Enrolled Version - Final Version
Senate Bill 698 History
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Introduced Version - Originating in Committee
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ENROLLED
Senate Bill No. 698
(By Senators Helmick, McCabe, Bowman, Edgell, D. Facemire,
Green, Plymale, Prezioso, Wells, White,
Boley, K. Facemyer, Guills and Sypolt)
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[Passed March 13, 2010; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact §17A-3-2 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to motor vehicle registration
requirements; adding an exemption from registration and
certificate of title requirements for mini-trucks used for
agricultural or horticultural purposes; increasing the
distance for transporting fixtures attached to implements of
husbandry; providing that an applicant for a farm use
exemption certificate may not be required to appear before any
assessor for renewal; and adding utility terrain vehicles to
the list of recreational vehicles exempt from registration
requirements.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §17A-3-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. ORIGINAL AND RENEWAL OF REGISTRATION; ISSUANCE OF
CERTIFICATES OF TITLE.
§17A-3-2. Every motor vehicle, etc., subject to registration and certificate of title provisions; exceptions.
(a) Every motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, pole trailer
and recreational vehicle when driven or moved upon a highway is
subject to the registration and certificate of title provisions of
this chapter except:
(1) Any vehicle driven or moved upon a highway in conformance
with the provisions of this chapter relating to manufacturers,
transporters, dealers, lienholders or nonresidents or under a
temporary registration permit issued by the division as authorized
under this chapter;
(2) Any implement of husbandry upon which is securely attached
a machine for spraying fruit trees and plants of the owner or
lessee or for any other implement of husbandry which is used
exclusively for agricultural or horticultural purposes on lands
owned or leased by the owner of the implement and which is not
operated on or over any public highway of this state for any other
purpose other than for the purpose of operating it across a highway
or along a highway other than an expressway as designated by the
commissioner of the division of highways from one point of the
owner's land to another part of the owner's land, irrespective of
whether or not the tracts adjoin: Provided, That the distance
between the points may not exceed thirty-five miles, or for the
purpose of taking it or other fixtures attached to the implement,
to and from a repair shop for repairs. The exemption in this
subdivision from registration and license requirements also applies
to any vehicle described in this subsection or to any farm trailer owned by the owner or lessee of the farm on which the trailer is
used, when the trailer is used by the owner of the trailer for the
purpose of moving farm produce and livestock from the farm along a
public highway for a distance not to exceed thirty-five miles to a
storage house or packing plant, when the use is a seasonal
operation:
(A) The exemptions contained in this section also apply to
farm machinery, tractors and mini-trucks: Provided, That the
machinery, tractors and mini-trucks may use the highways in going
from one tract of land to another tract of land regardless of
whether the land is owned by the same or different persons.
For
the purposes of this section, mini-truck means a foreign-
manufactured import or domestic-manufactured vehicle designed
primarily for off-road use and powered by an engine ranging in size
from 550cc to 660cc and weighing approximately one thousand eight
hundred pounds
;
(B) Any vehicle exempted under this subsection from the
requirements of annual registration certificate and license plates
and fees for the registration certificate and license plate may not
use the highways between sunset and sunrise unless the vehicle is
classified as a Class A motor vehicle with a farm-use exemption
under the provisions of section one, article ten of this chapter
and has a valid and current inspection sticker as required by the
provisions of article sixteen, chapter seventeen-c of this code and
is traveling from one tract of land to another over a distance of
thirty-five miles or less;
(C) Any vehicle exempted under this section from the
requirements of annual registration certificate and license plates
may use the highways as provided in this section whether the exempt
vehicle is self-propelled, towed by another exempt vehicle or towed
by another vehicle required to be registered;
(D) Any vehicle used as an implement of husbandry exempt under
this section shall have the words "farm use" affixed to both sides
of the implement in ten-inch letters. Any vehicle which would be
subject to registration as a Class A or B vehicle if not exempted
by this section shall display a farm-use exemption certificate on
the lower driver's side of the windshield:
(i) The farm-use exemption certificate shall be provided by
the commissioner and shall be issued annually by the assessor of
the applicant's county of residence. The assessor shall issue a
farm-use exemption certificate to the applicant upon his or her
determination pursuant to an examination of the property books or
documentation provided by the applicant that the vehicle has been
properly assessed as Class I personal property. Nothing in this
section or any rule promulgated under the authority of chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code may be construed to require any
applicant for a renewal of a farm use exemption certificate to
appear personally before any assessor. The assessor shall charge
a fee of two dollars for each certificate, which shall be retained
by the assessor;
(ii) A farm-use exemption certificate shall not exempt the
applicant from maintaining the security required by chapter seventeen-d of this code on any vehicle being operated on the roads
or highways of this state;
(iii) No person charged with the offense of operating a
vehicle without a farm-use exemption certificate, if required under
this section, may be convicted of the offense if he or she produces
in court, or in the office of the arresting officer, a valid
farm-use exemption certificate for the vehicle in question within
five days;
(3) Any vehicle which is propelled exclusively by electric
power obtained from overhead trolley wires though not operated upon
rails;
(4) Any vehicle of a type subject to registration which is
owned by the government of the United States;
(5) Any wrecked or disabled vehicle towed by a licensed
wrecker or dealer on the public highways of this state;
(6) The following recreational vehicles are exempt from the
requirements of annual registration, license plates and fees,
unless otherwise specified by law, but are subject to the
certificate of title provisions of this chapter regardless of
highway use: Motorboats, all-terrain vehicles, utility terrain
vehicles and snowmobiles; and
(7) Any special mobile equipment as defined in subsection (r),
section one, article one of this chapter.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this
section:
(1) Mobile homes or manufactured homes are exempt from the requirements of annual registration, license plates and fees;
(2) House trailers may be registered and licensed; and
(3) Factory-built homes are subject to the certificate of
title provisions of this chapter.
(c) The division shall title and register low-speed vehicles
if the manufacturer's certificate of origin clearly identifies the
vehicle as a low-speed vehicle. The division may not title or
register homemade low-speed vehicles or retrofitted golf carts and
such vehicles do not qualify as low-speed vehicles in this state.
In addition to all other motor vehicle laws and regulations, except
as specifically exempted below, low-speed vehicles are subject to
the following restrictions and requirements:
(1) Low-speed vehicles shall only be operated on private roads
and on public roads and streets within the corporate limits of a
municipality where the speed limit is not more than twenty-five
miles per hour;
(2) Notwithstanding any provisions in this code to the
contrary, low-speed vehicles shall meet the requirements of 49
C.F.R. §571.500 (2003);
(3) In lieu of annual inspection, the owner of a low-speed
vehicle shall, upon initial application for registration and each
renewal thereafter, certify under penalty of false swearing, that
all lights, brakes, tires and seat belts are in good working
condition; and
(4) Any person operating a low-speed vehicle must hold a valid
driver's license, not an instruction permit.