BILL REQ. #:  H-3755.1 

Prefiled 1/9/2004. Read first time 01/12/2004.   Referred to Committee on Fisheries, Ecology & Parks.

     AN ACT Relating to the operation of off-road vehicles on roadways; amending RCW 46.09.120; reenacting and amending RCW 46.16.010; adding a new section to chapter 46.09 RCW; creating a new section; and providing an effective date.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that off-road recreational vehicles (ORVs) provide opportunities for a wide variety of outdoor recreation activities. The legislature further finds that the growing popularity of ORV use and the limited amount of ORV trails presents a challenge for ORV recreational users, natural resource land managers, and private landowners. The legislature further finds that many nonhighway and unpaved roads provide opportunities for ORV use. However, restrictions intended for motor vehicles may prevent ORV use on certain roads, including forest service roads. Therefore, the legislature finds that local, state, and federal jurisdictions should be given the flexibility to allow ORV use on roads that are not intended primarily for passenger motor vehicle use.

Sec. 2   RCW 46.09.120 and 2003 c 377 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) It is a traffic infraction for any person to operate any nonhighway vehicle:
     (a) In such a manner as to endanger the property of another;
     (b) On lands not owned by the operator or owner of the nonhighway vehicle without a lighted headlight and taillight between the hours of dusk and dawn, or when otherwise required for the safety of others regardless of ownership;
     (c) On lands not owned by the operator or owner of the nonhighway vehicle without an adequate braking device or when otherwise required for the safety of others regardless of ownership;
     (d) Without a spark arrester approved by the department of natural resources;
     (e) Without an adequate, and operating, muffling device which effectively limits vehicle noise to no more than eighty-six decibels on the "A" scale at fifty feet as measured by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) test procedure J 331a, except that a maximum noise level of one hundred and five decibels on the "A" scale at a distance of twenty inches from the exhaust outlet shall be an acceptable substitute in lieu of the Society of Automotive Engineers test procedure J 331a when measured:
     (i) At a forty-five degree angle at a distance of twenty inches from the exhaust outlet;
     (ii) With the vehicle stationary and the engine running at a steady speed equal to one-half of the manufacturer's maximum allowable ("red line") engine speed or where the manufacturer's maximum allowable engine speed is not known the test speed in revolutions per minute calculated as sixty percent of the speed at which maximum horsepower is developed; and
     (iii) With the microphone placed ten inches from the side of the vehicle, one-half way between the lowest part of the vehicle body and the ground plane, and in the same lateral plane as the rearmost exhaust outlet where the outlet of the exhaust pipe is under the vehicle;
     (f) On lands not owned by the operator or owner of the nonhighway vehicle on any highway, upon the shoulder or inside bank or slope of any nonhighway road or highway, or upon the median of any divided highway;
     (g) On lands not owned by the operator or owner of the nonhighway vehicle in any area or in such a manner so as to unreasonably expose the underlying soil, or to create an erosion condition, or to injure, damage, or destroy trees, growing crops, or other vegetation;
     (h) On lands not owned by the operator or owner of the nonhighway vehicle or on any nonhighway road or trail, when these are restricted to pedestrian or animal travel; and
     (i) On any public lands in violation of rules and regulations of the agency administering such lands.
     (2) It is a misdemeanor for any person to operate any nonhighway vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or a controlled substance.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 46.09 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) It is lawful to operate an off-road vehicle upon a nonhighway road and in paved parking areas serving designated off-road vehicle areas unless the responsible governing body, including state, federal, or local authorities, prohibits the use of off-road vehicles, if:
     (a) Any person operating an off-road vehicle is in compliance with RCW 46.09.120; and
     (b) The nonhighway road is not intended and maintained primarily for passenger motor vehicle use.
     (2) An off-road vehicle operated on a nonhighway road under this section is exempt from licensing requirements of RCW 46.16.010 and vehicle lighting and equipment requirements of chapter 46.37 RCW.

