H. B. 2089


(By Delegates Amores, Ashley, Coleman and Staton)

[Introduced January 10, 2003; referred to the

Committee on the Judiciary.]





A BILL to amend and reenact section eleven, article one, chapter forty-seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to prohibiting certain gasoline price discounting practices; prohibiting certain practices as violations of weight and measure laws; authorizing legislative and procedural rules; and providing for injunctive relief of violations.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eleven, article one, chapter forty-seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.
§47-1-11. Requirements for motor fuel.
(a) The uniform regulation for motor fuel as adopted by the national conference on weights and measures and published in national institute of standards and technology handbook 130, "Uniform Laws and Regulations" and supplements thereto and revisions thereof, shall apply to motor fuel quality in the state, except insofar as modified or rejected by legislative rule.
(b) It shall be an unfair and deceptive practice under section nineteen of this article to discount the price of gasoline below minimum markup as required by law. In addition to the civil penalties provided in section twenty-two of this article, the commissioner may, by civil action, enjoin a violator from further gas pricing reductions . The commissioner is directed to propose legislative rules, pursuant to article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, to implement the provisions of this subsection.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to make it a violation of the weights and measures law to sell gasoline below lawful price limits.

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