Session Laws

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. The first paragraph of section 34 of chapter 90 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1986 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the first sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- The fees received under the preceding sections, together with all other fees received by the registrar or any other person under the laws of the commonwealth relating to the use and operation of motor vehicles and trailers, except fees received by the department of public works for deposit in the Interstate Permit Fund for the benefit of other states, shall be paid by the registrar or by the person collecting the same into the treasury of the commonwealth, and said fees, together with all contributions and assessments paid into the treasury of the commonwealth by cities, towns or counties for maintaining, repairing, improving and constructing ways, whether before or after the work is completed, all refunds and rebates made on account of expenditures on ways by the department of public works, all receipts paid into the treasury of the commonwealth under the provisions of chapter sixty-four A, all monies received by the commonwealth in satisfaction of claims by the commonwealth for damage to highway safety signs, signals, guardrails, curbing and other highway related facilities, and all receipts received by the state treasurer under the provisions of section eight of chapter ten shall be credited on the books of the commonwealth to a fund to be known as the Highway Fund.

SECTION 2. An agreement is hereby entered into with all jurisdictions legally joining therein in substantially the following form: `tuc ARTICLE I. PURPOSES.

The purposes of this agreement are to:

(a) Ease the burden of the trucking industry in obtaining approvals required to move over-size and overweight trucks across state borders.

(b) Establish uniform and equitable procedures whereby one contracting state on its own behalf and on behalf of another contracting state or other contracting states may issue a single common permit authorizing non-divisible over-size and overweight trucks to travel through the issuing state and in interstate travel into or through another one or more of the contracting states.

(c) Establish procedures under which the fees required by each contracting state into which or through which the said over-size or overweight truck will travel are collected by the issuing state and distributed to the said contracting states, and the accounting procedures in connection therewith. `tuc ARTICLE II. DEFINITIONS.

The following definitions shall apply in this agreement and in this act.

(a) "State", the states of the United States, the District of Columbia, the territories of the United States, the Provinces of Canada, and the states, territories and federal district of Mexico.

(b) "Contracting state", a state which is a party to this agreement.

(c) "Envelope vehicle", any non-divisible over-size or overweight vehicle which shall not exceed specified size and weight to be determined by the contracting states.

(d) "Issuing state", the state which, in accordance with rules established by the policy committee, will issue the common permit for the envelope vehicle and collect fees for all contracting states through which the specific envelope vehicle will travel.

(e) "Regional highway network", the routes designated on maps by the contracting states over which the envelope vehicles may be permitted to travel only to the extent and under the conditions specified in the common permit issued by the issuing state. In accordance with procedures developed by the contracting states, each contracting state may impose temporary restrictions on the regional highway network or the access highway network, as defined below, and may remove such restrictions by written notification to the other contracting states of such imposition or removal, and the issuing state shall conform to such restrictions when issuing a common permit for travel in the contracting states.

(f) "Access highway network", the access highway network designated on maps by the contracting states over which envelope vehicles may travel to or from the regional highway network when their points of destination or their points of origin require such travel.

(g) "Designated routes", the route designated by the issuing state on the common permit from which the envelope vehicle shall not deviate unless an approved alternative route is required or agreed upon by a particular contracting state.

(h) "Common permit form", the form of the permit issued by the issuing state and on which a route is designated to be used in accordance with permit conditions by an envelope vehicle traveling through the contracting states. The common permit form is to be a standard form developed by the contracting states which may from time to time be amended or revised by the contracting states.

(i) "Department", the department of public works of the commonwealth of Massachusetts.

(j) "Fee collection", the collection of the total permit fees by the issuing state for its own state and for all contracting states through which the vehicle is thereby permitted to travel, all in accordance with Article V.

(k) "Fee distribution", the periodic distribution to each and every contracting state of the total permit fees collected and held by each issuing state on behalf of the other contracting states, all in accordance with Article V.

(l) "Total permit fees", the total of the permit fees which the issuing state shall collect for issuance of the common permit which shall include the fee required by the issuing state and all fees required for such permit by other contracting states through which the permitted envelope vehicle will travel under the permit.

