Senate Bill No. 505
(By Senators Ross and Love)
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[Introduced February 11, 2004; referred to the Committee on
Transportation.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §17A-1-1 of the code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; to amend and reenact §17A-3-2 of said code;
and to amend and reenact §17A-6-3 and §17A-6-18 of said code,
all relating to creating a motor vehicle classification of
"low-speed vehicle".
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §17A-1-1 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; that §17A-3-2 of said code be amended and
reenacted; and that §17A-6-3 and §17A-6-18 of said code be amended
and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. WORDS AND PHRASES DEFINED.
§17A-1-1. De
finitions.
Except as otherwise provided in this chapter the following
words and phrases when used in this chapter shall have the meanings
respectively ascribed to them in this article:
(a) "Vehicle" means every device in, upon or by which any
person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a
highway, excepting devices moved by human power or used exclusively
upon stationary rails or tracks.
(b) "Motor vehicle" means every vehicle which is
self-propelled and every vehicle which is propelled by electric
power obtained from overhead trolley wires, but not operated upon
rails.
(c) "Motorcycle" means every motor vehicle, including
motor-driven cycles and mopeds as defined in sections five and
five-a, article one, chapter seventeen-c of this code, having a
saddle for the use of the rider and designed to travel on not more
than three wheels in contact with the ground but excluding a
tractor.
(d) "School bus" means every motor vehicle owned by a public
governmental agency and operated for the transportation of children
to or from school or privately owned and operated for compensation
for the transportation of children to or from school.
(e) "Bus" means every motor vehicle designed to carry more
than seven passengers and used to transport persons; and every
motor vehicle, other than a taxicab, designed and used to transport
persons for compensation.
(f) "Truck tractor" means every motor vehicle designed and
used primarily for drawing other vehicles and not so constructed as to carry a load other than a part of the weight of the vehicle and
load so drawn.
(g) "Farm tractor" means every motor vehicle designed and used
primarily as a farm implement for drawing plows, mowing machines
and other implements of husbandry.
(h) "Road tractor" means every motor vehicle designed, used or
maintained for drawing other vehicles and not so constructed as to
carry any load thereon either independently or any part of the
weight of a vehicle or load so drawn.
(i) "Truck" means every motor vehicle designed, used or
maintained primarily for the transportation of property.
(j) "Trailer" means every vehicle with or without motive power
designed for carrying persons or property and for being drawn by a
motor vehicle and so constructed that no part of its weight rests
upon the towing vehicle but excluding recreational vehicles.
(k) "Semitrailer" means every vehicle with or without motive
power designed for carrying persons or property and for being drawn
by a motor vehicle and so constructed that some part of its weight
and that of its load rests upon or is carried by another vehicle.
(l) "Pole trailer" means every vehicle without motive power
designed to be drawn by another vehicle and attached to the towing
vehicle by means of a reach, or pole, or by being boomed or
otherwise secured to the towing vehicle, and ordinarily used for
transporting long or irregularly shaped loads such as poles, pipes or structural members capable, generally, of sustaining themselves
as beams between the supporting connections.
(m) "Specially constructed vehicles" means every vehicle of a
type required to be registered hereunder not originally constructed
under a distinctive name, make, model or type by a generally
recognized manufacturer of vehicles and not materially altered from
its original construction.
(n) "Reconstructed vehicle" means every vehicle of a type
required to be registered hereunder materially altered from its
original construction by the removal, addition or substitution of
essential parts, new or used.
(o) "Essential parts" means all integral and body parts of a
vehicle of a type required to be registered hereunder, the removal,
alteration or substitution of which would tend to conceal the
identity of the vehicle or substantially alter its appearance,
model, type or mode of operation.
(p) "Foreign vehicle" means every vehicle of a type required
to be registered hereunder brought into this state from another
state, territory or country other than in the ordinary course of
business by or through a manufacturer or dealer and not registered
in this state.
(q) "Implement of husbandry" means every vehicle which is
designed for or adapted to agricultural purposes and used by the
owner thereof primarily in the conduct of his agricultural operations, including, but not limited to, trucks used for spraying
trees and plants: Provided, That the vehicle may not be let for
hire at any time.
(r) "Special mobile equipment" means every self-propelled
vehicle not designed or used primarily for the transportation of
persons or property and incidentally operated or moved over the
highways, including, without limitation, road construction or
maintenance machinery, ditch-digging apparatus, stone crushers, air
compressors, power shovels, graders, rollers, well-drillers,
wood-sawing equipment, asphalt spreaders, bituminous mixers, bucket
loaders, ditchers, leveling graders, finishing machines, motor
graders, road rollers, scarifiers, earth-moving carryalls,
scrapers, drag lines, rock-drilling equipment and earth-moving
equipment. The foregoing enumeration shall be deemed partial and
may not operate to exclude other such vehicles which are within the
general terms of this subdivision.
