ENGROSSED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 355
(By Senators Ross and Sharpe)
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[Originating in the Committee on Finance;
reported February 19, 1999.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section two, article three, chapter
seventeen-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact
section three, article six-b of said chapter, all relating
to eliminating two special revenue accounts maintained by
the division of motor vehicles; and allowing assessors to
retain the entire fee for farm-use exemption certificates.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two, article three, chapter seventeen-a of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and that section three,
article six-b of said chapter be amended and reenacted, all 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
shall be 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
department
division as
hereinafter 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
thereof 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
thereof of the
owner's land, irrespective of whether or not the tracts adjoin:
Provided, That the distance between the points may not exceed
twenty-five miles, or for the purpose of taking it or other
fixtures
thereto attached
to the implement, to and from a repair
shop for repairs. The
foregoing exemption
in this subdivision
from registration and license requirements
shall also apply also
applies to any vehicle
hereinbefore 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
thereof 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 twenty-five miles to a storage house or
packing plant, when the use is a seasonal operation:
(A) The exemptions contained in this section
shall also
apply to farm machinery and tractors:
Provided, That the
machinery and tractors may use the highways in going from one tract of land to another tract of land regardless of whether the
land
be is owned by the same or different persons;
(B) Any vehicle exempted
hereunder under this subsection
from the requirements of annual registration certificate and
license plates and fees
therefor for the registration certificate
and license plate may not
be permitted to use the highways
between sunset and sunrise;
(C) Any vehicle exempted
hereunder under this section from
the requirements of annual registration certificate and license
plates
shall be permitted to may use the highways as
herein
provided
in this section whether the exempt vehicle is self-
propelled, towed by another exempt vehicle or towed by another
vehicle
for which registration is required
to be registered;
(D) Any vehicle used as an implement of husbandry exempt
hereunder must 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. The assessor
shall charge a fee of two dollars for each certificate,
one
dollar of the fee which shall be retained by the assessor;
and
one dollar shall be remitted by the assessor to the commissioner
of the division of motor vehicles to be deposited in a special
revolving fund to be used in the administration of this section.
(ii) A farm-use exemption certificate
in no way exempts
shall not exempt the applicant from maintaining the security
as
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,
shall 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
which is being towed by
a licensed wrecker or dealer on the public highways of this
state;
(6) The following recreational vehicles
shall be are exempt
from the requirements of annual registration, license plates and
fees, unless otherwise specified by law, but
shall be are subject
to the certificate of title provisions of this chapter regardless
of highway use: Motorboats, all-terrain vehicles and
snowmobiles; and
(7) Any special mobile equipment as defined in subsection
(r), section one, article one of this chapter.
(b) The provisions of this article relating to recreational
vehicles shall become effective on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine.
(c) (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of
subsections
subsection (a)
and (b) 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.
ARTICLE 6B. LICENSE SERVICES.
§17A-6B-3. Fee required for license certificate; special fund
created.
(a) The initial application fee for a certificate to engage
in the license service business is twenty-five dollars. The
renewal fee for such the certificate is twenty-five dollars.
(b) There is hereby created in the treasury a special fund,
named the "motor vehicle license service administration fund,"
into which shall be paid all of the initial licensing fees, the
renewal licensing fees, and certified copies fees. The
commissioner of motor vehicles shall use the moneys in this
account to administer and enforce the provisions of this article.
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(NOTE: Strike-throughs indicate language that would be
stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new
language that would be added.+)