WEST virginia legislature

2020 regular session

Introduced

Senate Bill 237

By Senators Baldwin, Beach, Lindsay, Stollings, Romano, and Facemire

[Introduced January 9, 2020; referred
to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; and then to the Committee on Finance]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §17-16A-31, relating to exempting emergency vehicles and private ambulances from paying tolls or other charges.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 16A. WEST VIRGINIA PARKWAYS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM AUTHORITY.

§17-16A-31. Exemption from requirement to pay toll or other charge by emergency vehicles and private ambulances.

(a) An authorized emergency vehicle or a private ambulance is exempt from any requirement to pay a toll or other charge, if all of the following conditions are satisfied, as applicable to an authorized emergency vehicle or a private ambulance:

(1) (A) The authorized emergency vehicle is properly displaying an exempt West Virginia license plate, and is properly identified or marked as an authorized emergency vehicle, including, but not limited to, displaying an external surface-mounted red warning light, blue warning light, or both, and displaying public agency identification, including, but not limited to, “Fire Department,” “Sheriff,” or “Police”.

(B) The private ambulance is properly displaying a valid West Virginia license plate and identification as the operator of a private ambulance.

(2) (A) The authorized emergency vehicle or private ambulance is being driven while responding to or returning from an urgent or emergency call, engaged in an urgent or emergency response, or engaging in a fire station coverage assignment directly related to an emergency response.

(B) For purposes of this paragraph, an “urgent” response or call means an incident or circumstance that requires an immediate response to a public safety-related incident but does not warrant the use of emergency warning lights. “Urgent” does not include any personal use, commuting, training, or administrative uses.

(C) Notwithstanding paragraph (A), an authorized emergency vehicle or private ambulance, when returning from an urgent or emergency call, from being engaged in an urgent or emergency response, or from engaging in a fire station coverage assignment directly related to an emergency response, is not exempt from any requirement to pay a toll or other charge.

(3) The driver of the authorized emergency vehicle or private ambulance determines that the use of the parkway project shall likely improve the availability or response and arrival time of the authorized emergency vehicle or private ambulance and its delivery of essential public safety services.

(b) If the parkways authority elects to send a bill, notice, or invoice to the public agency for the use of the parkways project by an authorized emergency vehicle or to the private ambulance operator for the use of the parkways project by a private ambulance exempt pursuant to subsection (a), the fire chief, police chief, county sheriff, head of the public agency, the designee of the foregoing, or the private ambulance operator is authorized to certify in writing that the authorized emergency vehicle or private ambulance was responding to or returning from an emergency call or response and is exempt from the payment of the toll or other charge in accordance with this section. The letter shall be accepted by the parkways authority in lieu of payment and shall be a public document.

(c) An authorized emergency vehicle or a private ambulance that does not comply with this section is not exempt from the requirement to pay a toll or other charge for use of the parkways project. Upon information and belief of the parkways authority that an authorized emergency vehicle or private ambulance is not in compliance with this section, the fire chief, police chief, county sheriff, head of the public agency, the designee of the foregoing, or the private ambulance operator, upon the request of the parkways authority, shall provide or otherwise make accessible to the parkways authority the dispatch records or log books relevant to the time period when the authorized emergency vehicle or private ambulance was in use at the toll facility.

(d) This section does not prohibit or amend an agreement entered into between the parkways authority and a local emergency service provider or private ambulance operator that establishes mutually agreed upon terms for the use of the parkways project by the emergency service provider or private ambulance operator. This section does not prohibit the parkways authority from having a policy that meets or exceeds this section. If at any time an emergency service provider or private ambulance operator, or the parkways authority opts to terminate an agreement regarding the payment and processing of tolls or other charges, this section shall apply to the emergency service provider or private ambulance operator and the parkways project. An agreement between an emergency service provider or private ambulance operator and the parkways authority of the parkways project does not exempt other emergency service providers or private ambulance operators not named in the original agreement and the parkways project from the requirements of this section when those other emergency service providers or private ambulance operators use the parkways project.

(e) For purposes of this section:

(1) “Private ambulance operator” shall mean a privately owned emergency medical services agency licensed pursuant to §16-4C-1 et seq. of this code.

(2) “Authorized emergency vehicle” means vehicles of a fire department, duly chartered rescue squad, police department, ambulance service, state, county or municipal agency.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to exempt an authorized emergency vehicle or a private ambulance from any requirement to pay a toll or other charge, if all of the listed conditions are satisfied.

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