(s) "Pneumatic tire" means every tire in which compressed air
is designed to support the load.
(t) "Solid tire" means every tire of rubber or other resilient
material which does not depend upon compressed air for the support
of the load.
(u) "Metal tire" means every tire the surface of which in
contact with the highway is wholly or partly of metal or other
hard, nonresilient material.
(v) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of motor vehicles of
this state.
(w) "Department" "Division" means the department division of
motor vehicles of this state acting directly or through its duly
authorized officers and agents.
(x) "Person" means every natural person, firm, copartnership,
association or corporation.
(y) "Owner" means a person who holds the legal title to a
vehicle, or in the event a vehicle is the subject of an agreement
for the conditional sale or lease thereof with the right of
purchase upon performance of the conditions stated in the agreement
and with an immediate right of possession vested in the conditional
vendee or lessee, or in the event a mortgagor of a vehicle is
entitled to possession, then the conditional vendee or lessee or
mortgagor shall be deemed the owner for the purpose of this
chapter.
(z) "Nonresident" means every person who is not a resident of
this state.
(aa) "Dealer" or "dealers" is a general term meaning,
depending upon the context in which used, either a new motor
vehicle dealer, used motor vehicle dealer, factory-built home
dealer, recreational vehicle dealer, trailer dealer or motorcycle
dealer, as defined in section one, article six of this chapter, or
all of the dealers or a combination thereof, and in some instances a new motor vehicle dealer or dealers in another state.
(bb) "Registered dealer" or "registered dealers" is a general
term meaning, depending upon the context in which used, either a
new motor vehicle dealer, used motor vehicle dealer, house trailer
dealer, trailer dealer, recreational vehicle dealer or motorcycle
dealer, or all of the dealers or a combination thereof, licensed
under the provisions of article six of this chapter.
(cc) "Licensed dealer" or "licensed dealers" is a general term
meaning, depending upon the context in which used, either a new
motor vehicle dealer, used motor vehicle dealer, house trailer
dealer, trailer dealer, recreational vehicle dealer or motorcycle
dealer, or all of the dealers or a combination thereof, licensed
under the provisions of article six of this chapter.
(dd) "Transporter" means every person engaged in the business
of delivering vehicles of a type required to be registered
hereunder from a manufacturing, assembling or distributing plant to
dealers or sales agents of a manufacturer.
(ee) "Manufacturer" means every person engaged in the business
of constructing or assembling vehicles of a type required to be
registered hereunder at a place of business in this state which is
actually occupied either continuously or at regular periods by the
manufacturer where his books and records are kept and a large share
of his business is transacted.
(ff) "Street" or "highway" means the entire width between boundary lines of every way publicly maintained when any part
thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular
travel.
(gg) "Motorboat" means any vessel propelled by an electrical,
steam, gas, diesel or other fuel propelled or driven motor, whether
or not the motor is the principal source of propulsion, but may not
include a vessel which has a valid marine document issued by the
bureau of customs of the United States government or any federal
agency successor thereto.
(hh) "Motorboat trailer" means every vehicle designed for or
ordinarily used for the transportation of a motorboat.
(ii) "All-terrain vehicle" (ATV) means any motor vehicle
designed for off-highway use and designed for operator use only
with no passengers, having a seat or saddle designed to be
straddled by the operator, and handlebars for steering control.
(jj) "Travel trailer" means every vehicle, mounted on wheels,
designed to provide temporary living quarters for recreational,
camping or travel use of such size or weight as not to require
special highway movement permits when towed by a motor vehicle and
of gross trailer area less than four hundred square feet.
(kk) "Fold down camping trailer" means every vehicle
consisting of a portable unit mounted on wheels and constructed
with collapsible partial sidewalls which fold for towing by another
vehicle and unfold at the camp site to provide temporary living quarters for recreational, camping or travel use.
(ll) "Motor home" means every vehicle, designed to provide
temporary living quarters, built into an integral part of or
permanently attached to a self-propelled motor vehicle, chassis or
van including: (1) Type A motor home built on an incomplete truck
chassis with the truck cab constructed by the second stage
manufacturer; (2) Type B motor home consisting of a van-type
vehicle which has been altered to provide temporary living
quarters; and (3) Type C motor home built on an incomplete van or
truck chassis with a cab constructed by the chassis manufacturer.
