Chap. 531.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 29 of chapter 149 of the
acts of the general assembly of Virginia, 1926, entitled an act to continue the
office of motor vehicle commissioner; to provide for his election; to pre-
scribe his powers and duties; to protect the title of motor vehicles; to provide
for the registration of titles thereto and the issuance of certificates of title;
to prescribe the effect of such registration; to provide for the licensing of
motor vehicles and chauffeurs; to provide penalties; and to repeal all acts
and parts of acts in conflict herewith. {[H B 200]

Approved March 29, 1928

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
twenty-nine of chapter one hundred and forty-nine of the acts of the
general assembly of Virginia, of nineteen hundred and twenty-six,
approved March seventeenth, nineteen hundred and twenty-six, be
amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

» Section 29. There shall be paid to the department for the registra-
tion of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers, fees according to the
following schedule:

(a) The fee for certificate of title shall be one ($1.00) dollar.

(b) The fee for the certificate of registration and license plates to
be paid by the owner of the machine shall be seventy cents per hun-
der pounds of weight or major fraction thereof. Manufacturers’
shipping weight shall be used in determining the license fees herein
prescribed. All motor vehicles designed and used for the transporta-
tion of passengers shall be licensed according to weight; provided, that
no fee for an automoble shall be less than twelve and one-fourth
($12.25) dollars per year, and no fee for motorcycle shall be less than
five ($5.00) dollars per year and two ($2.00) dollars additional for
side car attached; provided, that the owner of any such vehicle used
and operated exclusively on the streets of any city, for the transporta-
tion of passengers for compensation, who in no case charges a pas-
senger fare of more than five cents per person for a continuous trip
within said city, and who pays to the city within which said vehicles
are operated a license tax or franchise tax or permit charge, amounting
in the aggregate to as much as three per centum of the gross receipts
derived from the operation of said vehicle, shall pay the minimum fee
of twelve and one-fourth ($12.25) dollars for the certificate of regis-
tration and license plates for each vehicle so operated under said city
license, franchise or permit.

(c) The fee for a truck shall be based on the capacity of such truck
or trailer and shall be as follows: One ton or less capacity, fifteen
($15.00) dollars; one and one-half ton capacity, twenty ($20.00) dol-
lars; two ton capacity, thirty ($30.00) dollars; two and one-half ton
capacity, forty ($40.00) dollars; three ton capacity, sixty ($60.00)
dollars ; three and one-half ton capacity, eighty ($80.00) dollars; four
ton capacity, one hundred and ten ($110.00) dollars; four and one-half
ton capacity, one hundred and fifty ($150.00) dollars; five ton capacity,
two hundred ($200.00) dollars. Tractors with trailers used on the
public roads shall be classed as trucks and shall pay the same fees on
tonnage of the trailers, and the fee for the trailers shall be ten ($10.00)
dollars for the first ton capacity and three ($3.00) dollars additioral
for each half ton or fraction thereof in excess of one ton. License
for hearse bearing “C” plate shall be fifteen dollars ($15.00).

(d) Three-quarters of the license fee herein required to be paid
by the owner of a machine shall be collected whenever such license
is issued on or after the first day of April in any year.

One-half of the license fee herein required to be paid by the
owner of a machine shall be collected whenever such license is issued
on or after the first day of July in any year.

One-quarter of the license fee herein required to be paid by the
owner of a machine shall be collected whenever such license is issued
on or after the first day of October in any year.

These fees shall be paid to the motor vehicle commissioner, who
shall issue certificates of registration and license and number plate, as
provided for in this act.

Incorporated towns and cities may levy and assess taxes and charge
license fees and taxes upon vehicles, as heretofore, such license fees
and taxes to be charged, imposed and assessed in such manner, on such
basis, and for such period, as the proper authorities of such incorporated
towns and cities may determine, and subject to proration for fractional
periods in the same manner as prescribed in paragraph (b) hereof.

Every manufacturer, agent or dealer in machines, on or before the
first day of January in each year, or before he commences to operate
machines to be sold by him, shall make application to the motor
vehicle commissioner for a dealer’s certificate of registration and license.
The application shall state the make of the machines handled by the
manufacturer, agent or dealer. ‘On the payment of the fee of fifty
dollars a certificate of registration and license shall be issued to the
dealer in such form as may be prescribed by the commissioner. For
such fee the commissioner shall issue to such dealer three sets of
number plates, and for each additional set in excess of three a fee of
fifteen dollars per set shall be paid; provided, the fee for a motorcycle
dealer shall be twenty-five dollars for the first three sets of plates and
seven dollars for each additional set of plates, but if application of such
manufacturer, agent, or dealer in machines, as herein provided be made
after the first day of July of any year, then the amount or amounts
he shall be required to pay for the certificate of registration and license
provided for hereunder shall be half, only, of the fee herein prescribed.