Sec. 4   RCW 46.16.010 and 2003 c 353 s 8 and 2003 c 53 s 238 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
     (1) It is unlawful for a person to operate any vehicle over and along a public highway of this state without first having obtained and having in full force and effect a current and proper vehicle license and display vehicle license number plates therefor as by this chapter provided.
     (2) Failure to make initial registration before operation on the highways of this state is a misdemeanor, and any person convicted thereof must be punished by a fine of no less than three hundred thirty dollars, no part of which may be suspended or deferred.
     (3) Failure to renew an expired registration before operation on the highways of this state is a traffic infraction.
     (4) The licensing of a vehicle in another state by a resident of this state, as defined in RCW 46.16.028, evading the payment of any tax or license fee imposed in connection with registration, is a gross misdemeanor punishable as follows:
     (a) For a first offense, up to one year in the county jail and a fine equal to twice the amount of delinquent taxes and fees, no part of which may be suspended or deferred;
     (b) For a second or subsequent offense, up to one year in the county jail and a fine equal to four times the amount of delinquent taxes and fees, no part of which may be suspended or deferred;
     (c) For fines levied under (b) of this subsection, an amount equal to the avoided taxes and fees owed will be deposited in the vehicle licensing fraud account created in the state treasury;
     (d) The avoided taxes and fees shall be deposited and distributed in the same manner as if the taxes and fees were properly paid in a timely fashion.
     (5) These provisions shall not apply to the following vehicles:
     (a) Motorized foot scooters;
     (b) Electric-assisted bicycles;
     (c) Off-road vehicles operating on nonhighway roads under section 3 of this act;
     (d) Farm vehicles if operated within a radius of fifteen miles of the farm where principally used or garaged, farm tractors and farm implements including trailers designed as cook or bunk houses used exclusively for animal herding temporarily operating or drawn upon the public highways, and trailers used exclusively to transport farm implements from one farm to another during the daylight hours or at night when such equipment has lights that comply with the law;
     (((d))) (e) Spray or fertilizer applicator rigs designed and used exclusively for spraying or fertilization in the conduct of agricultural operations and not primarily for the purpose of transportation, and nurse rigs or equipment auxiliary to the use of and designed or modified for the fueling, repairing, or loading of spray and fertilizer applicator rigs and not used, designed, or modified primarily for the purpose of transportation;
     (((e))) (f) Fork lifts operated during daylight hours on public highways adjacent to and within five hundred feet of the warehouses which they serve: PROVIDED FURTHER, That these provisions shall not apply to vehicles used by the state parks and recreation commission exclusively for park maintenance and operations upon public highways within state parks;
     (((f))) (g) "Special highway construction equipment" defined as follows: Any vehicle which is designed and used primarily for grading of highways, paving of highways, earth moving, and other construction work on highways and which is not designed or used primarily for the transportation of persons or property on a public highway and which is only incidentally operated or moved over the highway. It includes, but is not limited to, road construction and maintenance machinery so designed and used such as portable air compressors, air drills, asphalt spreaders, bituminous mixers, bucket loaders, track laying tractors, ditchers, leveling graders, finishing machines, motor graders, paving mixers, road rollers, scarifiers, earth moving scrapers and carryalls, lighting plants, welders, pumps, power shovels and draglines, self-propelled and tractor-drawn earth moving equipment and machinery, including dump trucks and tractor-dump trailer combinations which either (i) are in excess of the legal width, or (ii) which, because of their length, height, or unladen weight, may not be moved on a public highway without the permit specified in RCW 46.44.090 and which are not operated laden except within the boundaries of the project limits as defined by the contract, and other similar types of construction equipment, or (iii) which are driven or moved upon a public highway only for the purpose of crossing such highway from one property to another, provided such movement does not exceed five hundred feet and the vehicle is equipped with wheels or pads which will not damage the roadway surface.
     Exclusions:
     "Special highway construction equipment" does not include any of the following:
     Dump trucks originally designed to comply with the legal size and weight provisions of this code notwithstanding any subsequent modification which would require a permit, as specified in RCW 46.44.090, to operate such vehicles on a public highway, including trailers, truck-mounted transit mixers, cranes and shovels, or other vehicles designed for the transportation of persons or property to which machinery has been attached.
     (6) The following vehicles, whether operated solo or in combination, are exempt from license registration and displaying license plates as required by this chapter:
     (a) A converter gear used to convert a semitrailer into a trailer or a two-axle truck or tractor into a three or more axle truck or tractor or used in any other manner to increase the number of axles of a vehicle. Converter gear includes an auxiliary axle, booster axle, dolly, and jeep axle.
     (b) A tow dolly that is used for towing a motor vehicle behind another motor vehicle. The front or rear wheels of the towed vehicle are secured to and rest on the tow dolly that is attached to the towing vehicle by a tow bar.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   This act takes effect July 1, 2004.