267:1 Compact. –
The governor of this state is hereby authorized to execute a compact on behalf of the state of New Hampshire with any one or more of the states of Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island and the general court hereby signifies in advance its approval and ratification of such compact, so entered into, such approval and ratification to be effective as herein set forth:
Whereas, the Vermont General Assembly, during the 1981 session, enacted into law, legislation creating a system of truck entry fees; and
Whereas, the New Hampshire General Court followed suit by enacting similar legislation; and
Whereas, the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has adopted a resolution calling for retaliatory truck entry fees in response to the action of the Vermont and New Hampshire Legislatures; and
Whereas, at its January 1982 meeting in which members of the Vermont Senate and House of Representatives participated, the Caucus of New England State legislatures approved the following compact agreement; now, therefore, the state of New Hampshire enters into the following compact subject to the terms and conditions therein stated.
COMPACT AGREEMENT
An act relative to interstate commerce:
Section 1. The "New England State Interstate Trucking Fee Compact" is entered into with all other New England states joining therein in the following form for the purpose of establishing a compact among the six New England states with the intention to develop a single identification device encompassing fuel and regulatory fees and to prohibit the imposition of any truck entry fees.
Article One
This agreement shall become effective within any New England state at any time as prescribed by that state, and shall become effective within those states ratifying it whenever any of the six states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont have ratified.
Article Two
The State of New Hampshire hereby requests and urges the several New England states to refuse to adopt, or if they have been adopted, to repeal, any truck entry fees.
Article Three
A state may become a party to this compact by enacting, and continuing to enforce, a law or laws which move(s) toward uniformity among the six New England states.
Article Four
In every participating state for each licensed motor vehicle with an empty weight of 7,500 lbs. or more and/or a gross vehicle weight of 18,000 lbs. or more, the commercial user shall apply to the administrator for a highway user license and pay an annual fee as determined by each compact state in which the motor vehicle may operate. The license shall remain in effect until surrendered or revoked. The appropriate administrators of the respective states shall, in addition, provide identification devices to each licensed commercial user. One such device must be displayed on the left side of each licensed motor vehicle. Identification devices shall be issued annually by the administrators of the respective states and shall be displayed on or before January 1 of each year.
Article Five
Appropriate legislation will be introduced and enacted which will authorize the appropriate officials of each state or commonwealth to negotiate with their counterparts in other states or commonwealths to enter into a compact providing for the cooperative collection and reciprocal enforcement of the highway user fees imposed by the several states and commonwealths.
Article Six
Any state joining herein may, upon sixty days notice, withdraw herefrom. The duly authorized representatives of the signatory states having signed this agreement in a single original, it shall be deposited in the archives of the Department of State of the United States, and a duly certified copy shall be forwarded to the Governor and to each House of the Legislature of the signatory states.
This compact shall become effective when ratified and approved as provided in Article I of this compact and when it is approved by the United States Congress.