H. B. 4339
(By Delegate Perdue)
[Introduced February 1, 2000; referred to the
Committee on Roads and Transportation then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend article seventeen, chapter seventeen-c of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
ten-a, relating to enforcing weight limits on coal conveyance
vehicles; requiring coal companies to submit reports to the
department of transportation describing loads and weights of
trucks that are loaded at their facilities; and, prescribing
criminal penalties for violations of the section.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article seventeen, chapter seventeen-c of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section ten-a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 17. SIZE, WEIGHT AND LOAD.
§17C-17-10a. Coal companies required to weigh and report loads.
(a) Every coal company operating in this state, after loading
a load of coal onto a vehicle or combination of vehicles, shall
weigh the vehicle or combination of vehicles and make a written
record of the weight. The department of transportation shall
prescribe a form to be used in recording weights of loads under
this section. The form shall take into account those criteria and
requirements set forth in section nine of this article and the coal
company that loads the vehicle or vehicles shall submit the form to
the department of transportation with all information necessary to
determine if a particular load is in compliance with the
limitations required by section nine of this article.
(b) In every instance in which a recorded load is in
violation of the limitations set forth in section nine of this
article, the shipping agent responsible for the load is guilty of
a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined two
hundred dollars.
(c) The owner or operator of any coal company who fails or
refuses to comply with any requirement or provision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require coal companies to
weigh truck loads of coal they load for transport and report the
loads to the department of transportation in order to determine if
the weight of the loads are in compliance with weight requirements
set forth in the code. The bill prescribes a criminal fine for
shipping agents of vehicles which are overloaded, and coal
companies that fail or refuse to comply with the law are guilty of
a misdemeanor as prescribed under 17C-18-1.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.