Brief ⁽¹⁾

HB 2102 would amend various sections of the law dealing with weights and measures. These laws are administered by the Kansas Secretary of Agriculture. The bill would amend one section of law dealing with the retail sale of liquefied petroleum gas by deleting a provision which currently makes it unlawful to use a weighing or measuring device which has been rejected for determining quantities of liquefied petroleum gas.

In addition, the bill would allow vehicle scales installed prior to the effective date of the bill which are used solely for the purpose of weighing aggregate products to be exempt from certain provisions of Handbook 44 (the national guide for standards for weighing and measuring devices). These scales could have a tolerance of plus or minus 100 pounds. The bill would provide that this exception would last for three years.

The bill also would amend the unlawful acts section of the weights and measures law to make it clear that it applies to all persons using these devices and not to just those who own a commercial weighing or measuring device. In addition, the bill would make it unlawful to sell, offer, or expose for sale a weighing or measuring device intended to be used commercially, which is not traceable to a national type evaluation program certificate of conformance.

Further, the bill would exempt from annual testing requirements certain volumetric provers which are stationary or which exceed the testing capacity of the state metrology lab due to engineering design or the capacity of the prover.

The bill also would require the testing of motor fuel dispensing devices at least once within every 18-month period rather than the current 12-month requirement. If upon inspection, it is found that the dispensing device has not been tested and inspected for accuracy and approved within the preceding 18 months, the Secretary of Agriculture would be required to take the device out of service.

In addition, on and after July 1, 2001, the Secretary of Transportation would be prohibited from requiring that plans or specifications for any proposed highway or bridge project be submitted to the Department of Transportation utilizing the metric system of measurement.

Finally, the bill would make it an unfair practice for any contractor or processor knowingly to engage or permit any employee or agent to engage in certain practices in connection with a production contract. These unfair practices would include to refuse to allow a contract producer or contract representative to use state-inspected scales to determine contract payments and to refuse to allow the producer or the producer's representative to observe the weights and measures used to determine compensation. A contractor or processor committing one of these unfair practices would be subject to a civil penalty in an amount equal to the actual damages suffered by the producer. A producer who suffers damages under these unfair practices may obtain appropriate legal and equitable relief, including damages, as a suit in common law pursuant to the Code of Civil Procedure. The Attorney General or the county or district attorney would enforce the provisions.

Background

This bill was requested by the Secretary of Agriculture. At the hearing on the bill, the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture explained that with respect to the liquefied petroleum gas measuring devices, there are circumstances where an immediate stop of a scale or meter may create a hardship on a business or a consumer and that it may be prudent to allow a period of time for repairs. Other modifications contained in the bill were explained to the Committee. The change to the unlawful acts section was to protect against someone using an illegal measuring or weighing device who may not actually own the device. The spokesperson explained that there were some provers at oil terminals which the agency does not have the capacity to test and this was the reason for the amendments concerning large volumetric provers. The Assistant Secretary also explained that the agency does not have the personnel to annually check motor fuel dispensing devices and that some change in the law was necessary. There were no opponents to the bill.

Because of some concerns expressed to the Committee by a spokesperson from the Kansas Aggregate Producers, the Chairperson of the Committee assigned the bill to a subcommittee. The subcommittee recommended the tolerance for compliance for scales weighing aggregate and also made the recommendation regarding the testing of motor fuel dispensing devices every 18 months.

The fiscal note on the original bill indicates that the Kansas Department of Agriculture believes there will be no fiscal impact.

The House Committee of the Whole added the amendment relating to the requirements for plans or specifications for proposed highway or bridge projects and creating the unfair practices that may be committed by a contractor or processor.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext.cgi