Senate Bill No. 643
(By Senator Rowe)
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[Introduced February 23, 2004; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §24A-2-6 of the code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to carriers for hire; and providing
for the regulation of intrastate driving hours of for-hire
carriers by excluding taxicab and limousine drivers if they
are regulated by the public service commission.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §24A-2-6 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. COMMON CARRIERS BY MOTOR VEHICLES.
§24A-2-6. For hire common carriers of passengers; definitions;
driving time; rules.
(a) When used in this section, the following words and phrases
have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
a different meaning:
(1) "Driving time" means all time spent at the driving controls of a commercial for-hire vehicle designed to transport
passengers;
(2) "Eight consecutive days" means the period of eight
consecutive days beginning on any day at the time designated by the
for-hire carrier for a twenty-four-hour period;
(3) "On duty time" means all time from the time a driver
begins to work or is required to be in readiness to work until the
time he or she is relieved from work and all responsibility for
performing work; and
(4) "Twenty-four-hour period" means any twenty-
four-consecutive-hour period beginning at the time designated by
the for-hire carrier for the terminal from which the driver is
normally dispatched.
(b) The provisions of this section apply only to for-hire
carriers operated by an onboard driver which is designed to
transport passengers exclusively on any public highway or road in
this state. The provisions of this section apply only to
intrastate commerce and do not apply where preempted by federal
regulation.
(c) Drivers of for-hire carriers may not:
(1) Engage in driving time of a for-hire vehicle for more than
ten consecutive hours without eight consecutive hours off duty;
(2) Engage in
driving time of a for-hire vehicle after the
driver has on duty time of fifteen hours without eight consecutive hours off duty; or
(3) Engage in
driving time of a for-hire vehicle after the
driver has been on duty for a total of seventy consecutive hours
within eight consecutive days.
(d) For-hire carrier companies shall keep time records, for
six months, indicating the time all for-hire drivers report for
duty, the time of relief from duty, hours driven, hours on duty,
and hours off duty. These records shall be made available to the
state police and the public service commission.
(e) The provisions of this section do not apply to taxicab or
limousine drivers, whose employers, vehicles or vehicle leases are
subject to regulation by the public service commission.
(e) (f) The public service commission may promulgate rules
necessary to implement the provisions of this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to exclude taxicab or
limousine drivers from this section if they are regulated by the
public service commission.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.