(m) "Administrator", the official or agency of a contracting state who administers the granting of over-size or overweight permits in his state.

(n) "Common permit", the single permit issued by the issuing state in the common permit form. The truck operator of any overweight or over-size vehicle not eligible for a common permit under this agreement between the contracting states must obtain individual state permits.

(o) "The commonwealth", the commonwealth of Massachusetts.

(p) "Policy committee", the committee composed of one administrator from each contracting state. `tuc ARTICLE III. GENERAL PROVISIONS.

(a) On and after its effective date, this agreement shall supersede any reciprocal or other agreement, arrangement or understanding between any two or more of the contracting states covering, in whole or in part, any of the matters covered by this agreement; but this agreement shall not affect any reciprocal or other agreement, arrangement or understanding between a contracting state and a state or states not parties to this agreement.

(b) This agreement shall not require a permit fee in a contracting state of any over-size or overweight vehicles which are, in whole or part, exempt from such permit fee under the laws or regulations of such state without respect to this agreement.

(c) This agreement does not waive any fees or taxes charged or levied by any contracting state in connection with the ownership or operation of vehicles which fees and taxes are to be enforced in addition to the permit fees as defined herein under the laws or regulations of such state without respect to this agreement.

(d) This agreement shall not authorize the operation of a vehicle in any contracting state contrary to the laws or regulations thereof, except those pertaining to over-size and overweight permits and the payment of fees therefor, and then only to the extent provided in this agreement.

(e) Each contracting state reserves the right to withdraw, by order of the administrator thereof, in a manner consistent with respective state law, all or any part of the benefits or privileges granted pursuant to this agreement from the owner of any vehicle or fleet of vehicles operated in violation of any provision of this agreement. Such benefits and privileges shall not be unreasonably denied. The administrator shall immediately give notice of any such violation or withdrawal of any such benefits or privileges to the administrator of each other contracting state in which vehicles of such owner are operated.

(f) The administrator of each of the contracting states shall cooperate with the administrators of the others and each contracting state hereby agrees to furnish such aid and assistance to each other within its statutory authority as will aid in proper enforcement of this agreement.

(g) In any dispute between or among contracting states arising under this agreement, the final decision regarding interpretation of questions at issue relating to this agreement shall be reached by joint action of the contracting states, acting through the administrators thereof, and shall upon determination be placed in writing.

(h) This agreement shall become effective and binding between and among the states of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, as contracting states, when enacted or otherwise entered into by any of the said states. This agreement shall become effective and binding with respect to any other state upon the happening of the following: (1) submission by said state to the policy committee of an application of membership to the agreement; (2) unanimous approval of said application by the policy committee; (3) enactment of the agreement into law by said state or when said state otherwise enters into the agreement, including, when provided by the statutes of said state, the execution of the agreement by an executive or administrative official of said state acting on behalf of and for said state. `tuc ARTICLE IV. ISSUANCE OF PERMIT.

(a) The issuing state may issue a common permit for a specific envelope vehicle to travel a designated route in the issuing state and in any other contracting state or other contracting states, without seeking any prior approval from any other contracting state other than that required by this agreement.

(b) The common permit issued by the issuing state shall specify a designated route upon which the envelope vehicle may travel, and no other route may be used by such envelope vehicle, except as follows: the common permit may include, as part of its designated route, a route or routes other than those included in the regional and access route networks only when the contracting state or states or the issuing state itself requires or has agreed specifically to allow such exceptional route.

(c) The common permit shall be issued subject to such conditions as the contracting states agree are necessary for public safety and convenience. Said conditions shall be in printed form and be made available upon request in reasonable quantities to the public.

(d) The operator of any vehicle which does not conform to the specifications for an envelope vehicle must obtain a separate permit from each state in which the non-conforming vehicle will travel and must comply with each such state's permit procedures. `tuc ARTICLE V. COLLECTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF TOTAL PERMIT FEES.

