Senate Bill No. 491

(By Senator Rowe)

____________

[Introduced February 4, 2002; referred to the Committee

on the Judiciary.]

____________




A BILL to amend and reenact section ten, article seventeen, chapter seventeen-c of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to permitting police officers to require reporting slips from operators of motor vehicles carrying loads; specifying the information necessarily contained on the reporting slips; designating those responsible for providing the slips; providing that it is a misdemeanor to submit a false, misleading or substantially inaccurate reporting slip; and providing that the commissioner of motor vehicles shall propose legislative rules defining the sum and substance of the reporting slips required.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section ten, article seventeen, chapter seventeen-c of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 17. SIZE, WEIGHT AND LOAD.
§17C-17-10. Officers may weigh, measure, etc., vehicles and require removal or rearrangement of excess loads.

(a) Any police officer or employee of the department of highways designated by the commissioner of highways as a member of an official weighing crew may require the driver of any vehicle or combination of vehicles on any highway to stop and submit such vehicle or combination of vehicles to a weighing with portable or stationary weighing devices or submit such vehicle or combination of vehicles to a measuring or to any other examination necessary to determine if such vehicle or combination of vehicles is in violation of any of the provisions of this article, and may require that such vehicle or combination of vehicles be driven to the nearest weighing device, but only if such weighing device is within two miles of the place where the vehicle or combination of vehicles is stopped.
No police officer or member of an official weighing crew may stop a vehicle or combination of vehicles for weighing unless a portable or stationary weighing device is actually present at the location where, and at the time, the vehicle or combination of vehicles is stopped or unless the vehicle or combination of vehicles is escorted immediately after being stopped to a portable or stationary weighing device. In no case may a vehicle or combination of vehicles be detained more than one hour from the time the same is stopped for weighing unless the vehicle or combination of vehicles is impounded for a violation in accordance with the provisions of section fourteen of this article: Provided, That, every driver of a vehicle containing a load subject to the provisions of this article shall, upon request by a state police officer or any police officer of the department of highways, produce a reporting slip containing required information relative to the load being hauled. The reporting slip shall specify the time and date the vehicle was loaded, the location where the load was made, the name of the loading facilities and operators responsible for seeing that the load was properly conducted, the gross weight of the load, the materials or items of which the load is comprised, including the unit weight for individual items and the total number thereof. Items of a separate class or character shall be specified in plain and concise terms setting forth their size, weight, purpose and the materials of which they are comprised. In the event any reporting slip, as required hereunder, is found to be false, misleading or substantially inaccurate, an officer may issue a citation to the owner, operator, or lessee of the vehicle involved. The citation may also name the owner of any loading facility responsible for the load at issue. An offense under this section is a misdemeanor punishable in accordance with the provisions of article eighteen of this chapter. The commissioner shall propose legislative rules setting forth the form and substance of the reporting slips required hereunder.
(b) Whenever an officer or a member of an official weighing crew determines that a vehicle or combination of vehicles is in violation of any of the provisions of this article, he or she may require the driver to stop such vehicle or combination of vehicles in a suitable place and to remain standing until such vehicle or combination of vehicles is brought into conformity with the provisions violated.
In the case of a weight violation all material unloaded shall be cared for by the owner, lessee or borrower of such vehicle or combination of vehicles at the risk of such owner, lessee or borrower: Provided, That no criminal charge shall be preferred against any driver, operator or owner of a vehicle when a rearrangement of the load upon the vehicle, without removal therefrom, reduces the axle loads of said vehicle to such limit as is permitted under this chapter.
(c) Any driver of a vehicle or combination of vehicles who fails or refuses to comply with any requirement or provision of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.


NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to permit police officers to require reporting slips from operators of motor vehicles carrying loads. The bill specifies the information that necessarily must be contained on the reporting slips. It also designates those responsible for providing the slips while providing that it is a misdemeanor to submit a false, misleading or substantially inaccurate reporting slip. Finally, it provides that the commissioner of motor vehicles shall propose legislative rules defining the sum and substance of the reporting slips required.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.