H. B. 4580
(By Delegates Amores, Staton, Beane
and Mahan)
[Introduced February 18, 2000; referred to the Committee on
Banking and Insurance then Finance.]
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,
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 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, shall not apply to:
(1) Motor vehicles operated exclusively in the transportation
of United States mail or in the transportation of newspapers:
Provided, That such 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 said 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 such 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; and
(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 regulations promulgated by the commission.: Provided,
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, 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: Provided, That the
commission shall regulate vehicles and their operators which
transport household goods: and Provided, That the commission shall regulate the price of for-hire motor vehicle transportation by a
tow truck, if such transportation is preformed without the prior
consent or authorization of the owner or operator of the motor
vehicle.
§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 employees shall hold
office during the pleasure of the commission. The commission may
designate such employees as it deems 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 accounts shall be kept. It may also in its discretion prescribe the form of accounts, records, and memoranda to be kept
by such 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 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
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 order of the court may be punished by such
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 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 carrier may be liable, and
prescribe rules and regulations governing the filing of evidence of
such insurance and such security with the commission. In fixing
the amount of such 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 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 requirement 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.