, trust or
any other group or combination acting as a unit, in the plural as
well as the singular number, and means and includes the officers,
directors, trustees or members of any firm, partnership, limited partnership, joint adventure, association, company, corporation,
organization, syndicate, receiver, trust or any other group or
combination acting as a unit, in the plural as well as the
singular number, unless the intention to give a more limited
meaning is disclosed by the context.
(10) "Pool operation" means any operation whereby two or
more taxpayers combine to operate or cause to be operated a motor
carrier or motor carriers upon any highway in this state.
(11) "Purchase" means and includes any acquisition of
ownership of property or of a security interest for a
consideration.
(12) "Recreational vehicles" means vehicles such as motor
homes, pickup trucks with attached campers and buses, when used
exclusively for personal pleasure by an individual. In order to
qualify as a recreational vehicle, the vehicle shall not be used
in connection with any business endeavor.
(12) (13) "Road tractor" means every motor carrier designed and
used 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.
(13) (14) "Sale" means any transfer, exchange, gift, barter or
other disposition of any property or security interest for a
consideration.
(14) (15) "Special fuel" means any gas or liquid, other than
gasoline, used or suitable for use as fuel in an internal
combustion engine. The term "special fuel" shall include
products commonly known as natural or casinghead gasoline but
shall not include any petroleum product or chemical compound such
as alcohol, industrial solvent, heavy furnace oil, lubricant,
etc., not commonly used nor practicably suited for use as fuel in
an internal combustion engine.
(15) (16) "Tax" includes, within its meaning, interest, additions
to tax and penalties, unless the intention to give it a more
limited meaning is disclosed by the context.
(16) (17) "Taxpayer" means any person liable for any tax,
interest, additions to tax or penalty under the provisions of
this article.
(17) (18) "Tractor truck" means every motor carrier 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.
(18) (19) "Truck" means every motor carrier designed, used or
maintained primarily for the transportation of property and
having more than two axles.
§11-14A-7. Identification markers; fees; criminal penalty.
(a) Registration of motor carriers. -- No person may
operate, or cause to be operated, in this state any motor carrier
subject to this article without first securing from the
commissioner an identification marker for each such motor
carrier, except as provided in subsection (b) or (c) of this
section. Each identification marker for a particular motor
carrier shall bear a number. This identification marker shall be
displayed on the driver's side of the motor carrier as required
by the commissioner. The commissioner, after issuance of any
identification marker to a motor carrier, shall cause an internal
cross-check to be made in his office as to any state tax which he
administers, to aid in determination of any noncompliance in
respect to failure to file returns or payment of tax liabilities.
The identification markers herein provided for shall be valid for
the period of one year, ending June thirtieth December thirty-first of each year. A fee of five dollars shall be paid to the commissioner
for issuing each identification marker which is reasonably
related to the commissioner's costs of issuing such
identification. All tax or reports due under this article shall
be paid or reports filed before the issuance of a new
identification marker. Failure by a taxpayer to file the returns
or pay the taxes imposed by this article shall give cause to the
commissioner to revoke or refuse to renew the identification
marker previously issued.
(b) Trip permit. -- A motor carrier that does not have a
motor carrier identification marker issued under subsection (a)
of this section may obtain a trip permit which authorizes the
motor carrier specified therein to be operated in this state
without an identification marker for a period of not more than
ten consecutive days beginning and ending on the dates specified
on the face of the permit. The fee for this permit shall be
twenty-four dollars.
(1) Fees for trip permits shall be in lieu of the tax
otherwise due under this article on account of the vehicles
specified in the permit operating in this state during the period of the permit, and no reports of mileage shall be required with
respect to that vehicle.
(2) A trip permit shall be issued if, in the course of the
motor carrier's operations, it operates on the public roads or
highways in this state no more than three times in any one fiscal
year of this state, and a motor carrier may obtain no more than
three such trip permits in any fiscal year of this state.
(3) (2) A trip permit shall be carried in the cab of the motor
vehicle for which it was issued at all times while it is in this
state.
(4) (3) A trip permit may be obtained from the commissioner or
from wire services authorized by the commissioner to issue such
permits. The cost of the telegram or similar transmissions shall
be the responsibility of the motor carrier requesting the trip
permit.
(c) Transportation permit. -- The commissioner is hereby
authorized to grant, in his discretion, a special permit to a new
motor vehicle dealer for use on new motor vehicles driven under
their own power from the factory or distributing place of a
manufacturer, or other dealer, to a place of business of the new
vehicle dealer, or from the place of business of a new vehicle
dealer to a place of business of another dealer, or when
delivered from the place of business of the new vehicle dealer to
the place of business of a purchaser to whom title passes on delivery. A transporter's permit must be carried in the cab of
the motor vehicle being transported. A person to whom a
transporter's permit is issued shall file the reports required by
section five of this article and pay any tax due. The fee for
such transporter's permit shall be fifteen dollars and a
transporter's permit is valid for the fiscal year for which it is
issued unless surrendered or revoked by the tax commissioner.
(d) Criminal penalty. -- Any person, whether such person be
the owner, licensee or lessee, or the employee, servant or agent
thereof, who operates or causes to be operated in this state, a
motor carrier in violation of this section, is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less
than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars; and each day such
violation continues or reoccurs shall constitute a separate
offense.
(e) Notwithstanding the provisions of section five-d,
article ten of this chapter, the commissioner shall deliver to or
receive from the commissioner of the department division of motor vehicles
and the commissioner of the public service commission, the
information contained in the application filed by a motor carrier for a trip permit under this section, when the information is
used to administer a combined trip permit registration program
for motor carriers operating in this state, which program may be
administered by one agency or any combination of the three
agencies, as embodied in a written agreement executed by the head
of each agency participating in the program. Such agencies have
authority to enter into such an agreement notwithstanding any
provision of this code to the contrary; and the fee for such
combined trip permit shall be twenty-four dollars, which shall be
in lieu of the fee set forth in subsection (b) of this section.