Bill Text: MS SB2266 | 2014 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Motor Vehicle Safety Inspection Law; repeal.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2014-02-13 - Died On Calendar [SB2266 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2014-SB2266-Comm_Sub.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2014 Regular Session
To: Finance
By: Senator(s) Polk
Senate Bill 2266
(COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE)
AN ACT TO REPEAL SECTIONS 63-13-1 THROUGH 63-13-29, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH CREATE THE MISSISSIPPI MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY INSPECTION LAW; TO AMEND SECTION 63-7-59, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM; TO AMEND SECTION 27-19-43, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE FOR AN ADDITIONAL TAG FEE AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE FEE; TO AMEND SECTION 37-41-53, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Sections 63-13-1, 63-13-3, 63-13-5, 63-13-7, 63-13-8, 63-13-9, 63-13-11, 63-13-13, 63-13-15, 63-13-17, 63-13-19, 63-13-21, 63-13-23, 63-13-25, 63-13-27 and 63-13-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, which create the Mississippi Motor Vehicle Safety Inspection Law, are hereby repealed.
SECTION 2. Section 63-7-59, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
63-7-59. (1) No person shall drive any motor vehicle required to be registered in this state upon the public roads, streets or highways in this state with any sign or poster, or with any glazing material which causes a mirrored effect, upon the front windshield, side wings or side or rear windows of the vehicle, other than a certificate or other paper required or authorized to be so displayed by law. No person shall drive any motor vehicle required to be registered in this state upon the public roads, streets or highways in this state with any tinted film, glazing material or darkening material of any kind on the windshield of a motor vehicle except material designed to replace or provide a sun shield in the uppermost area as authorized to be installed by manufacturers of vehicles under federal law.
(2) From and after July 1, 2006, no person shall drive any motor vehicle required to be registered in this state upon the public roads, streets or highways in this state with any window tinted or darkened, by tinted film or otherwise, unless:
(a) The windshield of the vehicle has affixed to it a label as provided under subsection (6) of this section certifying that all the windows of the vehicle have a light transmittance of twenty-eight percent (28%) or more; or
(b) The owner or operator of the vehicle has a certificate of medical exemption issued under subsection (4) of this section.
(3) The prohibitions of subsection (2) of this section shall not apply to (a) school buses, other buses used for public transportation, any bus or van owned or leased by a nonprofit organization duly incorporated under the laws of this state or any funeral home services vehicle, any limousine owned or leased by a private or public entity, or any government-owned law enforcement or fire department vehicle or any volunteer fire department vehicle; (b) any window behind the front two (2) side windows, including the rear window, of any pickup truck, van, motor home, recreational vehicle, sport utility vehicle or multipurpose vehicle that has been tinted or darkened after factory delivery to the extent that the light transmittance of the window meets the minimum light transmittance requirements authorized to be installed for that window and for that vehicle under federal law or regulations before factory delivery; or (c) any other motor vehicle the windows of which have been tinted or darkened before factory delivery as permitted by federal law or federal regulations.
(4) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (2) of this section, it shall be lawful for any person who has been diagnosed by a physician licensed to practice medicine in the State of Mississippi as having a physical condition or disease that is seriously aggravated by minimum exposure to sunlight to place or have placed upon the windshield or windows of any motor vehicle which he owns or operates or within which he regularly travels as a passenger tinted film or other darkening material that would otherwise be in violation of this section. However, any vehicle, in order to be exempt under this subsection (4), shall have prominently displayed on the vehicle dashboard a certificate of medical exemption on a form prepared by the Commissioner of Public Safety and signed by the person on whose behalf the certificate is issued. The special certificate authorized by this subsection (4) shall be issued free of charge to the applicants through the offices of the tax collectors of the counties. Each applicant shall present to the issuing official (a) an affidavit signed personally by the applicant and signed and attested by a physician which states the applicant's physical condition or disease which entitles him to an exemption under this subsection (4); and (b) proof of ownership of the motor vehicle by the applicant, or a signed affidavit by the owner of a motor vehicle operated for the use of the applicant, for which he is obtaining the certificate.
(5) The windshield on every motor vehicle shall be equipped with a device for cleaning rain, snow or other moisture from the windshield, which device shall be so constructed as to be controlled or operated by the driver of the vehicle.
(6) The Department of
Public Safety shall issue labels * * *
that shall be affixed to the lower left corner of the windshield * * *,
shall be legible from outside the vehicle, and shall indicate the label
registration number, a certification of compliance with Mississippi law, and
such other information as the Commissioner of Public Safety deems appropriate.
The labels shall be of a type which is pressure-sensitive, self-destructive
upon removal, and no larger than one (1) inch square in size. Before affixing
the label, the * * * Department of Public Safety shall conduct
a test to determine that the window complies with the light transmittance
requirements prescribed under subsection (2) of this section. The test shall
be conducted using such methods or devices as may be approved and certified not
less often than annually by the Department of Public Safety. * * * For
conducting * * *
the tests, * * * the Department of Public Safety
shall charge and collect a fee of Five Dollars ($5.00). * * * The fee * * *
may be expended, upon legislative appropriation, for the operational expenses
of the department. No fee shall be charged unless a test is actually performed
under this subsection (6) * * *, and no inspection station shall be required to perform a test to
determine if the windows of a motor vehicle have been tinted or darkened with
any tinted film or other darkening material after factory delivery so long as
the inspection station does not issue a motor vehicle inspection certificate
for any such vehicle. The presence of a label upon the windshield
of a motor vehicle shall indicate that the person who affixed the label
certifies that the windows of the vehicle meet the restrictions of subsection (2)
of this section as to light transmittance.
