CHAPTER 450

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 56-338.29, 56-338.32, 56-838.34 and
56-888.86 of the Code of Virginia, relating to petroleum tank truck
carriers so as to restrict issuance of certificates therefor, to provide
for certain notice, restrict transfers of certificates, and restrict
changes in rates.

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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 56-338.29, 56-338.32, 56-338.34 and 56-338.36 of the Code of
Virginia be amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 56-338.29. (a) Upon the filing of an application for a certificate of
public convenience and necessity as a petroleum tank truck carrier, the
Commission shall, within a reasonable time, fix a time and place of hearing
of such application. If the Commission shall find the proposed operation
justified by public convenience and necessity, it shall issue a certificate to
the applicant, subject to such terms, limitations, and restrictions as the
Commission may deem proper. If the Commission shall find the proposed
operation not justified, the application shall be denied.

(b) In determining whether or not the proposed operation is justified
the Commission may consider, among other things, the public safety, the
public necessity for the proposed operation, the volume and character of
traffic on the applicant’s proposed route or routes, especially the existing
volume of petroleum products transportation thereon, the financial condi-
tion of the applicant, and the condition of the highways involved in the
proposed operation.

(c) All certificated petroleum carriers shall be notified by receipted
registered mail twenty days prior to the hearing and the notice of the ap-
plication shall be published in a newspaper having general circulation in
the City of Richmond and in the city or county in which each point of
origin applied for is located at least ten days prior to the hearing.

§ 56-338.32. From any order of the Commission imposing any fine
or refusing, granting, suspending, revoking, altering, or amending any
certificate, the certificate holder shall have the right of appeal to the
Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, as a matter of right, as in other
cases of appeals from the Commission.

§ 56-338.34. (a) Any such certificate may be transferred, leased or
amended if the Commission finds, after notice and hearing, that the trans-
fer, lease or amendment will serve the public convenience and necessity,
and the Commission may authorize the transfer or lease subject to such
restrictions as the Commission finds will promote the public convenience
and necessity.

(b) No certificate shall be sold, transferred, or assigned until notice
as required by Subsection (c) of § 56-338.29 is properly made or served.

§ 56-338.36. The Commission shall have the power and be charged
with the duty of supervising, regulating and controlling all petroleum
tank truck carriers, as defined herein, doing business in this State, and
not exempted by this chapter, in all matters relating to the performance
of their duties as such carriers, and their rates and charges therefor,
which rates and charges shall be filed with the Commission and with each
petroleum tank truck carrier, initially and from time to time thereafter,
by individual petroleum tank truck carriers or by groups of such carriers,
as each individual carrier may prefer, thirty days prior to the effective
date of such rates and charges. No change in rates or charges shall be
made on less than thirty days notice; unless special authority is otherwise
granted by the Commission. Each such carrier shall adhere to his rates
on file with the Commission, without rebate or discrimination; but the
Commission shall have no authority to fix or prescribe rates.

From time to time, the Commission shall prescribe reasonable rules,
regulations, bills of lading, forms and reports for such carriers in further-
ance of the administration and operation of this chapter; and, for the
protection of the public, the Commission shall, from time to time, pre-
scribe reasonable insurance requirements for petroleum tank truck car-
riers consistent with special character and type of this transportation; and
the Commission shall have the right at all times to require from such
carriers special reports and statements, under oath, concerning their busi-
ness; and shall, from time to time, make and enforce such requirements
as may be necessary to prevent unjust or unreasonable discriminations by
any such carrier in favor of, or against, any person, locality, community,
or other carrier in the matter of rates, service, schedule, efficiency of
transportation, or otherwise, in connection with the duties of such carrier;
and the Commission shall have power and it shall be its duty to administer
and enforce all provisions of this chapter, and from time to time prescribe
reasonable rules, regulations and procedure looking to that end.