21.0508.02000
Sixty-seventh
Legislative Assembly HOUSE BILL NO. 1148
of North Dakota
Introduced by
Representatives D. Ruby, Marschall, Meier, Mock, Westlind
Senators Clemens, Kreun, Rust
1 A BILL for an Act to create and enact a new section to chapter 39-10.1 of the North Dakota
2 Century Code, relating to electric bicycle regulations, manufacturing, and operations; to amend
3 and reenact sections 39-01-01, 39-05-02.2, and 39-10.1-08, subsection 5 of section 39-16-01,
4 subsection 2 of section 39-29-01, and subsection 2 of section 57-40.3-01 of the North Dakota
5 Century Code, relating to the requirements for electric bicycles distributed, manufactured, and
6 operated in the state; and to provide a penalty.
7 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF NORTH DAKOTA:
8 SECTION 1. AMENDMENT. Section 39-01-01 of the North Dakota Century Code is
9 amended and reenacted as follows:
10 39-01-01. Definitions.
11 In this title, unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires:
12 1. "Appropriate licensed addiction treatment program" means an addiction treatment
13 program conducted by an addiction facility licensed by the department of human
14 services or conducted by a licensed individual specifically trained in addiction
15 treatment.
16 2. "Authorized emergency vehicles":
17 a. "Class A" authorized emergency vehicles means:
18 (1) Vehicles of a governmentally owned fire department.
19 (2) Vehicles when operated by or under the control of a police officer having
20 authority to enforce the provisions of this title or by a salaried employee of a
21 municipal police department within the municipality or by a sheriff or deputy
22 sheriff not including special deputy sheriffs, or by the director of the
23 department of corrections and rehabilitation and the director's authorized
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1 agents who have successfully completed training in the operation of class A
2 authorized emergency vehicles.
3 (3) Vehicles clearly identifiable as property of the department of corrections and
4 rehabilitation when operated or under the control of the director of the
5 department of corrections and rehabilitation.
6 (4) Ambulances and other vehicles authorized by licensure granted under
7 chapter 23-27.
8 (5) Vehicles operated by or under the control of the director, district deputy
9 director, or a district deputy game warden of the game and fish department.
10 (6) Vehicles owned or leased by the United States and used for law
11 enforcement purposes.
12 (7) Vehicles designated for the use of the adjutant general or assistant adjutant
13 general in cases of emergency.
14 (8) Vehicles operated by or under the control of the director of the parks and
15 recreation department.
16 (9) Vehicles operated by or under the control of a licensed railroad police officer
17 and used for law enforcement purposes.
18 (10) Vehicles operated by or under the control of the state forester.
19 (11) Vehicles operated by or under the control of the bureau of criminal
20 investigation and used for law enforcement purposes.
21 (12) Vehicles operated by or under the state department of health in cases of
22 emergencies.
23 b. "Class B" authorized emergency vehicles means wreckers and such other
24 emergency vehicles as are authorized by the local authorities.
25 c. "Class C" authorized emergency vehicles means:
26 (1) Vehicles used by the state division of homeland security or local division of
27 emergency management organizations.
28 (2) Vehicles used by volunteer firefighters while performing their assigned
29 disaster and emergency responsibilities.
30 (3) Vehicles, other than ambulances, used by emergency medical services
31 personnel.
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1 3. "Bicycle" means every device propelled solely by human power upon which any
2 person may ride, having two tandem wheels either of which is more than twenty
3 inches [50.8 centimeters] in diameter or two parallel wheels and one forward or
4 rearward wheel. The term includes an electric bicycle.
5 4. "Bus" means every motor vehicle designed for carrying more than ten passengers and
6 used for the transportation of persons, and every motor vehicle, other than a taxicab,
7 designed and used for the transportation of persons for compensation. Provided,
8 every motor vehicle designed for carrying not more than fifteen persons and used for a
9 ridesharing arrangement, as defined in section 8-02-07, is not a "bus".
10 5. "Business district" means the territory contiguous to a highway when fifty percent or
11 more of the frontage thereon for a distance of three hundred feet [91.44 meters] or
12 more is occupied by buildings in use for business.
13 6. "Camping trailer" means a vehicular portable unit mounted on wheels and constructed
14 with collapsible partial side walls that fold for towing by another vehicle and unfold at
15 the campsite to provide temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, or travel
16 use.
17 7. "Cancellation" means a license is annulled and terminated because of an error or
18 defect or because the licensee is no longer entitled to the operator's license, but the
19 cancellation of a license is without prejudice and application for a new license may be
20 made at any time after the cancellation.
21 8. "Child restraint system" means a specifically designed device, built-in seating system,
22 or belt-positioning booster that meets the federal motor vehicle safety standards and is
23 permanently affixed to a motor vehicle, is affixed to the vehicle by a safety belt or
24 universal attachment system, or is combined with a federally compliant safety belt
25 system.
26 9. "Commercial freighting" means the carriage of things other than passengers, for hire,
27 except that such term does not include:
28 a. The carriage of things other than passengers within the limits of the same city;
29 b. Carriage by local dray lines of baggage or goods to or from a railroad station from
30 or to places in such city or in the immediate vicinity thereof, in this state, and not
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1 to exceed two miles [3.22 kilometers] from the corporate or recognized limits of
2 said city; or
3 c. Hauling done by farmers for their neighbors in transporting agricultural products
4 to or from market.
