Chap. 491.—An ACT to provide for the inspection, and to regulate the distribu-
tion of gasoline, naphtha, benzine, lubricating oil, and other liquids or nuids
used or intended to be used for power purposes; to provide for an appropria-
tion therefor and penalties for the violation of the provisions of this act;
and to repeal chapter 477, of the acts of the general assembly of Virginia,
entitled an act to provide for the inspection and to regulate the distribution
of gasoline, naphtha, benzine, and other liquids and fluids used, or intended
to be used, for power purposes; and to provide penalties for the violation of
the provisions of this act, approved March 24, 1924. {[S B 255]

Approved March 26, 1928

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, as follows:
Section 1. The term “gasoline,” wherever used in this act. sha!
be construed to include naphtha, benzine and other like liquids and
fluids derived from petroleum or other sources and used (or intenced
to be used), for power purposes, except kerosene. The term “lubn-
cating oil” wherever used in this act, shall be construed to mean lubn-
cating oils used in internal combustion engines.

Section 2. Inspection of such gasoline shall be under the directioz
of the commissioner of agriculture and immigration. The commis-
sioner of agriculture and immigration shall have authority to prohibit
the sale of gasoline that does not meet the specifications as herein pro-
vided. The commissioner of agriculture and immigration with the
approval of the board of agriculture and immigration is authorized to
make all necessary rules and regulations for the inspection of gasoline
and the enforcement of this act.

Section 3. All gasoline used, or intended to be used, or sold or of-
fered for sale or distribution in this State, for power purposes. shall
be subject to inspection and test for the purpose of preventing adultera-
tion, deception or fraud in the sale thereof. All manufacturers, whole-
salers, and jobbers, before selling or offering for sale in this State any
gasoline for the purposes herein defined, shall file with the commis-
sioner of agriculture and immigration a statement that they desire to
do business in this State, and furnish the name or brand of the gasoline
which they desire to sell, with the name and address of the manu-
facturer, producer, or refiner, and that the gasoline will comply with
the requirements of this act. The said commissioner shall have power
at all times and at all places to have collected samples of anv gasoline
offered for sale in this State and have the same analyzed. In making
any inspections of gasoline under this act, the said commissioner shall
follow the “properties and tests’? for motor gasoline of the federal
specification board, as the same now are or may be hereafter amended.
and shall make such inspection in accordance with the methods pre-
scribed and established by the said board, providing that for cause
after hearing, said specifications can be amended by the board of agri-
culture and immigration, providing that before such changes are ei-
fective ninety days notice shall be given in writing to all companies
reporting the sale of gasoline in this State.

Section 4. When bulk gasoline is received in vessels, tanks, tank
cars or other large containers, from other States or nations, the person.
firm or corporation so receiving gasoline in this State shall, on the
dav the shipment is received, give notice thereof in writing to the com-
mussioner of agriculture and immigration, which notice shall give zhe
name and address of the shipper, together with the number of gallons
contained in such shipment.

Whenever a complaint is made to the commissioner of agriculture
and immigration in regard to the quality of any gasoline sold in this
State, the said commissioner shall cause a sample of the gasoline com-
plained of to be procured and shall have the same thoroughly analyzed
and tested to determine whether or not it conforms to said properties
and tests of the federal specification board as may be amended as
herein provided by the commissioner of agriculture and immigration
with the approval of the board of agriculture and immigration, under
the provisions of this act, or is as represented by the dealer. If the
analysis or other tests shows that the gasoline is not as represented or
that it does not meet said properties and tests of the federal specifi-
cation board as may be amended as herein provided by the board of
agriculture and immigration, its sale shall be forbidden, and a report
of the result or results of such analysis or tests shall be sent to the
party making the complaint, to the dealers offering such gasoline for
sale, and to the manufacturer thereof.

