GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1993

S	4 

SENATE BILL 128
Second Edition Engrossed 2/25/93
Finance Committee Substitute Adopted 3/25/93
House Committee Substitute Favorable 7/7/93

Short Title:  Highway Use Tax Exemptions.	(Public)
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Sponsors:
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Referred to:  
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February 15, 1993

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO EXEMPT CERTAIN TRANSFERS OF VEHICLES FROM THE HIGHWAY USE TAX, TO REIMBURSE THE HIGHWAY TRUST FUND FOR REVENUE THAT WOULD OTHERWISE BE LOST AS A RESULT OF THE EXEMPTIONS, TO INCREASE REVENUES TO PROVIDE FUNDS TO MAKE THE REIMBURSEMENT, TO LOWER THE MAXIMUM HIGHWAY USE TAX ON CERTAIN COMMERCIAL VEHICLES, TO INCREASE THE ANNUAL REGISTRATION FEES FOR CERTAIN PROPERTY-HAULING VEHICLES, AND TO CREDIT THE INCREASED REVENUE FROM THE REGISTRATION FEES TO THE HIGHWAY TRUST FUND.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 105-187.6(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	Full Exemptions. – The tax imposed by this Article does not apply when a certificate of title is issued as the result of a transfer of a motor vehicle:
(1)	To the insurer of the motor vehicle under G.S. 20-109.1 because the vehicle is a salvage vehicle.
(2)	To either a manufacturer, as defined in G.S. 20-286, or a motor vehicle retailer for the purpose of resale.
(3)	To the same owner to reflect a change or correction in the owner's name.
(4)	By will or intestacy.
(5)	By a conveyance between a husband and wife, a parent and child, or a stepparent and a stepchild.
(6)	By a distribution of marital property as a result of a divorce.
(7)	To a handicapped person from the Department of Human Resources after the vehicle has been equipped by the Department for use by the handicapped.
(8)	To a local board of education for use in the driver education program of a public school when the motor vehicle is transferred:
a.	By a retailer and is to be transferred back to the retailer within 300 days after the transfer to the local board.
b.	By a local board of education."
Sec. 2.  G.S. 20-166.1(i) reads as rewritten:
"(i)	All collision reports, including supplemental reports, above mentioned, except those made by State, city or county police, shall be without prejudice and shall be for the use of the Division and shall not be used in any manner as evidence, or for any other purpose in any trial, civil or criminal, arising out of such collision except that the Division shall furnish upon demand of any court a properly executed certificate stating that a particular collision report has or has not been filed with the Division solely to prove a compliance with this section.
The reports made by State, city or county police and medical examiners, but no other reports required under this section, shall be subject to the inspection of members of the general public at all reasonable times.  The Division shall give a certified copy of one of these reports to a member of the general public who requests a copy and pays the fee set in G.S. 20-42 for a certified copy of a document.
Nothing herein provided shall prohibit the Division from furnishing to interested parties only the name or names of insurers and insured and policy number shown upon any reports required under this section."
Sec. 3.  G.S. 20-42(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b)	The Commissioner and officers of the Division designated by the Commissioner may prepare under the seal of the Division and deliver upon request a certified copy of any document of the Division, charging a fee of five dollars ($5.00) for each document certified.  A certified copy shall be admissible in any proceeding in any court in like manner as the original thereof, without further certification.  The certification fee does not apply to a document furnished for official use to a judicial official or to an official of the federal government, a state government, or a local government."
Sec. 4.  G.S. 20-50(b) reads as rewritten:
	"(b) The Division may upon receipt of proper application upon a form supplied by the Division and an accompanying fee of five dollars ($5.00) grant a 10-day temporary registration marker subject to the following limitations and conditions:
(1)	Temporary 10-day registration markers shall be issued only upon proper proof that the applicant has met the applicable financial responsibility requirements.
(2)	Temporary 10-day registration markers shall expire 10 days from the date of issuance.
(3)	Temporary 10-day registration markers may be used only on the vehicle for which issued and may not be transferred, loaned or assigned to another.
(4)	In the event a temporary 10-day registration marker is lost  or stolen, notice shall be furnished to the Division.
(5)	The Commissioner shall have the power to make such rules and regulations not inconsistent herewith as he shall deem necessary for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this section.
(6)	The provisions of G.S. 20-63, 20-71, 20-110 and 20-111 shall apply in like manner to temporary 10-day registration markers as is applicable to nontemporary plates not by their nature rendered inapplicable."
Sec. 5.  G.S. 20-66 reads as rewritten:
"§ 20-66.  Renewal of vehicle registration; prorated fees.
(a)	Annual Renewal. – The registration of a vehicle must be renewed annually.  To renew the registration of a vehicle, the owner of the vehicle must file an application with the Division and pay the required registration fee.  The Division may receive and grant an application for renewal of registration at any time before the registration expires.
(b)	Method of Renewal. – When the Division renews the registration of a vehicle, it must issue a new registration card for the vehicle and either a new registration plate or a registration renewal sticker.  The Division may not renew a registration plate for a vehicle by means of a renewal sticker unless the Division is authorized to use that method of renewal.  The Division may renew a registration plate issued for the following types of vehicles by means of a renewal sticker:
(1)	Motorcycles.
(2)	Private passenger vehicles.
(3)	U-drive-it passenger vehicles.
(4)	Property-hauling vehicles licensed for 4,000 pounds gross weight.
(5)	Vehicles registered under the International Registration Plan.
(6)	Trailers.
	(c)	Renewal Stickers. – A registration renewal sticker issued by the Division must be displayed on the registration plate that it renews in the place prescribed by the Commissioner and must indicate the period for which it and the registration plate on which it is displayed are valid.  Except where physical differences between a registration renewal sticker and a registration plate render a provision of this Chapter inapplicable, the provisions of this Chapter relating to registration plates apply to registration renewal stickers.
(d)	Staggered Expiration. – The Division may issue registration plates for vehicles with expiration dates that vary from month to month so that an approximately equal number will expire during each month of the registration year.
(e)	Prorated Fee. – A vehicle license fee shall be computed by dividing the annual license fee by 12 and multiplying the quotient by the number of months remaining prior to the end of the month of expiration of the registration.  Amounts so computed shall be rounded to the nearest multiple of twenty-five cents (25¢).
	(g)	When Renewal Sticker Expires. – The registration of a vehicle that is renewed by means of a registration renewal sticker expires at midnight on the last day of the month designated on the sticker.  It is lawful, however, to operate the vehicle on a highway until midnight on the fifteenth day of the month following the month in which the sticker expired.
(h)	When Calendar-Year Plate Expires. – The registration of a vehicle that is not renewed by means of a registration renewal sticker expires at midnight on December 31 of each year.  It is lawful, however, to operate the vehicle on a highway until midnight on the following February 15.
(i)	Property Tax Consolidation. – When the Division receives an application under subsection (a) for the renewal of registration before the current registration expires, the Division shall grant the application if it is made for the purpose of consolidating the property taxes payable by the applicant on classified motor vehicles, as defined in G.S. 105-330.  The registration fee for a motor vehicle whose registration cycle is changed under this subsection shall be reduced by a prorated amount.  The prorated amount is one-twelfth of the registration fee in effect when the motor vehicle's registration was last renewed multiplied by the number of full months remaining in the motor vehicle's current registration cycle, rounded to the nearest multiple of twenty-five cents (25¢)."
Sec. 6.  G.S. 105-187.3(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	Amount. – The rate of the use tax imposed by this Article is three percent (3%) of the retail value of a motor vehicle for which a certificate of title is issued.  The tax is payable as provided in G.S. 105-187.4.  The tax may not be less than forty dollars ($40.00) for each motor vehicle for which a certificate of title is issued, unless the issuance of a title for the vehicle is exempt from tax under G.S. 105-187.6(a).  The tax may not be more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each certificate of title issued for a Class A or Class B motor vehicle that is a commercial motor vehicle, as defined in G.S. 20-4.01.  The tax may not be more than one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) for each certificate of title issued for any other motor vehicle."
Sec. 7.  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
Not over 4,000 pounds	$0.23 
4,001 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

