BILL NUMBER: AB 1749 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 22, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Pan
FEBRUARY 17, 2012
An act to amend Section 471 of the Vehicle Code, relating
to vehicles. An act to amend Section 36101 of the
Vehicle Code, relating to vehicles.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1749, as amended, Pan. Vehicles: pickup truck:
definition. Vehicles.
Existing law exempts farm trucks and farm trailers from vehicle
registration requirements, under specified circumstances.
This bill would additionally exempt a motor vehicle specifically
designed for, and used exclusively in, an agricultural operation for
the purposes of carrying walnuts, or returning empty from carrying
walnuts, that is operated by a farmer, an employee of the farmer, or
a contracted employee of the farmer, and that is only operated on a
highway between one part of a farm to another part of that farm or
from the first point of processing and return.
Existing law, except as specified, defines a pickup truck as a
motor truck with a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating of less
than 11,500 pounds, an unladen weight of less than 8,001 pounds, and
which is equipped with an open box-type bed not exceeding 9 feet in
length.
This bill would also define a "pickup truck" as a motor truck with
a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating of less than 11,500
pounds, an unladen weight of less than 8,001 pounds, and which is
equipped with a flatbed not exceeding 9 feet in length that is
designed and operated by a farmer or rancher, or his or her employee,
for use in the conduct of agricultural operations.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 36101 of the Vehicle
Code is amended to read:
36101. The following farm vehicles are exempt from registration,
if they have and display an identification plate as specified in
Section 5014, and the vehicles shall not be deemed to be implements
of husbandry and they shall be subject to all equipment and device
requirements as if registered:
(a) A motor vehicle of a size so as to require a permit under
Section 35780 owned and operated by a farmer, designed and used
exclusively for carrying, or returning empty from carrying, feed and
seed products of farming, and used on a highway between one part of a
farm to another part of that farm or from one farm to another farm.
(b) A vehicle equipped with a water tank owned by a farmer and
used exclusively to service his or her own implements of husbandry.
(c) A water tank truck that is owned by a farmer, not operated for
compensation, and used extensively in the conduct of agricultural
operations, when used exclusively (1) for
sprinkling either of the following purposes:
(1) Sparkling water on dirt roads
providing access to agricultural fields or (2)
transportation fields.
(2) The transportation of water
for irrigation of crops or trees.
(d) (1) A cotton module mover, as defined in Section 36012.
(2) In order to maintain the exemption from registration granted
under this subdivision for a truck tractor, when combined with a
semitrailer, the owner of that truck tractor shall not operate it
during the exemption period in any a
manner other than as a cotton module mover, as defined in Section
36012, and shall do all of the following:
(A) Register the vehicle with the department before operating it
as a commercial motor vehicle.
(B) Apply to the department on a yearly basis for any
a renewal of the exemption from registration.
(3) Exemption from registration under this subdivision does not
exempt a truck tractor, when combined with a semitrailer, operating
as a cotton module mover pursuant to Section 36012 and this
subdivision from the applicable safety requirements of this code or
any a regulation adopted pursuant to
any a statute, including, but not
limited to, equipment standards, driver licensing requirements,
maximum driving and on-duty hours provisions, log book requirements,
drug and alcohol testing, maintenance of vehicles, and any
a driver or vehicle standards
standard specified in Division 14.8 (commencing with
Section 34500).
(4) Truck tractors exempt from registration under this subdivision
are subject to the fees imposed under Sections 9250, 9250.8, and
9250.13, and to any other vehicle fees that are imposed by statute on
or after January 1, 1998, that are deposited in the Motor Vehicle
Account.
(e) A trailer that is equipped with a plenum chamber for the
drying of agricultural commodities.
(f) Except as provided in subdivision (j) of Section 36005, a trap
wagon, as defined in Section 36016, that is equipped with a fuel
tank or tanks. The fuel tank or tanks shall not exceed 3,000 gallons
of total capacity.
(g) A forklift truck, operated by a farmer not for compensation.
For purposes of this section, a hay-squeeze shall be deemed a
forklift.
(h) (1) A truck tractor or truck tractor and
semitrailer combination specified in this subdivision that is owned
by a farmer and operated on the highways only incidental to a farming
operation and not for compensation. This subdivision applies only to
truck tractors a truck tractor with a
manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating over 10,000 pounds that
are is equipped with all-wheel drive
and off-highway traction tires on all wheels, and only to
semitrailers a semitrailer used in combination
with that truck tractor and exclusively in the production or
harvesting of melons. The vehicles A vehicle
specified in this subdivision shall not be operated in excess
of 25 miles per hour on the highways.
The
(2) The Commissioner of the
California Highway Patrol may, by regulation, prohibit the
vehicles a vehicle specified in this subdivision
from operating on specific routes. These vehicles
(3) A vehicle specified in this
subdivision shall not be operated laden on the highway for more
than two miles from the point of origin and shall not be operated
for more than 30 miles unladen on the highway from the point of
origin. These vehicles
(4) A vehicle specified in this
subdivision shall not be operated for more than 15 miles
unladen on the highway from the point of origin, unless accompanied
by an escort vehicle to the front, and an escort vehicle to the rear.
(i) (1) A motor vehicle specifically
designed for, and used exclusively in, an agricultural operation for
purposes of carrying, or returning empty from carrying, silage that
is operated by a farmer, an employee of the farmer, or a contracted
employee of the farmer between one part of a farm to another part of
that farm or from one farm to another farm, on a highway for a
distance not to exceed 20 miles from the point of origin of the trip.
This subdivision does not include a vehicle that is used for the
transportation of silage for retail sales.
For
(2) For the purposes of this
subdivision, "silage" includes field corn, sorghum, grass, legumes,
cereals, or cereal mixes, either green or mature, converted into feed
for livestock.
(j) A motor vehicle specifically designed for, and used
exclusively in, an agricultural operation for the purposes of
carrying walnuts, or returning empty from carrying walnuts, that is
operated by a farmer, an employee of the farmer, or a contracted
employee of the farmer, and that is only operated on a highway
between one part of a farm to another part of that farm or from the
first point of processing and return.
SECTION 1. Section 471 of the Vehicle Code is
amended to read:
471. (a) A "pickup truck" is either of the following:
(1) A motor truck with a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight
rating of less than 11,500 pounds, an unladen weight of less than
8,001 pounds, and which is equipped with an open box-type bed not
exceeding nine feet in length.
(2) A motor truck with a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight
rating of less than 11,500 pounds, an unladen weight of less than
8,001 pounds, and which is equipped with a flatbed not exceeding nine
feet in length that is designed and operated by a farmer or rancher,
or his or her employee, for use in the conduct of agricultural
operations.
(b) "Pickup truck" does not include a motor vehicle otherwise
meeting the above definition, that is equipped with a bed-mounted
storage compartment unit commonly called a "utility body."