Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

. . NEY GENERAL Hon. Bowlen Bond opinion NO. 0-3936 Crimilial District Re: Licensing of a passenger motor vehi- Attorney cle as such with a; “farm license” regard- Fairfieldi Texas less of the use to be made of the passen- ger vehicle, under the provisions of kticle 6675a-6a and the licensing of drivers and operators of such vehicle un- der the drivers’ license law, being kti- Dear Sir: cle 6687b. We have your letter of November 10, 1941, requesting the opinion of this department on the above matters. Your letter reads as follows: “Many farmers in this County and adj,oilllng counties are registering their commercial motor vehicles; and in some instances passenger motor vehicles, under Article 6675a-6a, Vernon’s Anno- tated Statutes which comes from Senate Bill. No. 43, Chapter 116, age 144, General and Special Laws of the 4’7th Eegislature. “It is the common practice for persons owning passenger motor vehicles .aud registered as such, to occasionally use trailers, attached to such ve- hicles for the transportation of various commodi- ties belonging to them and, especially Sor farmers with such passenger moi or vehicles and registered as such, to attach. trailers to such vehicles and transport hogs and’ cattle to the Dallas and Fort Worth market. In the instant cases, the hogs and cattle are rai,sed on the farm ‘by the person trans- porting the same. tfWlll you kindly give me an opinion on the following questions relative to the licensing and operation of motor vehicles, and the licensing of the drivers and operators of such vehicles under I+ DrIversI License Law? a(l) ‘Does Art. 6675a-6a, Vernon’s Annotated Civil Statutes, authorize the licensing of a passen- ger motor vehicle as such:with a ‘Farm License!, re- gardless of the us’e Tao be made of the passenger vehicle? Hon. Bowlen Bond, page 2 (O-3936) “(2) Is the operator of a passenger motor vehicle registered and use prtmarlly as such, when such passenger motor vehicle is being used to pull a’trailer in which property is being trans- ported, required to have a license as a ‘Commercial Cperatort? “Under my construction of the statutes and the definition of ‘Passenger Car’ and lCommerclal Mo- tor Vehicle r , under Senate Bill No. 43, as carried in Art. 667%1, Vernon’s Civil Statutes, and the various definitions and provisions of Article 6687b, Vernon’s Annotated Statutes, as enacted by House I3111 No. 20, Acts 47th Legislature, both of the above questions should be answered in the negative. “However, the opinion of theAttorney General has more weight with the local authorities who are demanding an opinion on these questions.e Upon the facts contained in your letter you propound to us two questions which questions we will discuss in the order presented. Question No. 1: Does Article 6675a-6a, Ver- nonls Annotated Civil Statutes, authorize the llcens- ing of ~a passenger motor vehicle as such with a “Farm Licenselt, regardless of the use to be made of the passenger vehicle? Article 6675a-6a of Vernon’s Annotated Civil Statutes, reads in part as followsr “When a commercial motor vehicle sought tb be registered and used by the owner thereor Q&J in t&g orodwts. timber in its mural state. to market. or J;_o ~ruminb or the tr- eor 0r -era from wolace 0f rew I ,m or raa, the registration license ree, for the weight classifications herein mentioned, shall ‘be fifty (50%) per cent of the registration fee pre- scribed for weight classifications in Section 6 of the kct hereby amended, as amended in this Act; . . . pro- vided, however, that all commercial motor vehicles, truck tractors’, ,road tractors, trailers and seml- Hon. Bowlen Bond; page 3 (0-3936) t,railers as defined In Section 1 of Chapter 23 of the General Laws of the Fifth Called.Se,ssion of the 41st Legislature, not coming within the provisions of this hctshall be required to pay all registration and license f,ees prescribed by the other provisions of, Chapter 88, General Laws of the 41s.t Legislature, Second Called Session as amended by this Act.,” Hrticle.6675a-1 (1) of Vernon’s &nnotated Civil Stat- utes of 1925 reads as follows: lt’Commerclal Mo.tor Vehicles’ means any motor vehicle (other than a mot~orcycle or .passenger car) designed or used primarily for. the, transportation of property, including any passenger car which has been reconstructed so as to be used, and which is being used, primarily for ,deli.very purposes, with the except i on of passenger cars used in the delivery of the United States mailsi” bticle 6675a-1 (j) of Vernon’s Annotated Civil Stat- utes of 1925, reads as follows: N’Passenger Car’ means any motor vehicle other than a motor cycle or a~ bus, as defined in this Act, designed or used primarily for the transportation of persons.” It can readily be seen that the distinction between “passenger cars” and “commercial motor vehiclesI’ under the defi- nitions above quoted rests upon the primary use to which such veh.icle is put. Commercial vehicles b,ei.ng those “designed or used primarily for transportation ,of pr,operty” and passenger oars being those “designed or used, primarily for transportation of. persons”. Applying these definitions to the fact situation presented in paragraph 2 of your letter wherein you say, “it is the common pra,ct,ice for persons owning passenger motor vehi- cles and registered as such, to occasi,onally: ruse trailers at- tached ,to such vehioles fork the t~ransportatioa of various com- modities belonging to them, and especially for farmers with such passenger motor vehicles and registered-as such, to attach trail- ers to such vehicles and transport hog,s and cattle to the Dallas and Fort Worth market,” it ,is clear that the primary use, of the vehicles in question would bring them under the definition above quoted of “passenger cars.” We do not :believe that under the facts presented in your letter the vehicles tin :question n,ould be entitled to be li- tensed with a farm license for two reasons. Hon. Bowlen Bond, page 4 (O-3936) (a) It will be noted that Article 6675a-6a, above quoted, provides for the registrationof only “comWrcia1 motor vehicles” coming withinthe ~provisions of such statute and does not prov*,.de for such’registration ~6’ .passenger’cars. - Therefore the vehioles ‘in”question coming within the above .definition of passenger cars would not be entitled to registration under Arti- cle 6675a-6a. (b) It will be ‘noted that Article 6675a-6a provides “when a commercial ‘mot~or vehicle sought to be‘registered’and’~ used by the owner thereof. only in the transportation .of his ‘own poultry, dairy, livestock, livestock products; timber in its natural state, and farm products to market; or to~other points for sale. or processing, or the ~transportation by the ow~ner there- of of laborers from their place’ of residence,, and materials, tools, equipment ‘and’supplies, without charge, ‘from the place ofpurchase or storage; to his own ‘farm or ranch, exclusively for his own use or use on such farm or .ranch. . . .I( We are of the opinion