	Private Hauler,      
	Contract Carriers, Flat
	Rate Common 
	Carriers, and Exempt
	For-Hire Carriers
Not over 4,000 pounds	$0.46
4,001 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 seventeen dollars and fifty cents ($17.50) at the farmer rate and twenty-one dollars and fifty cents ($21.50) at the private hauler, contract carrier, and common carrier rates.
(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."
Sec. 8.  G.S. 20-85(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b)	Thirty-one dollars and fifty cents ($31.50) of each title fee collected under subdivision (a)(1) of this section and all of the fees collected under the other subdivisions in subsection (a) shall be credited to the North Carolina Highway Trust Fund; the remaining three dollars and fifty cents ($3.50) of the title fee collected under subdivision (a)(1) shall be credited to the Highway Fund.  Fifteen dollars ($15.00) of each title fee credited to the Trust Fund under subdivision (a)(1) shall be added to the amount allocated for secondary roads under G.S. 136-176 and used in accordance with G.S. 136-44.5."
Sec. 9.  Sections 7 and 8 of this act become effective October 1, 1993.  The remaining sections of this act become effective August 1, 1993.  A person who paid highway use tax on a Class A or Class B motor vehicle that is a commercial motor vehicle, as defined in G.S. 20-4.01, at the maximum rate of one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) instead of the maximum rate of one thousand dollars ($1,000) set by Section 6 of this act may apply to the Division of Motor Vehicles of the Department of Transportation for a refund of the difference between the amount of tax paid at the higher maximum  rate and the amount that would have been paid had Section 6 of this act been in effect when the title to the vehicle was issued.  To obtain a refund, a person must submit an application to the Division of Motor Vehicles by January 1, 1994, and provide any information required by the Division to verify the accuracy of the application.