HOUSE BILL REPORT

HB 1672

BYRepresentatives Rasmussen, Schmidt, Walk, S. Wilson, Brough, May and Beck

Requiring identification on large trucks.

House Committe on Transportation

Majority Report:  The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass.  (20)

      Signed by Representatives Walk, Chair; Cantwell, Cooper, Day, Doty, Fisher, Fox, Gallagher, Haugen, Heavey, Jones, Kremen, Meyers, Patrick, Schmidt, Sutherland, Todd, K. Wilson, S. Wilson and Zellinsky.

House Staff:Mary McLaughlin (786-7309)

AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION JANUARY 27, 1988

BACKGROUND:

Trucks operating in the state of Washington are required to display certain identification markings on the vehicles.  By law, trucks over 4,000 pounds are required to display the licensed gross weight on the cab in letters not less than two inches high.  By UTC rule, intrastate common and contract carriers are required to display company's name and operating authority permit number on the vehicle in letters three inches high.  All interstate carriers are required by the Interstate Commerce Commission to display the company name and city of address on the vehicle.  Intrastate private carriers are subject only to the licensed gross weight marking.

Farm vehicles that are operated within a 15-mile radius of the farm are not required to have a vehicle license.

SUMMARY:

SUBSTITUTE BILL:  Trucks over 26,000 pounds that are required to have a vehicle license must display an identifying name or number on both sides of the vehicle.  For a common or contract carrier, the identification is (1) the name of the owner or business, and (2) the Utilities & Transportation Commission or Interstate Commerce Commission operating authority permit number.  For private carriers, the identification is the name and address of the owner or business.  Farm vehicles that are not required by law to have a vehicle license are exempt from the marking provisions.

Identifying letters must be no less than four inches high and in a contrasting color.  The letters must be visible from a position four feet above the roadway in a lane adjacent to the truck.  For tractors, logging trucks, stake bodies, flat beds and dump trucks, the identification may be placed only on the cab.

Vehicles under 10,000 pounds are no longer required to display the licensed gross weight on the outside of the cab.

SUBSTITUTE BILL COMPARED TO ORIGINAL:  The farm vehicle marking exemption is limited to those vehicles that are not required to have a vehicle license.  Vehicles under 10,000 pounds are no longer required to display the licensed gross weight.

Fiscal Note:      Not Requested.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Bob Joy, Washington State Grange; Martin Sangster, Washington Trucking Association; Duke Schaub, Associated General Contractors.

House Committee - Testified Against:      None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For:    Requiring large trucks to have identifying markings is an added safety factor.  Marking the licensed gross weight on large pick-ups serves no useful purpose.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None Presented.