(7) No person shall install any tinted film, darkening material, glazing material or any other material upon the windshield or any window of a motor vehicle which, after the installation thereof, would result in such vehicle being in violation of subsection (2) of this section.
* * *
( * * *8) It shall be unlawful for any person
to alter or reproduce any label or certificate of medical exemption approved by
the Commissioner of Public Safety under this section for the purpose of
misleading law enforcement officers * * * or to
knowingly use any approved label or certificate except as authorized by this
section.
( * * *9) Any person violating subsection
(7) * * * or
(8) * * *
of this section, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than
One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or imprisonment in the county jail for not
more than three (3) months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
( * * *10) Any violation of this section
other than a violation of subsection (7) * * * or (8) * * * of this section shall be punishable
upon conviction as provided in Section 63-7-7.
( * * *11) Violations of this section shall
be enforced only by law enforcement officers of the Mississippi Department of
Public Safety and municipal law enforcement officers of municipalities having a
population of two thousand (2,000) or more on the public roads, streets and
highways under their jurisdiction.
( * * *12) The Department of Public Safety
shall initiate a public awareness program designed to inform and educate
persons of the provisions of this section. Funds for such public awareness
program shall be available through the office of the Governor's representative
for highway safety programs.
SECTION 3. Section 27-19-43, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-19-43. (1) License tags, substitute tags and decals for individual fleets and for private carriers of passengers, school buses (excluding school buses owned by a school district in the state), church buses, taxicabs, ambulances, hearses, motorcycles and private carriers of property, and private commercial carriers of property of a gross weight of ten thousand (10,000) pounds and less, shall be sold and issued by the tax collectors of the several counties.
(2) Applications for license tags for motor vehicles in a corporate fleet registered under Section 27-19-66 and trailers in a fleet registered under Section 27-19-66.1, and applications for all other license tags, substitute tags and decals shall be filed with the department or the local tax collector of the respective counties and forwarded to the department for issuance to the applicant. All tags and decals for vehicles owned by the state or any agency or instrumentality thereof, and vehicles owned by a fire protection district, school district or a county or municipality, and all vehicles owned by a road, drainage or levee district shall be issued by the department.
(3) In addition to the privilege taxes levied herein, there shall be collected the following registration or tag fee:
(a) For the issuance of both a license tag and two (2) decals, a fee of Five Dollars ($5.00).
(b) For the issuance of up to two (2) decals only, a fee of Three Dollars and Seventy-five Cents ($3.75).
(c) Additionally, the tax collector or the department, as the case may be, shall assess and collect a fee of Four Dollars ($4.00) upon each set of license tags and two (2) decals issued, or upon each set of two (2) decals issued, and that sum shall be deposited in the Mississippi Trauma Care Systems Fund established in Section 41-59-75, to be used for the purposes set out in that section.
No tag or decal shall be issued either by a tax collector or by the department without the collection of such registration fee except substitute tags and decals and license tags for vehicles owned by the State of Mississippi.
Beginning July 1, 1987, and until the date specified in Section 65-39-35, there shall be levied a registration fee of Five Dollars ($5.00) in addition to the regular registration fee imposed in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection. Such additional registration fee shall be levied in the same manner as the regular registration fee.
In addition to the fees imposed under this subsection, there shall be levied an additional fee of Five Dollars ($5.00), which shall be remitted to the Department of Public Safety and deposited in the General Fund of the State Treasury in accordance with the provisions of Section 45-1-23(2).
SECTION 4. Section 37-41-53, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-41-53. (1) Each school
board, person, firm or corporation transporting public school district children
on the public roads, streets and highways of the state with motor vehicles
shall have the motor vehicles inspected according to * * * regulations
promulgated by the State Department of Education. Each motor vehicle shall
be inspected by a competent mechanic to be safe for transporting pupils on the
roads, streets and highways of the state before it is released for such
purpose. If * * *
the motor vehicle is found to be unsafe for transporting pupils, then it
shall be properly repaired or adjusted as necessary before being used to
transport pupils. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to
vehicles owned by individuals and under private contract to the school district
and used exclusively for transporting members of their immediate families.
(2) The State Department of Education may inspect, at its discretion, any school bus used for transporting school district pupils to and from the public schools or for activity purposes to determine the safety of such motor vehicle for operation on the roads, streets and highways of this state. In the event a vehicle is inspected and is found to be unsafe for transporting pupils, a report shall be filed with the appropriate school district official indicating its deficiencies with recommendations for correcting such deficiencies.
(3) If it is determined
that any school district buses are in such defective condition as to constitute
an emergency safety hazard, those buses may be condemned and removed from
service and shall not be returned to service until adequate repairs are
completed and * * *
the buses are reinspected by the State Department of Education. Any
school district official who approves the operation of any school bus that has
been removed from service under the conditions listed above, prior to being
reinspected by the State Department of Education, shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished by imprisonment in the
county jail for a period not to exceed sixty (60) days, or a fine of not less
than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) nor more than One Thousand Dollars
($1,000.00), or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the
court.
SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2014, and shall be repealed from and after June 30, 2014.
