Request By:
Senator Richard Sanders
The Honorable Senator from Simpson County
Opinion
Opinion By: ALBERT B. CHANDLER III, ATTORNEY GENERAL; DIANE SCHULER FLEMING, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL
Opinion of the Attorney General
The Office of the Attorney General is asked by Senator Sanders to render an opinion pertaining to weight tolerance limits for vehicles transporting primary forest products. The Attorney General provides this opinion on a public question of law submitted by a member of the legislature. KRS 15.025(2). Senator Sanders poses the following question, "Is the ten percent weight tolerance for vehicles engaged in the transportation of primary forest products established by KRS 189.222(4) available only to those trucks which are registered exclusively for transporting primary forest products under the provisions of KRS 186.050(9), or is the tolerance available to all commercial vehicles which happen to be transporting such products?"
KRS 189.222 sets forth detailed height, length and weight limits for motor vehicles on designated highways throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It states in relevant part that:
Vehicles registered pursuant to KRS 186.050(3)(b) and engaged in the transportation of primary forest products, including, but not limited to, vehicles transporting sawdust, wood chips, bark, slabs, or logs may exceed the axle, or gross weight provisions as set forth in accordance with subsection (1)(c) of this section by a weight tolerance of ten percent (10%), except on the interstate highway system.
KRS 189.222(4).
The annual registration fees for commercial vehicles are found in KRS 186.050(3). One of the exceptions enumerated in this statute pertains to the transportation of primary forest products, and is set forth as follows:
Motor vehicles having a declared gross weight in excess of eighteen thousand (18,000) pounds, which are used exclusively for the transportation of primary forest products from the harvest area to a mill or other processing facility, where such mill or processing facility is located at a point not more than fifty (50) air miles from the harvest area . . . shall pay seventy-five percent (75%) of the fee set out in subsection (3) of this section . . .
KRS 186.050(9). (Emphasis added.)
According to the rules of statutory construction, when the language of a statute is plain and unambiguous, it should be given effect as written. Lynch v. Commonwealth, Ky., 902 S.W.2d 813, 814 (1995); Barnard v. Stone, Ky., 933 S.W.2d 394 (1996). Indeed, when the words employed in a statute are unambiguous, the statute must be applied to those terms without resort to any construction or interpretation. Terhune v. Commonwealth, Ky.App., 907 S.W.2d 779 (1995).
Reviewing the statutes in question, we find that KRS 189.222(4) provides a 10 percent weight tolerance for any vehicle registered pursuant to KRS 186.050(3)(b) that is transporting primary forest products. By way of comparison, pursuant to KRS 186.050(9), the operator of a motor vehicle in excess of 18,000 pounds, must "exclusively" transport primary forest products from the harvest area to a mill or processing facility within 50 air miles of the harvest area, to receive a 25 percent reduction in the annual registration fee.
The language in each of these statutes is clear and unambiguous. To receive a 25 percent reduction in annual registration fees, an operator must be engaged in the exclusive transportation of primary forest products. However, such a requirement has not been appended to KRS 189.222(4). Therefore, any properly registered vehicle transporting primary forest products may receive the 10 percent weight tolerance.