Senate Bill No. 673
(By Senator Ross)
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[Introduced February 23, 2004; referred to the Committee on
Transportation.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §17C-17A-1, §17C-17A-3 and §17C-17A-6
of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating
to reporting requirements on coal resource transportation
roads; and removing the reporting requirement for vehicles
hauling coal on roads that are not part of the coal resource
transportation road system.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §17C-17A-1, §17C-17A-3 and §17C-17A-6 of the code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 17A. REGULATION OF THE COMMERCIAL TRANSPORTATION OF COAL.
§17C-17A-1. Legislative findings and creation of program.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares that:
(1) No other economic undertaking in the history of West
Virginia has had a greater impact upon the citizens of this state, providing such an economic force and affecting the social construct
and day-to-day life and environment of the people and communities
of this state, than the activities associated with the extraction,
transportation and consumption of coal or its byproducts. In areas
of this state where the coal industry exists, the economic benefits
of coal production are an indispensable part of the local
community's vitality.
(2) The historic progression of the coal industry has resulted
in an increasing use of the public highways of this state for the
transportation of coal to river ports, power generators or rail
loading facilities. Roads where coal is transported are mainly
two-lane rural roads and highways of varying grades and conditions.
The daily presence of large commercial motor vehicles on these
roads and highways causes significant impact to local communities
and the local transportation infrastructure. Local residents are
exposed on a daily basis to the dangers associated with sharing the
road with a large number of these vehicles.
(3) The increased capacity and ability of coal-hauling
vehicles, tied with increased economic pressures to reduce industry
transportation costs, have created economic incentives for
transporting coal at higher than legal limits and for drivers to
drive long hours and operate these vehicles at higher rates of
speed. Consequently, average vehicle weights have increased and
many coal transport vehicles regularly exceed the lawful limit by more than one hundred percent. The excessive weights of these
vehicles have also resulted in the rapid deterioration of state
roads and bridges, creating significant costs to the state of
millions of dollars in lost road and bridge use and life.
(4) Advances in truck stability, braking and safety technology
have made modern coal transporters much safer conveyances than
those used by the industry when the state's current weight laws
were enacted. Further advances in technology have made tracking
and recording individual vehicles, their operators and loads
significantly more efficient.
(5) Enforcement of truck safety and driver safety laws has
been divided between various jurisdictions such as local and state
law enforcement, the division of highways and the public service
commission. As a result, local and state enforcement of those
comprehensive laws has not been uniform, with the result that many
of these laws have not been enforced.
(6) The resulting need for a remedy for hauling these
additional amounts of coal is most severe in a limited and discrete
geographic area of the state where the limited access to rail and
river transportation options and economic conditions require a
regulatory program that allows a greater weight allowance for coal-
hauling vehicles to address the unique economic circumstances of
that region.
(7) That this limited highway system must include additional safety protections for the public sharing the roads with a large
coal-hauling vehicle fleet and specialized training for operators
of these vehicles, requiring the program be designed to assure that
state weight and safety requirements be effectively administered
and enforced.
(b) A special regulatory program with administrative
enforcement authority over all vehicles hauling coal in West
Virginia is created. This program is designed to address the
economic needs of the state coal industry within the confines of
the ability of the transportation infrastructure to accommodate
these needs and in careful consideration for road safety and
maintenance requirements of these vehicles by providing for
statewide coal truck weight reporting requirements on coal resource
transportation roads and allowing a limited statewide increase in
weights for commercial vehicles and an additional, limited increase
for vehicles hauling coal where the greater increase is required.
§17C-17A-3. Authority of the division of highways and public
service commission generally.
(a) The division of highways shall establish all legal vehicle
weight limits for all public highways including roads within the
coal resource transportation road system. Public highways shall be
designated as coal resource transportation roads by the
commissioner of the division of highways pursuant to this article.
