Chap. 67.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 35 of chapter 342 of the Acts
of the General Assembly of 1932, approved March 26, 1932, and designated
and cited as the Motor Vehicle Code of Virginia, in relation to registration
fees. [H B 66]

Approved March 2, 1934

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That section
thirty-five of chapter three hundred and forty-two of the Acts of the
General Assembly of nineteen hundred and thirty-two, approved March
twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and thirty-two, and designated and cited
as the Motor Vehicle Code of Virginia, be amended and re-enacted so
as to read as follows:

Section 35. Registration fees——On and after the fifteenth day of
March, nineteen hundred and thirty-four, there shall be paid to the
division for the registration 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) All motor vehicles, trailers, and semi-trailers designed and used
for the transportation of passengers shall be licensed according to weight
and manufacturer’s shipping weight shall be used in determining the
license fees herein prescribed. Except as hereinafter provided, the fee
for the certificate of registration and license plates to be paid by the
owner of the motor vehicle shall be seventy cents per hundred pounds
of weight or major fraction thereof; provided that no fee for an auto-
mobile shall be less than eight ($8.00) dollars per year, and no fee for
a motorcycle shall be less than three ($3.00) dollars per year and two
($2.00) dollars additional for each side car; provided, however, the
fee for the certificate of registration and license plates to be paid
by the owner of any private motor vehicle (other than a motorcycle)
designed and used for the transportation of passengers, but not kept
or used for rent or hire for the transportation of passengers, nor as a
motor vehicle carrier under a certificate issued by the State Corporation
Commission, nor as a motor vehicle carrier which should secure such a
certificate, shall be forty cents per hundred pounds of weight, or major
fraction thereof.

(c) The fee for the certificate of registration and license plates to
be paid by the owners of trucks and tractor-trucks other than common
carriers operating under authority of the State Corporation Commission
shall be based on the capacity of such truck or tractor-truck and shall
be according to the following schedule: One (1) ton or less capacity,
fifteen ($15.00) dollars; one and one-half (114) ton capacity, twenty
($20.00) dollars; two (2) ton capacity, thirty ($30.00) dollars; two
and one-half (214) ton capacity, fifty ($50.00) dollars; three (3) ton
capacity, seventy-five ($75.00) dollars; three and one-half (314) ton
capacity, one hundred ($100.00) dollars; four (4) ton capacity, one
hundred and fifty ($150.00) dollars; four and one-half (4%) ton
capacity, two hundred ($200.00) dollars; five (5) ton capacity, two
hundred and fifty ($250.00) dollars; five and one-half (5%) ton
capacity, three hundred ($300.00) dollars; six (6) ton capacity, three
hundred and fifty ($350.00) dollars; six and one-half (6%4) ton
capacity, four hundred and fifty ($450.00) dollars; seven (7) ton
capacity, five hundred and fifty ($550.00) dollars; seven and one-half
(744) ton capacity, six hundred and fifty ($650.00) dollars; eight (8)
ton capacity, seven hundred and fifty ($750.00) dollars; eight and one-
half (814) ton capacity, eight hundred and fifty ($850.00) dollars;
nine (9) ton capacity, nine hundred and fifty ($950.00) dollars; nine
and one-half (914) ton capacity, one thousand and fifty ($1,050.00)
dollars; ten (10) ton capacity, eleven hundred and fifty ($1,150.00)
dollars.

(d) The owners of trailers and semi-trailers other than those pro-
vided in subsection (b) of this section, shall pay for the certificate of
registration and license plates therefor one-half (32) of the fee pro-
vided for in subsection (c) for trucks of like capacity.

(e) Every manufacturer, agent or dealer in motor vehicles, trailers
and semi-trailers, on or before the first day of April in each year, or
before he commences to operate vehicles to be sold by him, shall make
application to the director 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
thirty-five dollars a certificate of registration and license shall be issued
to the dealer in such form as may be prescribed by the director. For
such fee the director shall issue to such dealer two (2) sets of number
plates, and for each additional set in excess of two (2) a fee of seven
dollars and fifty cents ($7.50) per set shall be paid; provided the fee
for a motorcycle dealer shall be fifteen ($15.00) dollars for the first
three (3) sets of plates and four ($4.00) dollars for each additional
set of plates, but if the application of such manufacturer, agent, or
dealer in motor vehicles, as herein provided, be made after the first day
of December of any year, then the amount or amounts he shall be re-
quired 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 motor ve-
hicles, trailers and semi-trailers used in connection with their business ;
provided that dealer’s tags shall not be used on motor vehicles for the
use or operation of which dealers’ charge or receive compensation, such
as wrecking cranes or other service motor vehicles, and any violation
of this section shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five
($25.00) dollars, and not more than one hundred ($100.00) dollars.

(f) For the operation of each motor vehicle, trailer, or semi-trailer,
operated as a property carrier for compensation, but not as a motor
vehicle carrier operating, or which should operate, under a certificate
issued by the State Corporation Commission as provided by law, there
shall be paid a fee which shall be one and one-half times the amount
of the fees as provided in subsections (c) and (d). Any person who
shall operate, or who shall permit the operation of any motor vehicle,
trailer, or semi-trailer over any highway (as that word is defined in
this act) of this State, as a property carrier for compensation, but not
as a motor vehicle carrier operating, or which should operate, under a
certificate issued by the State Corporation Commission as provided by
law, without first having paid to the director the fee prescribed by this
subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof
shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty ($50.00) dollars nor
more than five hundred ($500.00) dollars, or by imprisonment in jail
for a period not to exceed six months or by both such fine and imprison-
ment.

