Senate Bill No. 589
(By Senators Hunter and Minard)
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[Introduced February 6, 2008; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §24A-1-3 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend said code by adding thereto a
new section, designated §24A-2-2b, all relating to towing
services generally; subjecting towing services and their
vehicles and operators to safety rules; and limiting the
information towing services provide on invoices.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §24A-1-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that said code be amended by adding
thereto a new section, designated §24A-2-2b, all 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, do not apply to:
(a) (1) Motor vehicles operated exclusively in the
transportation of United States mail or in the transportation of
newspapers:
Provided, That the vehicles and their operators are
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 of their departments, 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 where they are to be used:
Provided, That the vehicles
that are exempted by this subdivision and are also operated by
common carriers by motor vehicle or contract carriers by motor
vehicle, and their operators are subject to the safety and
insurance rules promulgated by the commission;
(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 are subject to the safety rules promulgated by
the commission and the vehicles that are exempted by this
subdivision and are also operated by common carriers by motor
vehicle or contract carriers by motor vehicle, and their operators
are subject to the insurance 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 the products:
Provided, That
the vehicles and their operators are subject to the safety rules
promulgated by the commission and the vehicles that are exempted by
this subdivision and are also operated by common carriers by motor
vehicle or contract carriers by motor vehicle, and their operators
are subject to the insurance 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 the 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 the vehicles that
are exempted by this subdivision and are also operated by common
carriers by motor vehicle or contract carriers by motor vehicle,
and their operators are subject to the insurance rules promulgated
by the commission;
(10) Motor vehicles specifically preempted from state economic
regulation of intrastate motor carrier operations by the provisions
of 49 U.S.C. §14501 as amended by title I, section 103 of the
federal "Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act of 1995":
Provided, That the vehicles and their operators are subject to the
safety regulations promulgated by the commission and the vehicles
that are exempted by this subdivision and are also operated by
common carriers by motor vehicle or contract carriers by motor
vehicle, and their operators are subject to the insurance rules
promulgated by the commission;
(11) Motor vehicles designated by the West Virginia Bureau of
Senior Services for use and operation by local county aging
programs:
Provided, That the vehicles and their operators are
subject to the safety rules promulgated by the commission;
(12) Motor vehicles designated by the West Virginia division
of public transit operated by organizations that receive federal
grants from the federal transit administration:
Provided, That the
vehicles and their operators are subject to the safety and
insurance rules promulgated by the commission.
(b) Notwithstanding any exceptions that apply to towing
services in this section, towing services, their vehicles and their
operators are subject to the commission's safety rules.
ARTICLE 2. COMMON CARRIERS BY MOTOR VEHICLES.
§24A-2-2b. Limitations of towing service invoices.
Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, a
towing service shall only provide the following on an invoice: (1)
The starting time; (2) the appropriate rate as filed in each
individual tariff; (3) the name, trade name, address and telephone
number of the towing service; (4) the name and address of the owner
of the towed vehicle; (5) the vehicle information; (6) the date;
and (7) the finish time.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to ensure that
towing
services
and their vehicles and operators are covered by safety
rules. The bill also
limits the information towing services provide
on invoices.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
§24A-2-2b
is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.