AN ACT Relating to
transportation of persons with special transportation needs; amending RCW
81.66.010, 46.74.010, 46.74.030, 82.08.0287, 82.36.285, 82.38.080, and
82.44.015; and repealing RCW 81.66.070.
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 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)) the
driver, and (a) not fewer than five persons including the driver, or (b) not
fewer than four persons including the driver where at least two of those
persons are confined to wheelchairs when riding, is transported in a
passenger motor vehicle with a gross vehicle weight not exceeding ten thousand
pounds, excluding special rider equipment, 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)) an
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) in a passenger motor vehicle as defined by the
department to include small buses, cutaways, and modified vans not more than
twenty-eight feet long: 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, while being used for commuter
ride sharing or for ride sharing for the elderly and the handicapped.
(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))
(4) "Persons
with special transportation needs" means those persons defined in RCW
81.66.010(4).
Sec. 3. RCW 46.74.030 and 1979 c
111 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
((A ride-sharing))
The operator and the driver of a commuter ride‑sharing
vehicle shall be held to a reasonable and ordinary standard of care, and are
not subject to ordinances or regulations which relate exclusively to the
regulation of drivers or owners of motor vehicles operated for hire, or other
common carriers or public transit carriers.
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)) for commuter ride((‑))sharing ((vehicles))
or ride sharing for persons with special transportation needs, 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, 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)) for commuter
ride sharing and ride sharing for persons with special transportation needs,
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)) in
commuter ride((-))sharing ((vehicle)) or ride sharing for
persons with special transportation needs and shall be liable for the tax
imposed by this chapter, prorated on the remaining months for which the vehicle
is licensed.
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.
NEW SECTION. Sec.
8. RCW 81.66.070 and 1979 c 111 s 10 are
each repealed.
