GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1997

H	1 

HOUSE BILL 266

Short Title:  Adjust License Weight.	(Public)

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Sponsors: Representatives Eddins; and Capps.

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Referred to:  Transportation, if favorable, Finance.

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February 18, 1997

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO ALLOW PRIVATE PASSENGER AND PRIVATE PROPERTY HAULING VEHICLES WEIGHING UP TO 6,000 POUNDS TO BE ISSUED "FIRST IN FLIGHT”PLATES AND TO AUTHORIZE THE DIVISION OF MOTOR VEHICLES TO ISSUE PERSONALIZED COMMERCIAL LICENSE PLATES.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 20-63(b) reads as rewritten:
	"(b)	Every license plate shall have displayed upon it the registration number assigned to the vehicle for which it is issued, the name of the State of North Carolina, which may be abbreviated, the year number for which it is issued or the date of expiration, and, if the plate is issued for a commercial vehicle, as defined in G.S. 20-4.2(1), the word ‘commercial,' designating ‘commercial vehicle.' The Division may not issue a plate bearing the word ‘commercial' for a trailer, a vehicle licensed for less than 6,000 pounds, or a property-hauling vehicle.
A registration plate issued by the Division for a private passenger vehicle or for a private hauler vehicle licensed for 6,000 pounds shall be a ‘First in Flight' plate.  A ‘First in Flight' plate shall have the words ‘First in Flight' printed at the top of the plate above all other letters and numerals.  The background of the plate shall depict the Wright Brothers biplane flying over Kitty Hawk Beach, with the plane flying slightly upward and to the right."
Section 2.  G.S. 20-88(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	Determination of Weight. – For the purpose of licensing, the weight of self-propelled property-carrying vehicles shall be the empty weight and heaviest load to be transported, as declared by the owner or operator; provided, that any determination of weight shall be made only in units of 1,000 pounds or major fraction thereof, weights of over 500 pounds counted as 1,000 and weights of 500 pounds or less disregarded. The declared gross weight of self-propelled property-carrying vehicles operated in conjunction with trailers or semitrailers shall include the empty weight of the vehicles to be operated in the combination and the heaviest load to be transported by such combination at any time during the registration period, except that the gross weight of a trailer or semitrailer is not required to be included when the operation is to be in conjunction with a self-propelled property-carrying vehicle which is licensed for 6,000 pounds or less gross weight and the gross weight of such combination does not exceed 9,000 pounds, except wreckers as defined under G.S. 20-4.01(50). Those property-hauling vehicles registered for 6,000 pounds shall be permitted a tolerance of 500 pounds above the weight permitted under the table of weights and rates appearing in subsection (b) of this section."
Section 3.  G.S. 20-88(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b)	The following fees are imposed on the annual registration of self-propelled property-hauling vehicles; the fees are based on the type of vehicle and its weight:
                  SCHEDULE OF WEIGHTS AND RATES 

Rates Per Hundred Pound Gross Weight

	Farmer Rate      
Not over 6,000 pounds	$0.15
6,001 to 9,000 pounds inclusive	.29
9,001 to 13,000 pounds inclusive	.37
13,001 to 17,000 pounds inclusive	.51
Over 17,000 pounds	.58
                  SCHEDULE OF WEIGHTS AND RATES 

Rates Per Hundred Pound Gross Weight
	General Rate
Not over 6,000 pounds	$0.30	6
6,001 to 9,000 pounds inclusive	.63
9,001 to 13,000 pounds inclusive	.78
13,001 to 17,000 pounds inclusive	1.06
Over 17,000 pounds	1.20
(1)	The minimum fee for a vehicle licensed under this subsection is twelve dollars and twenty-five cents ($12.25) at the farmer rate and twenty-one dollars and fifty cents ($21.50) at the general rate.
(2)	The term ‘farmer' as used in this subsection means any person engaged in the raising and growing of farm products on a farm in North Carolina not less than 10 acres in area, and who does not engage in the business of buying products for resale.
(3)	License plates issued at the farmer rate shall be placed upon trucks and truck-tractors that are operated exclusively in the carrying or transportation of applicant's farm products, raised or produced on his farm, and farm supplies and not operated in hauling for hire.
(4)	‘Farm products' means any food crop, livestock, poultry, dairy products, flower bulbs, or other nursery products and other agricultural products designed to be used for food purposes, including in the term ‘farm products' also cotton, tobacco, logs, bark, pulpwood, tannic acid wood and other forest products grown, produced, or processed by the farmer.
(5)	The Division shall issue necessary rules and regulations providing for the recall, transfer, exchange or cancellation of ‘farmer' plates, when vehicle bearing such plates shall be sold or transferred.
(5a)	Notwithstanding any other provision of this Chapter, license plates issued pursuant to this subsection at the farmer rate may be purchased for any three-month period at one fourth of the annual fee.
(6)	There shall be paid to the Division annually as of the first of January, the following fees for ‘wreckers' as defined under G.S. 20-4.01(50): a wrecker fully equipped weighing 7,000 pounds or less, seventy-five dollars ($75.00); wreckers weighing in excess of 7,000 pounds shall pay one hundred forty-eight dollars ($148.00). Fees to be prorated quarterly. Provided, further, that nothing herein shall prohibit a licensed dealer from using a dealer's license plate to tow a vehicle for a customer."
Section 4.  This act becomes effective January 1, 1998, and applies to new or renewal vehicle registrations occurring on or after that date.