It shall be unlawful for any such manufacturer, dealer, agent or
any other person to use such number plates other than on machines
used for sales purposes, and any violation of this section shall be pun-
ished by a fine of not less than ten dollars and not more than fifty
dollars.

(f) In addition to the fees hereinbefore provided for in subsection
(c) of this section, for the operation of each vehicle operated as a
property carrier, where the owner or operator of such vehicle holds
himself out for private employment, or for the transportation of loads,
or commodities for one or more persons, or firms on a single trip to or
from the city, town or locations from which said carrier operates to
such other cities, towns, or locations over any highway in the State,
but who does not operate upon a regular schedule, nor solicits nor
receives patronage along the route, served by a class “C” motor
vehicle carrier; one ton truck, ten ($10.00) dollars; one and one-half
ton truck, fifteen ($15.00) dollars; two ton truck, twenty ($20.00)
dollars; two and one-half ton truck, thirty-five ($35.00) dollars; three
ton truck, forty ($40.00) dollars; three and one-half ton truck, fifty-
five ($55.00) dollars; four ton truck, seventy-five ($75.00) dollars;
four and one-half ton truck, one hundred ($100.00) dollars; five ton
truck, one hundred ($100.00) dollars; any major fraction over the
items provided for herein shal! follow in the next higher class, trailers
shall pay one-half of the license as hereinabove set out for trucks.
Nothing in this section shall prohibit or interfere with carriers
engaged in the transportation of farm or dairy products exclusively
from farm or dairy to market or shipping point, nor in the transporta-
tion of the necessary material used in the packing for shipment of
orchard or agricultural products, nor to supplies used by farmers in
their necessary farming operations, nor to trucks hired to the State
highway department, or to contractors engaged in State highway
work, or to the authorities of any county, city or town engaged in the
construction or maintenance of roads, streets, et cetera, nor to trucks
under contract hauling lumber, or other forest products from mill to
shipping point or place of manufacture.

There shall also be charged, in addition to the fees prescribed in
subsection (b) of this section, for each machine kept or used tor rent
or hire, for the transportation of passengers, where such vehicles
are not operated on a regular schedule, or in active competition with
the holder of a class “A” motor vehicle carrier certificate, the sum
of five dollars for each revenue-producing seat. Every person, firm
or corporation engaged in hiring or renting motor vehicles in this
paragraph mentioned, shall furnish to the director of the division of
motor vehicles, whenever required so to do, a list of motor vehicles
used or employed in such business, and with such description thereof
when and as may be required by the said director.

Should any person, firm or corporation, after receiving a license
from the director of the division of motor vehicles, as herein provided.
operate or attempt to operate on a regular schedule, or become or at-
tempt to become in competition with the holder of a class “A” or class
“C” motor vehicle carrier certificate, such person, firm or corporation
shall have such license revoked by the director of the division of
motor vehicles from whose decision the party aggrieved shall have
a right of appeal to the circuit court of the city of Richmond, and shall
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof
before any justice having jurisdiction of the territory within which
any part of such operation or competition takes place, shall be fined
not less than fifty dollars nor more than two hundred and fifty dollars,
and each day’s operation or competition shall constitute a separate
offense.

(g) The director shall, in the granting of a license, require the ap-
plicant to procure and file with said director, liability and property
damage insurance, or bond with surety, on such motor vehicles to be
used in the service aforesaid, in such amount as the director may deter-
mine but not in excess of five hundred ($500.00) dollars per revenue
producing seat, insuring or indemnifying passengers and the public
receiving personal injury by reason of an act of negligence, and for
damage to property of any person other than the assured, such policy
or bond to contain such conditions, provisions and limitations as the
director may prescribe, and shall be kept in full force and effect, and
failure to do so shall be cause for the revocation of such license; pro-
vided, that when bond, with solvent personal surety, is offered, the
same may be accepted; and provided further that where such a bond
is required by the municipality in which the applicant operates, no
further or additional bond shall be required hereunder.

The word “director,” as used in this act, shall mean the director
of the division of motor vehicles.

The term “owner” shall, also, include any person, firm, association,
or corporation, renting a motor vehicle or having the exclusive use
thereof, under a lease or otherwise, for a period greater than thirty
days. As between contract vendor and the contract vendee, the term
“owner” shall refer to the contract vendee, unless the contrary shall
clearly appear from the context of this act.

All acts or parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed
to the extent of such inconsistency.