A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to allow the governor to temporarily suspend routine weight inspections of trucks prior to severe weather events.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 20‑118.1 reads as rewritten:
"§ 20‑118.1.  Officers may weigh vehicles and require overloads to be removed.
(a)	A law enforcement officer may stop and weigh a vehicle to determine if the vehicle's weight is in compliance with the vehicle's declared gross weight and the weight limits set in this Part. The officer may require the driver of the vehicle to drive to a scale located within five miles of where the officer stopped the vehicle.
Any person operating a vehicle or a combination of vehicles having a GVWR of 10,001 pounds or more or any vehicle transporting hazardous materials that is required to be placarded under 49 C.F.R. § 171‑180 must enter a permanent weigh station or temporary inspection or weigh site as directed by duly erected signs or an electronic transponder for the purpose of being electronically screened for compliance, or weighed, or inspected.
If the vehicle's weight exceeds the amount allowable, the officer may detain the vehicle until the overload has been removed. Any property removed from a vehicle because the vehicle was overloaded is the responsibility of the owner or operator of the vehicle. The State is not liable for damage to or loss of the removed property.
Failure to permit a vehicle to be weighed or to remove an overload is a misdemeanor of the Class set in G.S. 20‑176. An officer must weigh a vehicle with a scale that has been approved by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
A privately owned noncommercial horse trailer constructed to transport four or fewer horses shall not be required to stop at any permanent weigh station in the State while transporting horses, unless the driver of the vehicle hauling the trailer is directed to stop by a law enforcement officer. A "privately owned noncommercial horse trailer" means a trailer used solely for the occasional transportation of horses and not for compensation or in furtherance of a commercial enterprise.
(b)	When the weather or a related imminent threat is likely to cause serious damage or loss to livestock, poultry, or crops that are ready to be harvested, the Governor, upon the request of the Commissioner of Agriculture, may temporarily suspend the provisions of subsection (a) of this section for vehicles hauling livestock, poultry, or crops ready to be harvested that are at risk of damage or loss from the farm to a processing facility or point of further distribution. This section shall not be construed to permit the gross weight of any vehicle or combination in excess of the safe load carry capacity established by the Department of Transportation on any bridge pursuant to G.S. 136‑72. The suspension shall end when the Governor determines that the threat of serious damage or loss to livestock, poultry, or crops that are ready to be harvested has passed."
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.