(mm) "Snowmobile" means a self-propelled vehicle intended for
travel primarily on snow and driven by a track or tracks in contact
with the snow and steered by a ski or skis in contact with the
snow.
(nn) "Recreational vehicle" means a motorboat, motorboat
trailer, all-terrain vehicle, travel trailer, fold down camping
trailer, motor home or snowmobile.
(oo) "Mobile equipment" means every self-propelled vehicle not
designed or used primarily for the transportation of persons or
property over the highway but which may infrequently or
incidentally travel over the highways among job sites, equipment
storage sites or repair sites, including farm equipment, implements
of husbandry, well-drillers, cranes and wood-sawing equipment.
(pp) "Factory-built home" includes mobile homes, house trailers and manufactured homes.
(qq) "Manufactured home" has the same meaning as the term is
defined in section two, article nine, chapter twenty-one of this
code which meets the National Manufactured Housing Construction and
Safety Standards Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. §5401 et seq.), effective
on the fifteenth day of June, one thousand nine hundred
seventy-six, and the federal manufactured home construction and
safety standards and regulations promulgated by the secretary of
the United States department of housing and urban development.
(rr) "Mobile home" means a transportable structure that is
wholly, or in substantial part, made, fabricated, formed or
assembled in manufacturing facilities for installation or assembly
and installation on a building site and designed for long-term
residential use and built prior to enactment of the federal
Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974
(42 U.S.C. §5401 et seq.), effective on the fifteenth day of June,
one thousand nine hundred seventy-six, and usually built to the
voluntary industry standard of the American national standards
institute (ANSI) -- A119.1 standards for mobile homes.
(ss) "House trailers" means all trailers designed and used for
human occupancy on a continual nonrecreational basis, but may not
include fold down camping and travel trailers, mobile homes or
manufactured homes.
(tt) "Parking enforcement vehicle" means a motor vehicle which does not fit into any other classification of vehicle in this
chapter, has three or four wheels and is designed for use in an
incorporated municipality by a city, county, state or other
governmental entity primarily for parking enforcement or other
governmental purposes with an operator area with sides permanently
enclosed with rigid construction and a top which may be
convertible, sealed beam headlights, turn signals, brake lights,
horn, at least one rear view mirror on each side and such other
equipment that will enable it to pass a standard motorcycle vehicle
inspection.
(uu) "Low speed vehicle" means a four-wheeled motor vehicle,
other than a truck, whose attainable speed in one mile on a paved
level surface is more than twenty miles per hour but not more than
twenty-five miles per hour.
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 twenty-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 twenty-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 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 is owned by
the same or different persons;
(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
twenty-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. 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 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 roads where
the speed limit is not more than thirty-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.
ARTICLE 6. LICENSING OF DEALERS AND WRECKERS OR DISMANTLERS;
SPECIAL PLATES; TEMPORARY PLATES OR MARKERS.
PART II. LICENSE CERTIFICATE PROVISIONS.
§17A-6-3. License certificate required; engaging in more than one
business; established place of business required;
civil penalties.
(a) No person shall engage or represent or advertise that he
or she is engaged or intends to engage in the business of new motor
vehicle dealer, used motor vehicle dealer, house trailer dealer, trailer dealer, recreational vehicle dealer, motorcycle dealer,
used parts dealer, or wrecker or dismantler, in this state, unless
and until he or she first obtains a license certificate therefor as
provided in this article, which license certificate remains
unexpired, unsuspended and unrevoked. Any person desiring to
engage in more than one such business must, subject to the
provisions of section five of this article, apply for and obtain a
separate license certificate for each such business.
(b) A person in business as a new motor vehicle or
recreational vehicle dealer may sell low speed vehicles as defined
in section one, article one of this chapter.
(b) (c) Except for the qualification contained in subdivision
(17), subsection (a), section one of this article with respect to
a new motor vehicle dealer, each place of business of a new motor
vehicle dealer, used motor vehicle dealer, house trailer dealer,
trailer dealer, recreational vehicle dealer, motorcycle dealer,
used parts dealer and wrecker or dismantler, must be an established
place of business as defined for such business in said section one.
(c) (d) Any person who violates this section shall, in
addition to any other penalty prescribed by law, be subject to a
civil penalty levied by the commissioner in an amount not to exceed
one thousand dollars for the first violation, two thousand dollars
for the second violation, and five thousand dollars for every
subsequent violation.