The presence on a motor truck, tractor-truck, trailer or semi-trailer
of property for which the owner or operator of such motor truck,
tractor-truck, trailer or semi-trailer is unable to show evidence of own-
ership of such property, or indirect evidence of having produced same,
or that he has sold same in the regular course of his usual business,
shall be prima facie evidence that he is transporting such property for
compensation.

The Director, Division of Motor Vehicles, may issue appropriately
designated tags for property carrying vehicles to applicants holding
themselves out for private employment, and who agree that they will
not operate upon a regular schedule, nor solicit nor receive patronage
along the route or between cities, towns or locations served by motor
vehicle carriers operated under certificates granted by the State Corpora-
tion Commission.

The Director, Division of Motor Vehicles, may issue appropriately
designated tags for passenger transportation to applicants who agree
and undertake not to solicit the transportation of persons over the high-
ways and/or between incorporated communities, nor to operate upon
a regular schedule nor to receive patronage at intermediate points be-
tween their points of origin and destination but who may be privately
employed for a specific trip.

(g) For the operation of each motor vehicle, trailer or semi-trailer
kept or used for rent or hire for the transportation of passengers, but
not as a motor vehicle carrier under the certificate issued by the State
Corporation Commission or as a motor vehicle carrier which should
secure such certificate, there shall be paid in addition to the fees pro-
vided in subsection (b) of this section the sum of five ($5.00) dollars
for each revenue producing seat; provided that holders of certificates
issued by the State Corporation Commission, and persons operating
motor vehicles, trailers, or semi-trailers for the transportation of pas-
sengers in any city pursuant to a franchise granted by such city, may
use any of their regularly licensed vehicles, of a seating capacity of more
than twelve for infrequent trips, for the transportation of special
parties, either on or off their regular route, upon the written permission
of the Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles, and for such privilege
there shall be paid five ($5.00) dollars for each such trip, for each
vehicle so employed. 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. Any person who shall operate, or who shall per-

mit the operation of, any motor vehicle, trailer or semi-trailer over any
highway (as that word is defined in this act) of this State, for the
transportation of passengers for compensation, but not as a motor
vehicle carrier operating, or which should operate under a certificate
issued by the State Corporation Commission as provided by law, without
first having paid to the director the fee prescribed by this subsection
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be
punished by a fine of not less than fifty ($50.00) dollars, nor more than
five hundred ($500.00) dollars, or by imprisonment in jail for a period
not to exceed six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(h) One-half of the license fee herein required to be paid by the
owner of a motor vehicle, trailer or semi-trailer, shall be collected when-
ever such license is issued on or after the first day of October in any
year.

(i) These fees shall be paid to the director who shall issue certifi-
cates of registration and license and number plates, as provided for in
this act.

(j) Incorporated towns and cities may levy and assess taxes and
charge license fees and taxes upon vehicles, as heretofore, except license
fees and taxes upon motor vehicles used by a dealer or manufacturer
for sales purposes. Such license fees and taxes to be charged, imposed
and assessed in such manner, on such basis, and for each period, as the
proper authorities of such incorporated towns and cities may determine,
and subject to pro-ration for fractional periods in the same manner as
prescribed in subsection (1) hereof.

Provided, however, that no incorporated town or city may levy and
assess taxes and charge license fees and taxes upon any motor vehicle
on which similar taxes and/or fees are charged or assessed by the in-
corporated town or city of which the owner of such vehicle is a resident ;
nor may more than one incorporated town or city exact such license
fee or tax on the same vehicle; and provided further that, on and after
April first, nineteen hundred and thirty-five, no city or incorporated
town shall levy a license tax on motor vehicles greater than the amount
of the license tax assessed by the State on motor vehicles of like class.

(k) Any officer authorized to enforce the motor vehicle laws, having
reasons to believe that the gross weight or carrying capacity of a motor
vehicle, trailer, or semi-trailer exceeds that for which it is licensed is
authorized to weigh the same either by means of loadmeters or scales.

(m) On all vehicles registered under subsections (f{) and (g) of
this section, the owner thereof shall cause to be printed or painted on
such vehicle in letters not less than two inches in height the name
of such owner, and the city, town, or county in which such owner has
located his principal place of business.

(n) Any owner of a motor vehicle, trailer, or semi-trailer who shall
purchase articles, merchandise, commodities or things at one point or
points and transport them in said motor vehicle, trailer, or semi-trailer
to another point or points for sale at the latter point or points, in the
sale price of which is reflected a charge for the transportation of such
articles, merchandise, commodities or things, or who shall permit any
such vehicle to be so used by another, shall be deemed to be operating
such vehicle for hire; provided, however, this provision shall not apply
to merchants maintaining a regular place of business and delivering by
motor vehicle, trailer, or semi-trailer, articles, merchandise, commodities
and things sold by them, for which no transportation charge directly or
indirectly is made.

Nothing in this section shall be construed so as to apply to a common
carrier of persons or property holding a certificate issued by the State
Corporation Commission.

2. An emergency existing, this act shall be in force and effect on and
after the fifteenth day of March, nineteen hundred and thirty-four.