DISABLED VEHICLE TOWING S.B. 1257 (S-1): FLOOR ANALYSIS
Senate Bill 1257 (Substitute S-1 as reported)
Sponsor: Senator Alan Sanborn
Committee: Transportation
CONTENT
The bill would amend the Michigan Vehicle Code to do the following:
-- Eliminate a restriction on the number of miles a wrecker transporting a single disabled vehicle may travel while exceeding the Code's size and weight limitations.
-- Allow a wrecker operator towing a combination of disabled vehicles to remove them from the roadway at any lawful point within the maximum distance prescribed in the Code under a permit authorizing the wrecker to operate in excess of the Code's size and weight restrictions.
Under the Code, it is a misdemeanor to drive or move on a highway a vehicle or vehicles exceeding prescribed size and weight limitations. The Code's size, weight, and load restrictions, however, do not apply to a wrecker and a disabled vehicle, or a wrecker and a combination of a disabled vehicle and a trailer, if the wrecker is issued an extended restricted permit by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), if each trip beginning from the place where the vehicle or combination of vehicles originally was disabled is a maximum of 25 miles. In the case of a trip that begins and ends north of a line between Ludington and Pinconning, the maximum distance is 50 miles.
Under the bill, the operator of a wrecker towing a single disabled vehicle would not be subject to these mileage limitations. In the case of a wrecker towing a combination of disabled vehicles, the permit would be valid for the entire towing distance described above, and the operator could remove the disabled vehicles from the roadway at any point of his or her choosing within that distance.
MCL 257.716 Legislative Analyst: Julie Cassidy
FISCAL IMPACT
The bill would have no fiscal impact on State or local government.
Date Completed: 9-13-06 Fiscal Analyst: Debra Hollon
Analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent. sb1257/0506