SENATE BILL REPORT

                   HB 1802

              As Reported By Senate Committee On:

                Transportation, March 31, 1997

Title:  An act relating to requiring auto transportation companies to file reports once per year.

Brief Description:  Requiring auto transport companies to report revenues to the UTC on a yearly basis.

Sponsors:  Representatives Hankins, Fisher and Mitchell; by request of Utilities & Transportation Commission.

Brief History:

Committee Activity:  Transportation:  3/26/97, 3/31/97 [DP].

SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION

Majority Report:  Do pass.

  Signed by Senators Prince, Chair; Wood, Vice Chair; Haugen, Heavey, Horn, Jacobsen, Morton, Oke, Patterson, Rasmussen and Sellar.

Staff:  Mary McLaughlin (786-7309)

Background:  Auto transportation companies (for-hire buses that operate on a regular route/schedule and airporters), household goods movers (moving and storage companies), solid waste disposal (garbage) and recycling companies, and steamboat companies (for-hire private ferries) are regulated by the Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) with regard to entry, rates, routes, safety and insurance.  All carriers pay a regulatory fee that is based upon the company's intrastate gross operating revenues.

Auto transportation companies are required to pay, on a quarterly basis, a regulatory fee of two-fifths of 1 percent of the company's intrastate gross operating revenues.  At the same time, the UTC collects a vehicle license fee based on intrastate mileage that is deposited in the motor vehicle fund:  (1) the fee for buses propelled by gasoline is 15 cents per 100 miles traveled; and (2) the fee for buses using diesel, natural gas, other special fuels, electricity, or steam is 20 cents per 100 miles traveled. 

Summary of Bill:  The UTC annual regulatory fee and the vehicle license intrastate mileage fee for auto transportation companies are collected on an annual, rather than quarterly basis,  by the commission.

Appropriation:  None.

Fiscal Note:  Not requested.

Effective Date:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For:  This action cuts down on the paperwork required of auto transportation companies and makes the reporting requirements the same as other regulated industries.

Testimony Against:  None.

Testified:  Teresa Osinksi, WUTC (pro).