ENROLLED

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

Senate Bill No. 695

(Senators Wooton and Unger, original sponsors)

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[Passed March 9, 2002; in effect ninety days from passage.]

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AN ACT to amend article six, chapter seventeen-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section five-a, relating to authorizing out-of-state dealers duly licensed in a contiguous state to participate in vehicle shows and exhibitions to the extent that the dealer's home state allows dealers licensed under the laws of this state to participate in vehicle shows in the other state; establishing violation of this section as a misdemeanor offense; establishing criminal and civil penalties; and mandating the commissioner of motor vehicles propose or amend legislative rules in order to effectuate the purposes of this section.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article six, chapter seventeen-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section five-a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. LICENSING OF DEALERS AND WRECKERS OR DISMANTLERS;
SPECIAL PLATES; TEMPORARY PLATES OR MARKERS, ETC.

§17A-6-5a. Reciprocity for out-of-state dealers; establishing violations of this section as misdemeanor offense; mandating that the commissioner propose or amend legislative rules.

(a) The division may permit a vehicle dealer licensed in another state contiguous to this state to participate in industry wide public vehicle shows and exhibitions subject to the following:
(1) The division determines that the state in which the out- of-state dealer is licensed permits dealers licensed by this state to participate in public vehicle shows and exhibitions under conditions substantially equivalent to the conditions which are imposed upon dealers from that state who participate in public vehicle shows and exhibitions in this state;
(2) The division determines that the out-of-state dealer holds a valid and unrevoked vehicle dealer license from the dealer's home state;
(3) The dealer has secured the permission of its manufacturer; and
(4) The dealer first obtains an off-premises sales permit issued under legislative rules promulgated by the division.
(b) Nothing in this section requires an organizer of a public vehicle show or exhibition to invite or to include an out-of-state vehicle dealer as a participant.
 (c) Any person who violates the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars or confined in the regional or county jail for not more than six months, or both.
(d) In addition to any penalty imposed pursuant to subsection (c) of this section, any person violating the provisions of this section may be subject to a civil penalty as provided for in section twenty-five-a of this article.

(e) The commissioner shall propose legislative rules for promulgation, in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, to effectuate the purposes of this section.