Session Laws

Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to immediately provide for orderly intra and interstate transportation for certain motor vehicles and semitrailers, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public safety and convenience.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 30A of chapter 85 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1984 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the second paragraph the following paragraph:-

Application for a special permit under this section may be approved, and a permit may be issued, to allow the operation of a vehicle for a weight in excess of the weight for which such vehicle is registered if such vehicle is owned or leased by a carrier not domiciled in this commonwealth. In connection with the issuance of a permit to a vehicle owned or leased by a carrier that is not domiciled in this commonwealth, the commissioner of public works may collect a reasonable fee therefor based upon the difference between the weight for which the permit is issued and the weight for which the vehicle is registered, but in no event shall such fee exceed the registration fee that would be collected from a carrier domiciled in this commonwealth to register a vehicle for such weight differential. The receipts from such fee shall be deposited into the highway fund.

SECTION 2. Section 19A of chapter 90 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the third paragraph and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-

No motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, semitrailer unit or tandem unit shall be operated, nor shall the owner or bailee thereof require or authorize such operation, when the gross weight of such motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, semitrailer unit, or tandem unit exceeds the weight provided by this chapter or that specified in any permit issued by the commissioner of public works under sections thirty and thirty A of chapter eighty-five, whichever is greater, but in no event in excess of the gross weight for which such vehicle is registered, except in the case of a vehicle owned or leased by a carrier that is not domiciled in this commonwealth and which has a permit under section thirty A of chapter eighty-five to operate in excess of its registered gross weight; nor shall any person load or cause to be loaded such vehicles in excess of such weights. If the gross weight of any such motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, semitrailer unit or tandem unit does not exceed one hundred and five per cent of the maximum gross weight provided by such permit, such motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, semitrailer unit or tandem unit shall not be deemed to be operating in violation of the provisions of sections thirty and thirty A of chapter eighty-five; but if the gross vehicle weight of such motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, semitrailer unit or tandem unit does exceed the said one hundred and five per cent of the maximum gross weight provided by said permit, any penalty provided by this chapter shall be determined on the difference between the actual gross weight of such motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, semitrailer unit or tandem unit and the weight authorized by this section or the weight authorized by the said permit for such motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, semitrailer unit or tandem unit, whichever weight is greater, at the time of such violation.

Upon the finding by an officer authorized to enforce the provisions of this chapter that a motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer or semitrailer unit exceeds the said one hundred and five per cent of the maximum gross weight provided in said permit, or otherwise violates the conditions of any permit issued under sections thirty and thirty A of chapter eighty-five or section nineteen of this chapter, said officer may exercise reasonable discretion to prevent the continued transport of a load that is the principle cause of the violation. Neither the finding of such violation, nor the exercise of such reasonable discretion, however, shall be construed as nullifying or revoking any such permit, or as having any effect, beyond the actual citation of the violation, on the assessment of any penalties provided under section twenty.