Section 5. Every person delivering at wholesale or retail gasoline
in this State shall deliver the same to the purchaser only in tanks, bar-
rels, casks, cans or other containers having the word “gasoline,” in
English, plainly stenciled or labeled thereon, to meet the requirements
and regulations adopted by the commissioner of agriculture and immi-
gration with the approval of the board of agriculture and immigration
under this act, except that where gasoline is delivered in bulk from
tank wagons the cans used in such deliveries may be painted red and
the word “gasoline” need not be stenciled thereon, and except, further,
that where deliveries of gasoline are made in tank wagons having more
than one compartment it shall only be necessary that the spigot on the
pipe leading from the gasoline compartments shall have attached there-
to a tag with the word “gas” in English plainly stenciled thereon. Such
dealer shall not deliver gasoline in any barrels, casks, cans, tank
wagons, or other containers, which has not been stenciled, painted or
labeled as hereinbefore provided. Every person purchasing gasoline
for sale shall procure and keep the same only in tanks, barrels, casks,
cans or other container stenciled or labeled as hereinbefore provided ;
provided, that nothing in this section shall prohibit the delivery of gas-
oline by hose or pipe from a tank directly into the tank of any automo-
bile or any other motor; provided, further, that in case gasoline is sold
in bottles, cans or packages of not more than one gallon for cleaning
and other similar purposes, the label shall also bear the words “unsafe
when exposed to heat or fire.”

Section 6. All materials, fluids or substances offered or exposed for
sale purporting to be substitutes for motor fuel or improvers thereof
shall be submitted to the commissioner of agriculture and immigra-
tion for examination and inspection, and shall only be sold or offered
for sale when properly labeled with a label.

Section 7. It shall be the duty of the commissioner of agriculture
and immigration to publish at least annually in a bulletin of the de-
partment of agriculture and immigration the rules and regulations es-
tablished by the board of agriculture and immigration for the purpose
of carrying into effect the provisions of this act.

Section 8. The inspectors now in the employ of the department of
agriculture and immigration shall, in addition to the duties now 1m-
posed, make inspections of gasoline as herein required under the super-
vision of the commissioner of agriculture and immigration. Such in-
spectors shall, as directed, collect samples of gasoline offered for sale
in this State and send the same to the commissioner of agriculture and
immigration for examination. Additional inspectors may be employed
by the commissioner of agriculture and immigration to inspect filling
stations for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act and
to perform such other duties as the said commissioner may direct. The
department of highways and the division of motor vehicles are author-
ized to co-operate, as directed by the governor, with the commissioner
of agriculture and immigration in carrying out the provisions of this
act.

Section 9. The commissioner of agriculture and immigration 1s
hereby further authorized and empowered to inspect, sample, analyze
and test liquid fuels, lubricating oils, and similar products, for the
purpose of determining whether the products herein named are mis-
branded and/or adulterated within the meaning of the law intended
to prevent fraud and misrepresentation in the sale of such liquid fuels.
lubricating oils and similar products, and to prevent adulteration ot
any of such products.

Section 10. Any person, firm or corporation selling or offering for
sale gasoline or lubricating oil which does not come up to the standard
herein provided for, or violating any of the provisions of this act,
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be
fined not less than ten dollars and not more than one thousand dollars.
Any dealer in gasoline who receives gasoline meeting the requirements
of this act and who thereafter adulterates any such gasoline or mixes
it with inferior gasoline, so that the resulting product does not meet
the requirements of this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and
punishable accordingly.

Section 11. It shall be the duty of the Commonwealth’s attorney of
the respective cities and counties of this State, to prosecute all viola-
tions of the provisions of this act, when certified to him by the commis-
sioner of agriculture and immigration. A copy of the analysis ot
gasoline or lubricating oils, made by a chemist of the department of
agriculture and immigration, when certified to by him, shall be ad-
mitted as evidence in any court of this State in the trial of any pro-
ceeding involving the misbranding or adulteration of such gasoline
or lubricating oils.

Section 12. It shall be the duty of the commissioner of agriculture
and immigration with the approval of the board of agriculture and im-
migration to enforce the provisions of this act. There is hereby appro-
priated from the gross receipts of the four and one-half: cent gasoline
tax the sum of ten thousand dollars each year to carry out the provi-
sions of this act.

Section 13. Cities, towns, municipalities, counties and other politi-
cal subdivisions of this State are prohibited from passing any laws or
ordinances relating to the inspection and testing of the petroleum
products named in section one of this act inconsistent with the provi-
sions of this act.

2. Be it further enacted that chapter four hundred and seventy-
seven of the acts of the general assembly of Virginia, approved March
twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and twenty-four, be, and the same is,
hereby, repealed.