BP BHEAD INT S

AN ACT Relating to transportation of persons with special transportation needs; and amending RCW 81.66.010, 81.66.070, 46.74.010, 82.08.0287, 82.36.285, 82.38.080, and 82.44.015.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 81.66.010 and 1979 c 111 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:

The definitions set forth in this section shall apply throughout this chapter, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

(1) "Corporation" means a corporation, company, association, or joint stock association.

(2) "Person" means an individual, firm, or a copartnership.

(3) "Private, nonprofit transportation provider" means any private, nonprofit corporation providing transportation services for ((~~compensation solely to elderly or handicapped persons and their attendants~~)) persons with special transportation needs.

(4) ((~~"Elderly" means any person sixty years of age or older.~~

(5) "Handicapped" means all persons who, by reason of illness, injury, age, congenital malfunction, or other permanent or temporary incapacity or disability, are unable without special facilities or special planning or design to use mass transportation facilities and services as efficiently as persons who are not so affected. Handicapped people include (a) ambulatory persons whose capacities are hindered by sensory disabilities such as blindness or deafness, mental disabilities such as mental retardation or emotional illness, physical disability which still permits the person to walk comfortably, or a combination of these disabilities; (b) semiambulatory persons who require special aids to travel such as canes, crutches, walkers, respirators, or human assistance; and (c) nonambulatory persons who must use wheelchairs or wheelchair-like equipment to travel)) "Persons with special transportation needs" means those persons, including their personal attendants, who because of physical or mental disability, income status, or age are unable to transport themselves or to purchase appropriate transportation.

Sec. 2. RCW 81.66.070 and 1979 c 111 s 10 are each amended to read as follows:

((~~The provisions of this chapter shall not affect the~~)) A private, nonprofit transportation provider shall be held to a reasonable and ordinary standard of care, ((~~as set forth in RCW 46.74.030, to which a private, nonprofit transportation provider shall be held~~)) and is not subject to an ordinance or regulation that relates exclusively to the regulation of drivers or owners of motor vehicles operated for hire, or other common carriers or public transit services.

Sec. 3. RCW 46.74.010 and 1979 c 111 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

The definitions set forth in this section shall apply throughout this chapter, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

(1) "Commuter ride sharing" means a car pool or van pool arrangement whereby a fixed group not exceeding fifteen persons including passengers and driver, is transported between their places of abode or termini near such places, and their places of employment or educational or other institutions, in a single daily round trip where the driver is also on the way to or from his or her place of employment or educational or other institution.

(2) "Ride sharing for ((~~the elderly and the handicapped~~)) persons with special transportation needs" means a car pool or van pool arrangement whereby a group of ((~~elderly and/or handicapped~~)) persons with special transportation needs, and their attendants, ((~~not exceeding fifteen persons including passengers and driver,~~)) is transported by a public social service agency or a private, nonprofit transportation provider as defined in RCW 81.66.010(3): PROVIDED, That the driver need not be ((~~neither elderly nor handicapped~~)) a person with special transportation needs.

(3) "Ride-sharing vehicle" means a passenger motor vehicle ((~~with a seating capacity not exceeding fifteen persons including the driver~~)) as defined by the utilities and transportation commission to include small buses, cutaways, and modified vans not more than twenty-eight feet long, while being used for commuter ride sharing by not fewer than five persons, including the driver, or not fewer than four persons including the driver, when at least two of those persons are confined to wheelchairs when riding, or for ride sharing for ((~~the elderly and the handicapped~~)) persons with special transportation needs.

(4) "Ride-sharing operator" means the person, entity, or concern, not necessarily the driver, responsible for the existence and continuance of commuter ride sharing or ride sharing for ((~~the elderly and the handicapped~~)) persons with special transportation needs.

(5) ((~~"Elderly" means any person sixty years of age or older.~~

(6) "Handicapped" means all persons who, by reason of illness, injury, age, congenital malfunction, or other permanent or temporary incapacity or disability, are unable without special facilities or special planning or design to use mass transportation facilities and services as efficiently as persons who are not so affected. Handicapped people include (a) ambulatory persons whose capacities are hindered by sensory disabilities such as blindness or deafness, mental disabilities such as mental retardation or emotional illness, physical disability which still permits the person to walk comfortably, or a combination of these disabilities; (b) semiambulatory persons who require special aids to travel such as canes, crutches, walkers, respirators, or human assistance; and (c) nonambulatory persons who must use wheelchairs or wheelchair-like equipment to travel)) "Persons with special transportation needs" means those persons defined in RCW 81.66.010(4).

Sec. 4. RCW 82.08.0287 and 1995 c 274 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

The tax imposed by this chapter shall not apply to sales of passenger motor vehicles which are to be used as ride-sharing vehicles, as defined in RCW 46.74.010(3), by not less than five persons, including the driver, with a gross vehicle weight not to exceed 10,000 pounds where the primary usage is for commuter ride-sharing, as defined in RCW 46.74.010(1), or by not less than four persons including the driver when at least two of those persons are confined to wheelchairs when riding, or passenger motor vehicles where the primary usage is for ride-sharing for ((~~the elderly and the handicapped~~)) persons with special transportation needs, as defined in RCW 46.74.010(2), if the ride-sharing vehicles are exempt under RCW 82.44.015 for thirty-six consecutive months beginning within thirty days of application for exemption under this section. If used as a ride-sharing vehicle for less than thirty-six consecutive months, the registered owner of one of these vehicles shall notify the department of revenue upon termination of primary use of the vehicle as a ride-sharing vehicle and is liable for the tax imposed by this chapter.