(a) The issuing state shall collect the total permit fee when issuing the common permit to the operator of an envelope vehicle.

(b) Each contracting state shall provide all other contracting states with its current fee schedule and the total permit fee collected by an issuing state shall be in accordance with such fee schedules. A printed fee schedule for permits issued under this agreement shall be available to the public upon request.

(c) Each contracting state shall continue to exercise sole and independent authority to establish its own fees and fee systems and nothing in this agreement shall affect that sole and independent authority of any state.

(d) Periodically, as established in administrative procedures, each contracting state which has collected fees and held such fees on behalf of another contracting state shall distribute those fees to such other contracting states.

(e) The administrator of each contracting state or his agent or agents may inspect and audit the records of each other contracting state in so far as such records relate to the collection and distribution of the total permit fees, subject to reasonable conditions which may be set by the administrator of the contracting state whose records are being inspected or audited.

(f) Any errors in collection or distribution of the total permit fees shall be settled by the administrators of the affected contracting states; provided, however, that if the settlement requires further action or approval by the legislative or executive officer of any affected contracting state, the finality of such settlement shall be subject to such further action or approval.

(g) If the issuing state fails to charge or charges less than is actually due to a contracting state as its part of the total permit fee, such failure to charge or such undercharge shall not excuse the permittee on the common permit from the obligation of paying to such contracting state the fee amount which would have been due to it. The substance of this subsection shall be made a condition on the common permit. `tuc ARTICLE VI. SAFETY REGULATIONS.

(a) The contracting states shall establish, and may amend from time to time, a common set of safety regulations which shall be incorporated into the common permit and, thus, be applicable to envelope vehicles when such vehicles are traveling in any of the contracting states under a common permit issued by any of the contracting states.

(b) A common set of safety regulations shall be established based on and consistent with the recommended American Association of State Highway Traffic Officials (AASHTO) standards for safety requirements and may include, without limitation, requirements relative to flags, signs for oversized loads, lights, escort vehicles, convoys, speed, days and hours on which travel will be permitted, inclement weather and use of travel lanes. The common safety regulations shall be made available in printed form in reasonable quantities to the public upon request.

(c) Each contracting state may establish fines and penalties, in a manner consistent with the laws of each respective state, for the violation of the terms of the common permits by operators of the envelope vehicles when such vehicles are traveling under common permit in said state. `tuc ARTICLE VII. RECIPROCITY.

(a) Each of the contracting states grants reciprocity as provided in this article.

(b) The reciprocity granted pursuant to this article shall permit the interstate operation of an envelope vehicle and intrastate operation which is incidental to a trip of such envelope vehicle involving interstate operation.

(c) Nothing in this agreement shall be construed to prohibit any of the contracting states from entering into separate agreements with each other for the granting of temporary permits for the intrastate operation of vehicles registered in the other state; nor to prevent any of the contracting states from entering into agreements to grant reciprocity for intrastate operation within any zone or zones agreed upon by states. `tuc ARTICLE VIII. ADMINISTRATION OF AGREEMENT.

(a) The policy committee shall elect a chairman.

(b) The chairman shall appoint an administrative procedures committee from persons nominated by the policy committee. The number of persons on the said committee shall be determined by the policy committee.

(c) The administrative procedures committee shall develop and maintain a written administrative procedures manual. The administrative procedures manual or any amendment to it shall be effective upon approval and adoption by at least a three-fourths vote of the policy committee. The written procedures manual shall become part of this agreement, and shall be distributed to the administrators of all contracting states. `tuc `t+99 ARTICLE IX. WITHDRAWAL OR REVOCATION.

(a) Any contracting state may withdraw from this agreement upon one hundred and eighty days written notice to each other contracting state, which notice shall be given only after the repeal of this agreement by the legislature of such state, if adoption was by legislative act, or, after renunciation by the appropriate administrative official of such contracting state, if the laws thereof empower him so to renounce.

(b) Withdrawal or revocation by one contracting state, or more, shall not affect this agreement between other states.

