GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1997

S	3 

SENATE BILL 1285*
Agriculture/Environment/Natural Resources Committee Substitute Adopted 8/18/98
House Committee Substitute Favorable 9/23/98

Short Title:  Trans. Ag. Products Exempt/Temp. Rule Auth.	(Public)

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Sponsors:

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Referred to:  

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May 27, 1998

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO EXEMPT THE TRANSPORTATION OF CERTAIN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS FROM VARIOUS REQUIREMENTS IN CONFORMITY WITH FEDERAL REGULATIONS AND TO AUTHORIZE THE SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION COMMISSION TO ADOPT TEMPORARY RULES TO IMPLEMENT THE CONSERVATION RESERVE ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 20-381 reads as rewritten:
"§ 20-381. Specific powers and duties of Division applicable to motor carriers; agricultural exemption.
(a)	The Division has the following powers and duties concerning motor carriers:
(1)	To prescribe qualifications and maximum hours of service of drivers and their helpers.
(1a)	To set safety standards for vehicles of motor carriers engaged in foreign, interstate, or intrastate commerce over the highways of this State and for the safe operation of these vehicles. The Division may stop, enter upon, and perform inspections of motor carriers' vehicles in operation to determine compliance with these standards and may conduct any investigations and tests it finds necessary to promote the safety of equipment and the safe operation on the highway of these vehicles.
(1b)	To enforce this Article, rules adopted under this Article, and the federal safety regulations.
(2)	To enter the premises of a motor carrier to inspect a motor vehicle or any equipment used by the motor carrier in transporting passengers [or property].
(2a)	To prohibit the use by a motor carrier of any motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment the Division finds unsafe for use in the transportation of passengers or property on a highway. If an agent of the Division finds a motor vehicle of a motor carrier in actual use upon the highways in the transportation of passengers or property to be unsafe or any parts thereof or any equipment thereon to be unsafe and is of the opinion that further use of such vehicle, parts or equipment are imminently dangerous, the agent may require the operator thereof to discontinue its use and to substitute therefor a safe vehicle, parts or equipment at the earliest possible time and place, having regard for both the convenience and the safety of the passengers or property. When an inspector or agent stops a motor vehicle on the highway, under authority of this section, and the motor vehicle is in operative condition and its further movement is not dangerous to the passengers or property or to the users of the highways, it shall be the duty of the inspector or agent to guide the vehicle to the nearest point of substitution or correction of the defect. Such agents or inspectors shall also have the right to stop any motor vehicle which is being used upon the public highways for the transportation of passengers or property by a motor carrier subject to the provisions of this Article and to eject therefrom any driver or operator who shall be operating or be in charge of such motor vehicle while under the influence of alcoholic beverages. It shall be the duty of all inspectors and agents of the Division to make a written report, upon a form prescribed by the Division, of inspections of all motor equipment and a copy of each such written report, disclosing defects in such equipment, shall be served promptly upon the motor carrier operating the same, either in person by the inspector or agent or by mail. Such agents and inspectors shall also make and serve a similar written report in cases where a motor vehicle is operated in violation of this Chapter or, if the motor vehicle is subject to regulation by the North Carolina Utilities Commission, of Chapter 62 of the General Statutes.
(3)	To relieve the highways of all undue burdens and safeguard traffic thereon by adopting and enforcing rules and orders designed and calculated to minimize the dangers attending transportation on the highways of all hazardous materials and other commodities.
(b)	The definitions set out in 49 Code of Federal Regulations § 171.8 apply to this subsection.  Citations to the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) in this subsection refer to the 1 October 1997 Edition of the CFR.  The transportation of an agricultural product, other than a Class 2 material, over local roads between fields of the same farm by a farmer operating as an intrastate private motor carrier is exempt from the requirements of Parts 171 through 180 of 49 CFR as provided in 49 CFR § 173.5(a).  The transportation of an agricultural product to or from a farm within 150 miles of the farm by a farmer operating as an intrastate private motor carrier is exempt from the requirements of Subparts G and H of Part 172 of 49 CFR as provided in 49 CFR § 173.5(b)."
Section 2.  Notwithstanding G.S. 150B-21.1(a)(2) and 26 NCAC 2C.0102(11), the Soil and Water Conservation Commission may adopt temporary rules to implement the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program until all rules necessary to implement the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program become effective as either temporary rules or permanent rules.
Section 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.