
Senate Bill No. 550
(By Senators Redd, Love and Snyder)
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[Introduced March 21, 2001; referred to the Committee on
Transportation; and then to the Committee on Finance.]






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A BILL to amend and reenact sections five and six, article sixteen,
chapter seventeen-c of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating to fees for
motor vehicle inspections and charges for inspection stickers.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That sections five and six, article sixteen, chapter
seventeen-c of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 16. INSPECTION OF VEHICLES.
§17C-16-5. Permit for official inspection stations; fees for and
certificate of inspection.
The superintendent of the department of public safety state police shall be responsible for the inspection as provided in this
article and shall prescribe requirements and qualifications for
official inspection stations. He or she shall select and designate
such the stations and shall issue permits therefor and furnish
instructions and all necessary forms thereto for the inspection of
vehicles as herein required and the issuance of official
certificates of inspection and approval. The certificate of
inspection shall be a paper sticker or decal to be affixed to the
windshield of a motor vehicle, shall be serially numbered and shall
properly identify the official inspection station by which issued.
A charge of one dollar per sticker shall be charged by the
department of public safety state police to the inspection station,
and the funds so received shall be deposited into the state
treasury and credited to the account of the department of public
safety state police for application in the administration and
enforcement of the provisions of this article. Any balance
remaining in the fund on the last day of June of each fiscal year,
not required for operating expenses, construction, repairs or
alterations of police barracks for the ensuing fiscal year and for
the administration and enforcement of the provisions of this
article, shall be transferred to the state road fund. The superintendent is authorized to exchange stickers or to make
refunds to official inspection stations for stickers on hand when
permits are revoked or when, for any reason, the stickers become
obsolete.
Application for permit shall be made upon an official form
prescribed by the superintendent and permits shall be granted only
when the superintendent is satisfied that the station is properly
equipped, and has competent personnel to make such the inspections
and adjustments and that the inspections and adjustments will be
properly conducted. The superintendent, before issuing a permit,
may require the applicant to file a bond with surety approved by
the superintendent, conditioned that such applicant, as a station
operator, will make compensation for any damage to a vehicle during
an inspection or adjustment due to negligence on the part of such
the station operator or employees thereof.
The superintendent shall properly supervise and cause
inspections to be made of such the stations. Upon finding that a
station is not properly equipped or conducted, the superintendent
may, upon a first violation, suspend the permit for a period of up
to one year. Upon a second or subsequent finding that a station is
not properly equipped or conducted, the superintendent shall permanently revoke and require the surrender of the permit. The
superintendent may reinstate the permit of any person whose permit
was permanently revoked prior to the effective date of this section
upon a first finding that a station was not properly equipped or
conducted, upon application, at any time after the expiration of
six months from the time of revocation, and shall reinstate such
the permit, upon application, after the expiration of one year.
He or she shall maintain and post at his or her office and at such
other places as he or she may select lists of all stations holding
permits and of those whose permits have been suspended or revoked.
§17C-16-6. Assignment, transfer and posting of official
inspection station permit; issuance and record of
certificate of inspection; inspection fee.





No permit for an official inspection station shall be assigned
or transferred or used at any location other than therein
designated and every said permit shall be posted in a conspicuous
place at the station location designated.





The person operating any such station shall issue a
certificate of inspection and approval, upon an official form, to
the owner of a vehicle upon inspecting such the vehicle and
determining that its equipment required hereunder is in good
condition and proper adjustment, but otherwise no certificate shall be issued, except such as may be issued pursuant to section two of
this article. When required by the superintendent, a record and
report shall be made of every inspection and every certificate so
issued.





A fee of not more than seven dollars may be charged for an
inspection and any necessary headlight adjustment to proper focus,
not including any replacement parts required, and the issuance of
such the certificate, but the imposition of such charge shall not
be mandatory.





NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to remove the requirement
upon an inspection station that it not charge more than $7.00 for
an inspection.





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