(c) Any state which withdraws from or revokes this agreement shall give each of its licensees a ninety-days notice of such withdrawal. `tuc ARTICLE X. CONSTRUCTION AND SEVERABILITY.

This agreement shall be liberally construed so as to effectuate the purposes thereof. The provisions of this agreement shall be severable and if any phrase, clause, sentence or provision of this agreement is declared to be contrary to the constitution of any state or of the United States, or the applicability thereof to any government, agency, person or circumstance is held invalid, the validity of the remainder of this agreement and the applicability thereof to any government, agency, person or circumstance shall not be affected thereby. If this agreement shall be held contrary to the constitution of any state participating herein, the agreement shall remain in full force and effect as to the remaining party states and full force and effect as to the state affected as to all severable matters.

SECTION 3. Upon this agreement becoming effective with respect to the commonwealth, that part of the total permit fee which is due to contracting states, other than the the commonwealth, when collected by the department, shall be in a form payable to the Interstate Permit Fund. The Interstate Permit Fund shall be a revolving fund.

SECTION 4. Upon this agreement taking effect with respect to the commonwealth, the state treasurer, hereinafter referred to as the "treasurer", is hereby authorized and directed to deposit all funds payable to the Interstate Permit Fund into such fund for the benefit of the contracting states entitled thereto. The funds of the Interstate Permit Fund shall be deposited in a bank licensed to do business in the commonwealth for the benefit of the contracting states entitled thereto. From time to time distributions to the contracting states, including interest accrued on funds due to each respective contracting state, shall be made in such amounts as the commissioner of the department of public works certifies to the treasurer as due to the respective contracting states. The treasurer shall and is hereby authorized to disburse, without appropriation from the legislature, funds from the Interstate Permit Fund to the respective contracting states in such amounts as the commissioner of the department of public works has certified to the treasurer. The cost of administering the Interstate Permit Fund shall be paid by the commonwealth. That part of the total permit fees which is due to the commonwealth as an issuing state shall be deposited into the treasury of the commonwealth and be credited to the Highway Fund in accordance with section thirty-four of chapter ninety of the General Laws.

SECTION 5. The procedures, other than those provided for in this act, for deposit into the Interstate Permit Fund and the distribution therefrom to other contracting states of their respective shares of the total permit fees shall be subject to approval by the commissioner of administration. The procedure for the deposit of the commonwealth's share of the total permit fees into the treasury of the commonwealth to be credited to the Highway Fund shall be subject to approval of the commissioner of administration.

SECTION 6. Upon this agreement taking effect with respect to the commonwealth, those amounts of the total permit fees which have been collected by other contracting states and which are due to the commonwealth shall be paid by said contracting states to the Massachusetts department of public works, acting on behalf of the commonwealth, and such amounts, when received by the said department, shall be deposited into the treasury of the commonwealth to be credited to the Highway Fund in accordance with the provisions of section thirty-four of chapter ninety of the General Laws. The procedures for accounting for such receipts and deposits shall be subject to the approval by the commissioner of administration.

SECTION 7. Any settlement of errors under this agreement shall be subject to the approval of the commissioner of administration and, if action or approval by the general court is required, the commissioner of administration shall submit the said agreement for the required action or approval by the general court.

SECTION 8. The department may promulgate the common safety regulations authorized in section one of Article VI. Such regulations may not abrogate regulations of the department in effect at the date of enactment of this act for permits issued pursuant to section thirty of chapter eighty-five of the General Laws.

SECTION 9. Any person who is convicted of operating or permitting the operation of an envelope vehicle on any public ways of the commonwealth in violation of the provisions of the common permit under which it is operating shall be punished by a fine in the amount provided by the General Laws for each offense. A certified copy of the common permit issued by any issuing state shall be prima facie evidence in the courts of the commonwealth.

SECTION 10. Unless otherwise provided by law, the governor shall be the appropriate administrative official to withdraw the commonwealth from this agreement and to give notice thereof in accordance with subsection (a) of Article IX. `tuc ENDORSEMENTS FOLLOW ON PAGE ELEVEN `t+99