BILL REQ. #: H-1411.1
State of Washington | 59th Legislature | 2005 Regular Session |
Read first time 02/16/2005. Referred to Committee on Transportation.
AN ACT Relating to licensing exemptions for transporting persons at horse races; amending RCW 46.25.050; and reenacting and amending RCW 46.16.010.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 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) 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) 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) 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) "Trams" used for transporting persons to and from facilities
related to the horse racing industry as regulated in chapter 67.16 RCW,
as long as the public right-of-way routes over which the trams operate
are not more than one mile from end to end, and the public rights-of-way over which the tram operates have an average daily traffic of not
more than 15,000 vehicles per day. For the purposes of this section,
"tram" also means a vehicle, or combination of vehicles linked together
with a single mode of propulsion, used to transport persons from one
location to another;
(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.
Sec. 2 RCW 46.25.050 and 1995 c 393 s 1 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) Drivers of commercial motor vehicles shall obtain a commercial
driver's license as required under this chapter by April 1, 1992. The
director shall establish a program to convert all qualified commercial
motor vehicle drivers by that date. After April 1, 1992, except when
driving under a commercial driver's instruction permit and a valid
automobile or classified license and accompanied by the holder of a
commercial driver's license valid for the vehicle being driven, no
person may drive a commercial motor vehicle unless the person holds and
is in immediate possession of a commercial driver's license and
applicable endorsements valid for the vehicle they are driving.
However, this requirement does not apply to any person:
(a) Who is the operator of a farm vehicle, and the vehicle is:
(i) Controlled and operated by a farmer;
(ii) Used to transport either agricultural products, which in this
section include Christmas trees and wood products harvested from
private tree farms and transported by vehicles weighing no more than
forty thousand pounds licensed gross vehicle weight, farm machinery,
farm supplies, or any combination of those materials to or from a farm;
(iii) Not used in the operations of a common or contract motor
carrier; and
(iv) Used within one hundred fifty miles of the person's farm; or
(b) Who is a fire fighter or law enforcement officer operating
emergency equipment, and:
(i) The fire fighter or law enforcement officer has successfully
completed a driver training course approved by the director; and
(ii) The fire fighter or law enforcement officer carries a
certificate attesting to the successful completion of the approved
training course; or
(c) Who is operating a recreational vehicle for noncommercial
purposes. As used in this section, "recreational vehicle" includes a
vehicle towing a horse trailer for a noncommercial purpose; or
(d) Who is transporting persons to and from facilities related to
the horse racing industry as regulated in chapter 67.16 RCW, as long as
the routes over which this action takes place are not more than one
mile from end to end, and the public rights-of-way on which the
activity occurs have an average daily traffic of not more than 15,000
vehicles per day.
(2) No person may drive a commercial motor vehicle while his or her
driving privilege is suspended, revoked, or canceled, while subject to
disqualification, or in violation of an out-of-service order.
Violations of this subsection shall be punished in the same way as
violations of RCW 46.20.342(1).