(d) (e) The commissioner shall promulgate rules, in accordance
with the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code,
establishing procedures whereby persons against whom such civil
penalties are to be assessed shall be afforded all due process
required pursuant to the provisions of the West Virginia
constitution.
§17A-6-18. Investigation; matters confidential; grounds for
suspending or revoking license or imposing fine;
suspension and revocation generally.
(a) The commissioner may conduct an investigation to determine
whether any provisions of this chapter have been or are about to be
violated by a licensee. Any investigation shall be kept in
strictest confidence by the commissioner, the division, the
licensee, any complainant and all other persons, unless and until
the commissioner suspends or revokes the license certificate of the
licensee involved or fines the licensee:
Provided, That the
commissioner may advise the motor vehicle dealers advisory board of
pending actions and may disclose to the motor vehicle dealers
advisory board any information that enables it to perform its
advisory function in imposing penalties. The commissioner may
suspend or revoke a license certificate, suspend a special dealer
plate or plates, impose a fine or take any combination of these
actions, if the commissioner finds that the licensee:
(1) Has failed or refused to comply with the laws of this
state relating to the registration and titling of vehicles and the
giving of notices of transfers, the provisions and requirements of
this article, or any reasonable rules authorized in section nine,
article two of this chapter and promulgated to implement the
provisions of this article by the commissioner in accordance with
the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this
code;
(2) Has given any check in the payment of any fee required
under the provisions of this chapter which is dishonored;
(3) In the case of a dealer, has knowingly made or permitted
any unlawful use of any dealer special plate or plates issued to
him or her;
(4) In the case of a dealer, has a dealer special plate or
plates to which he or she is not lawfully entitled;
(5) Has knowingly made false statement of a material fact in
his or her application for the license certificate then issued and
outstanding;
(6) Has habitually defaulted on financial obligations;
(7) Does not have and maintain at each place of business,
(subject to the qualification contained in subdivision (17),
subsection (a), section one of this article with respect to a new
motor vehicle dealer) an established place of business as defined
for the business in question in section one of this article;
(8) Has been guilty of any fraudulent act in connection with
the business of new motor vehicle dealer, used motor vehicle
dealer, house trailer dealer, trailer dealer, motorcycle dealer,
used parts dealer, or wrecker or dismantler;
(9) Has defrauded or is attempting to defraud any buyer or any
other person, to the damage of the buyer or other person, in the
conduct of the licensee's business;
(10) Has defrauded or is attempting to defraud the state or
any political subdivision of the state of any taxes or fees in
connection with the sale or transfer of any vehicle;
(11) Has committed fraud in the registration of a vehicle;
(12) Has knowingly purchased, sold or otherwise dealt in a
stolen vehicle or vehicles;
(13) Has advertised by any means, with intent to defraud, any
material representation or statement of fact which is untrue,
misleading or deceptive in any particular relating to the conduct
of the licensed business;
(14) Has willfully failed or refused to perform any legally
binding written agreement with any buyer;
(15) Has made a fraudulent sale or purchase;
(16) Has failed or refused to assign, reassign or transfer a
proper certificate of title;
(17) Has a license certificate to which he or she is not
lawfully entitled;
(18) Has misrepresented a customer's credit or financial
status to obtain financing; or
(19) Has failed to reimburse when ordered, any claim against
the dealer recovery fund as prescribed in section two-a of this
article.
The commissioner shall also suspend or revoke the license
certificate of a licensee if he or she finds the existence of any
ground upon which the license certificate could have been refused,
or any ground which would be cause for refusing a license
certificate to the licensee were he or she then applying for the
license certificate.
(b) Whenever a licensee fails
or refuses to keep the bond,
unless exempt from the requirement pursuant to section two-a of
this article, or liability insurance required by section four of
this article in full force and effect
or fails to provide evidence
of the bond or liability insurance, the commissioner shall
automatically suspend the license certificate of the licensee
unless and until a bond or certificate of insurance as required by
section four of this article is furnished to the commissioner.
When the licensee furnishes the bond or certificate of insurance to
the commissioner
and pays all reinstatement fees, the commissioner
shall vacate the suspension.
(c) Suspensions under this section shall continue until the
cause for the suspension has been eliminated or corrected. Revocation of a license certificate shall not preclude application
for a new license certificate. The commissioner shall process the
application for a new license certificate in the same manner and
issue or refuse to issue the license certificate on the same
grounds as any other application for a license certificate is
processed, considered and passed upon, except that the commissioner
may give any previous suspension and the revocation such weight in
deciding whether to issue or refuse the license certificate as is
correct and proper under all of the circumstances.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create a motor vehicle
classification of "low speed vehicle."
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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