To qualify for the tax exemption, those passenger motor vehicles with five or six passengers, including the driver, used for commuter ride-sharing, must be operated either within the state's eight largest counties that are required to develop commute trip reduction plans as directed by chapter 70.94 RCW or in other counties, or cities and towns within those counties, that elect to adopt and implement a commute trip reduction plan. Additionally at least one of the following conditions must apply: (1) The vehicle must be operated by a public transportation agency for the general public; or (2) the vehicle must be used by a major employer, as defined in RCW 70.94.524 as an element of its commute trip reduction program for their employees; or (3) the vehicle must be owned and operated by individual employees and must be registered either with the employer as part of its commute trip reduction program or with a public transportation agency serving the area where the employees live or work. Individual employee owned and operated motor vehicles will require certification that the vehicle is registered with a major employer or a public transportation agency. Major employers who own and operate motor vehicles for their employees must certify that the commuter ride-sharing arrangement conforms to a carpool/vanpool element contained within their commute trip reduction program.

Sec. 5. RCW 82.36.285 and 1983 c 108 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:

A private, nonprofit transportation provider ((~~certified~~)) regulated under chapter 81.66 RCW shall receive a refund of the amount of the motor vehicle fuel tax paid on each gallon of motor vehicle fuel used to provide ((~~transit~~)) transportation services for ((~~only elderly or handicapped persons, or both~~)) persons with special transportation needs, whether the vehicle fuel tax has been paid either directly to the vendor from whom the motor vehicle fuel was purchased or indirectly by adding the amount of the tax to the price of the fuel.

Sec. 6. RCW 82.38.080 and 1993 c 141 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

There is exempted from the tax imposed by this chapter, the use of fuel for: (1) Street and highway construction and maintenance purposes in motor vehicles owned and operated by the state of Washington, or any county or municipality; (2) publicly owned fire fighting equipment; (3) special mobile equipment as defined in RCW 46.04.552; (4) power pumping units or other power take-off equipment of any motor vehicle which is accurately measured by metering devices that have been specifically approved by the department or which is established by either of the following formulae: (a) Pumping propane, or fuel or heating oils or milk picked up from a farm or dairy farm storage tank by a power take-off unit on a delivery truck, at the rate of three-fourths of one gallon for each one thousand gallons of fuel delivered or milk picked up: PROVIDED, That claimant when presenting his claim to the department in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, shall provide to said claim, invoices of propane, or fuel or heating oil delivered, or such other appropriate information as may be required by the department to substantiate his claim; or (b) operating a power take-off unit on a cement mixer truck or a load compactor on a garbage truck at the rate of twenty-five percent of the total gallons of fuel used in such a truck; and (c) the department is authorized to establish by rule additional formulae for determining fuel usage when operating other types of equipment by means of power take-off units when direct measurement of the fuel used is not feasible. The department is also authorized to adopt rules regarding the usage of on board computers for the production of records required by this chapter; (5) motor vehicles owned and operated by the United States government; (6) heating purposes; (7) moving a motor vehicle on a public highway between two pieces of private property when said moving is incidental to the primary use of the motor vehicle; (8) ((~~transit~~)) transportation services for ((~~only elderly or handicapped persons, or both,~~)) persons with special transportation needs by a private, nonprofit transportation provider ((~~certified~~)) regulated under chapter 81.66 RCW; and (9) notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, every urban passenger transportation system and carriers as defined by chapters 81.68 and 81.70 RCW shall be exempt from the provisions of this chapter requiring the payment of special fuel taxes. For the purposes of this section "urban passenger transportation system" means every transportation system, publicly or privately owned, having as its principal source of revenue the income from transporting persons for compensation by means of motor vehicles and/or trackless trolleys, each having a seating capacity for over fifteen persons over prescribed routes in such a manner that the routes of such motor vehicles and/or trackless trolleys, either alone or in conjunction with routes of other such motor vehicles and/or trackless trolleys subject to routing by the same transportation system, shall not extend for a distance exceeding twenty-five road miles beyond the corporate limits of the county in which the original starting points of such motor vehicles are located: PROVIDED, That no refunds or credits shall be granted on fuel used by any urban transportation vehicle or vehicle operated pursuant to chapters 81.68 and 81.70 RCW on any trip where any portion of said trip is more than twenty-five road miles beyond the corporate limits of the county in which said trip originated.

Sec. 7. RCW 82.44.015 and 1993 c 488 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:

For the purposes of this chapter, in addition to the exclusions under RCW 82.44.010, "motor vehicle" shall not include: (1) Passenger motor vehicles used primarily as ride-sharing vehicles, as defined in RCW 46.74.010(3)((, by not fewer than five persons, including the driver, or not fewer than four persons including the driver, when at least two of those persons are confined to wheelchairs when riding; or (2) vehicles with a seating capacity greater than fifteen persons which otherwise qualify as ride-sharing vehicles under RCW 46.74.010(3) used exclusively for ride sharing for the elderly or the handicapped by not fewer than seven persons, including the driver)). This exemption is restricted to passenger motor vehicles with a gross vehicle weight not to exceed 10,000 pounds where the primary usage is for commuter ride-sharing as defined in RCW 46.74.010(1). The registered owner of one of these vehicles shall notify the department of licensing upon termination of primary use of the vehicle as a ride-sharing vehicle and shall be liable for the tax imposed by this chapter, prorated on the remaining months for which the vehicle is licensed.