A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO make changes to the motor vehicle laws concerning weighing of wood residuals and exemption from registration for certain AGRICULTURAL VEHICLES, and to authorize AGreements between the department of TRANSPORTATION and local GOVERNMENTS to EXPEDITE transportation projects.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 20‑118(c)(15) reads as rewritten:
"(c)	Exceptions. – The following exceptions apply to G.S. 20‑118(b) and 20‑118(e).
…
(15)	Subsections (b) and (e) of this section do not apply to a vehicle or vehicle combination that meets all of the conditions below, but all other enforcement provisions of this Article remain applicable:
a.	Is hauling wood residuals, including wood chips, sawdust, mulch, or tree bark from any site; or is transporting bulk soil, bulk rock, sand, sand rock, or asphalt millings from a site that does not have a certified scale for weighing the vehicle.
b.	Does not operate on an interstate highway, a posted light‑traffic road, or a posted bridge.
c.	Does not exceed a maximum gross weight 4,000 pounds in excess of what is allowed in subsection (b) of this section.
d.	Does not exceed a single‑axle weight of more than 22,000 pounds and a tandem‑axle weight of more than 42,000 pounds.
…"
SECTION 2.  G.S. 20‑51(6) reads as rewritten:
"(6)	Any trailer or semitrailer attached to and drawn by a properly licensed motor vehicle when used by a farmer, his tenant, agent, or employee in transporting unginned cotton, peanuts, soybeans, corn, hay, tobacco, silage, cucumbers, potatoes, all vegetables, fruits, greenhouse and nursery plants and flowers, Christmas trees, fertilizers or chemicals purchased or owned by the farmer or tenant for personal use in implementing husbandry, irrigation pipes, loaders, or equipment owned by the farmer or tenant from place to place on the same farm, from one farm to another, from farm to gin, from farm to dryer, or from farm to market, and when not operated on a for‑hire basis. The term "transporting" as used herein shall include the actual hauling of said products and all unloaded travel in connection therewith."
SECTION 3.  Chapter 136 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 136‑66.8  Agreements with units of local government to expedite projects.
(a)	Agreements Authorized. – The Department of Transportation may enter into agreements with units of local government for the purpose of expediting transportation projects currently programmed in the Transportation Improvement Plan.
(b)	Form of Agreements. – The agreements affected by this section shall be between the Department of Transportation and units of local government. The agreements may authorize units of local government to construct projects scheduled in the Transportation Improvement Plan more than two years from the date of the agreement. The units of local government shall fund one hundred percent (100%) of the project at current prices. In a future year, when the project is funded from State and federal sources, the units of local government shall be reimbursed an appropriate share of the funds, at the future programmed project funding amount, as identified and scheduled in the Transportation Improvement Plan.
(c)	Report. – The Department of Transportation shall report to the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee by December 1, 2006, on any agreements executed with units of local government pursuant to this section."
SECTION 4.  This act is effective when it becomes law.