Only state-maintained roads and public highways found in the following areas: Boone; Fayette; Lincoln; Logan; McDowell; Mercer;
Mingo; Raleigh; Wayne and Wyoming counties; in Greenbrier County,
routes west of Sam Black Church and southwest to the Summers County
line; in Clay County, routes 4 and 16; in Nicholas County, routes
19, 20, 39, 41 and 55; in Webster County, routes 9, 20 and 82; and
all state-maintained roads and public highways found in Washington,
Malden, Louden and Cabin Creek districts, Kanawha County, are
eligible to qualify as part of the coal resource transportation
road system. The division shall post signs on roads informing the
public of the designation and shall also list a toll free telephone
line for public reporting of poor driving or law violations by
special permit operators. The division shall provide periodic
reports to the commercial motor vehicle weight and safety
enforcement advisory committee as established in section two,
article one-a, chapter twenty-four-a of this code relating to the
study of coal resource transportation roads. The periodic reports
shall include the following at a minimum: (1) Citations issued for
violations of this chapter; (2) disposition of the violations; (3)
road conditions and maintenance; and (4) the amount of undue road
damage attributable to coal resource transportation road system
permit use.
(b) The public service commission shall administer the coal
resource transportation road permitting program and otherwise
enforce the provisions of this article. The commission shall establish requirements for vehicle operators holding coal resource
transportation road permits pursuant to section five of this
article consistent with federal statutory and regulatory
requirements.
(1) The commission may, during normal business hours, conduct
inspections of all trucking related records of shippers, vehicle
operators, vehicle owners and receivers engaged in the
transportation of coal. Copies of records shall be provided to
commission employees upon request. This provision may not be
construed to authorize the commission to reveal trade secrets or
other confidential financial information of those persons
inspected; however the commission may use any weight measurement
records as evidence of a violation of this article.
(2) The commission shall establish and maintain a toll free
telephone line for public reporting of poor driving or law
violations by special permit operators. In addition, the
commission shall require all vehicles operating under a permit
issued pursuant to the provisions of this article to clearly
display on the vehicle the toll-free telephone number.
(3) The commission shall implement a study of commercial
vehicle safety-related issues, including using higher education
institutions and other research organizations. The commission
shall provide periodic reports to the commercial motor vehicle
weight and safety enforcement advisory committee as established in section two, article one-a, chapter twenty-four-a of this code
relating to the study of motor vehicle weight and safety
enforcement.
(4) The commission shall establish procedures to use
electronic real time reporting of coal vehicle weights on coal
resource transportation roads by shippers and receivers. The
commission may require daily certified reports from shippers or
receivers if electronic reporting methods are not used. The
commission may authorize alternative measures of reporting that
require same-day reporting of weight measurements by shippers and
receivers.
(5) The commission shall impose and collect from shippers of
coal on the coal resource transportation road system through the
use of the special permit, issued pursuant to section five of this
article, for the privilege of loading coal in excess of
eighty-eight thousand pounds for transport on a coal resource
transportation road. The fee shall be assessed in the amount of
five cents per ton of coal hauled over the road. Revenue from the
fees shall be deposited in the coal resource transportation fund
created in said section.
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of section three, article
one, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, the commission and the
division shall each propose legislative rules for promulgation in
accordance with the provisions of article three of said chapter to carry out their duties and responsibilities pursuant to the
provisions of this article.
§17C-17A-6. Reporting requirements for shippers, vehicle owners
and receivers of coal transported on public
highways.
(a) Every shipper of coal for transport on a public highway in
this state that loads vehicles to a gross weight in excess of
eighty thousand gross pounds shall be required to report to the
commission weight and other transport-related data as required in
this article. The commission shall by rule establish special
recording and reporting methods for timely and accurate disclosure
of all shipments of coal made upon any public highway of this
state. The rules shall provide for administrative penalties to be
imposed for failure to timely or accurately report weight or other
required data.
(b) Every vehicle owner who transports coal on a public
highway coal resource transportation road of this state is subject
to the provisions of this article and any rules established by the
commission requiring reporting, monitoring or removal from service
of any unsafe vehicle or driver.
(c) Every receiver of coal transported on a public highway in
this state that unloads or causes to be unloaded any shipment of
coal shall report to the commission the weight of the shipment and
other data related to the shipment as required by rules promulgated by the commission. The rules shall provide for administrative
penalties to be imposed for failure to timely or accurately report
the weight or other data. Compliance with the reporting
requirements shall cause the receiver to be immune from any and all
criminal, civil and administrative liability, damages, costs, fines
and penalties based on, arising out of or resulting from the
receiver's receipt or acceptance of the shipment.
(d) The commission shall by rule establish special recording
and reporting methods for timely and accurate disclosure of all
shipments of coal made by commercial motor vehicles upon a public
highway coal resource transportation road of this state.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to remove the requirement
that people shipping or receiving coal in excess of 80,000 pounds
on roads that are not part of the coal resource transportation road
system report the amount of coal shipped or received.
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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