SB 697 Text

ENROLLED
Senate Bill No. 697
(By Senators Tomblin, Mr. President, Helmick and Bowman)
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[Passed march 13, 2004; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact §24A-7-7 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to authorizing the public service commission to delegate motor carrier inspector duties to weight enforcement officers and vice versa.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §24A-7-7 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 7. COMPLAINTS, DAMAGES AND VIOLATIONS.

§24A-7-7. Authority of motor carrier inspectors to enforce all traffic rules as to commercial vehicles; use of radar as evidence.

(a) The employees of the commission designated as motor carrier inspectors have the same authority as law-enforcement officers generally to enforce the provisions of chapter seventeen-c of this code with respect to commercial motor vehicles owned or operated by motor carriers, exempt carriers or private commercial carriers where vehicles have a gross vehicle weight rating of ten thousand pounds or more.
The commission is authorized to delegate motor carrier inspector duties to weight enforcement officers as it considers appropriate, following successful training and certification of individual officers, who shall then have the same authority as motor carrier inspectors under this section. The commission is also authorized to delegate weight enforcement duties to motor carrier inspectors.
(b) The speed of a commercial motor vehicle owned or operated by a motor carrier, exempt carrier or private commercial carrier may be proved by evidence obtained by use of any device designed to measure and indicate or record the speed of a moving object by means of microwaves, when the evidence is obtained by employees of the commission designated as motor carrier inspectors. The evidence so obtained is prima facie evidence of the speed of the vehicle.
(c) Motor carrier inspectors shall also perform a north American standard safety inspection of each commercial motor vehicle stopped for enforcement purposes pursuant to this section.
(d) Before exercising the provisions of this section, the motor carrier inspectors shall receive adequate training.
(e) Nothing in this section affects the existing authority of law-enforcement officers not employed by the commission to enforce the provisions of chapter seventeen-c of this code.

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