5 10. "Commercial passenger transportation" means the carriage of passengers for hire,
6 except that the term does not include:
7 a. The carriage of passengers within the limits of a city.
8 b. The carriage by local buslines of passengers to or from a railroad station from or
9 to places within any city or within two miles [3.22 kilometers] of the limits of the
10 city.
11 c. The carriage of passengers under a ridesharing arrangement, as defined in
12 section 8-02-07.
13 11. "Commissioner" means the director of the department of transportation of this state,
14 acting directly or through authorized agents as provided by section 24-02-01.3.
15 12. "Controlled-access highway" means every highway, street, or roadway in respect to
16 which owners or occupants of abutting lands and other persons have no legal right of
17 access to or from the same except at such points only and in such manner as may be
18 determined by the public authority having jurisdiction over such highway, street, or
19 roadway.
20 13. "Conviction" means a final order or judgment or conviction by the North Dakota
21 supreme court, any lower court having jurisdiction, a tribal court, or a court in another
22 state if an appeal is not pending and the time for filing a notice of appeal has elapsed.
23 Subject to the filing of an appeal, the term includes:
24 a. An imposed and suspended sentence;
25 b. A deferred imposition of sentence under subsection 4 of section 12.1-32-02; or
26 c. A forfeiture of bail or collateral deposited to secure a defendant's appearance in
27 court and the forfeiture has not been vacated.
28 14. "Crosswalk" means that part of a roadway at an intersection included within the
29 connections of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on opposite sides of the highway
30 measured from the curbs, or, in the absence of curbs, from the edges of the
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1 traversable roadway; or any portion of a roadway at an intersection or elsewhere
2 distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by lines or other markings on the surface.
3 15. "Dealer" means every person, partnership, corporation, or limited liability company
4 engaged in the business of buying, selling, or exchanging motor vehicles, or who
5 advertises, or holds out to the public as engaged in the buying, selling, or exchanging
6 of motor vehicles, or who engages in the buying of motor vehicles for resale. Any
7 person, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, or association doing
8 business in several cities or in several locations within a city must be considered a
9 separate dealer in each such location.
10 16. "Department" means the department of transportation of this state as provided by
11 section 24-02-01.1.
12 17. "Director" means the director of the department of transportation of this state as
13 provided by section 24-02-01.3.
14 18. "Driver" means every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle.
15 19. "Electric bicycle" means a bicycle equipped with fully operable pedals, a saddle or
16 seat for the rider, and an electric motor of seven hundred fifty or fewer watts which
17 meets the requirements of one of the following three classes:
18 a. A class 1 electric bicycle if the motor provides assistance only when the individual
19 is pedaling and the motor ceases to provide assistance when a speed of twenty
20 miles [32 kilometers] per hour is achieved.
21 b. A class 2 electric bicycle if the motor is capable of propelling the bicycle without
22 the individual pedaling and the motor ceases to provide assistance when a speed
23 of twenty miles [32 kilometers] per hour is achieved.
24 c. A class 3 electric bicycle if the motor provides assistance only when the individual
25 is pedaling and the motor ceases to provide assistance when a speed of
26 twenty-eight miles [45 kilometers] per hour is achieved.
27 20. "Electronic communication device" means an electronic device, including a wireless
28 telephone, personal digital assistant, a portable or mobile computer or other device,
29 and video display equipment. The term does not include a global positioning system or
30 navigation system or a device that is physically or electronically integrated into the
31 motor vehicle.
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1 20.21. "Essential parts" means all integral and body parts of a vehicle of a type required to be
2 registered hereunder, the removal, alteration, or substitution of which would tend to
3 conceal the identity of the vehicle or substantially alter its appearance, model, type, or
4 mode of operation and includes all integral parts and body parts, the removal,
5 alteration, or substitution of which will tend to conceal the identity or substantially alter
6 the appearance of the vehicle.
7 21.22. "Explosives" means any chemical compound or mechanical mixture that is commonly
8 used or intended for the purpose of producing an explosion and which contains any
9 oxidizing and combustive units or other ingredients in such proportions, quantities, or
10 packing that an ignition by fire, by friction, by concussion, by percussion, or by
11 detonator of any part of the compound or mixture may cause such a sudden
12 generation of highly heated gases that the resultant gaseous pressures are capable of
13 producing destructive effects on contiguous objects or by destroying life or limb.
14 22.23. "Farm tractor" includes every motor vehicle designed and used primarily as a farm
15 implement for drawing plows, moving machines, and other implements of husbandry.
16 23.24. "Farm trailer" includes those trailers and semitrailers towed by a bona fide resident
17 farmer hauling the farmer's own agricultural, horticultural, dairy, and other farm
18 products if the gross weight, not including the towing vehicle, does not exceed
19 twenty-four thousand pounds [10886.22 kilograms].
20 24.25. "Fifth-wheel travel trailer" means a vehicular unit mounted on wheels, designed to
21 provide temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, or travel use, of such size
22 or weight as not to require a special highway movement permit and designed to be
23 towed by a motorized vehicle that contains a towing mechanism that is mounted
24 above or forward of the tow vehicle's rear axle.
25 25.26. "Flammable liquid" means any liquid which has a flash point of seventy degrees
26 Fahrenheit [21.11 degrees Celsius], or less, as determined by a tagliabue or
27 equivalent closed-cup test device.
28 26.27. "Foreign vehicle" means every motor vehicle which is brought into this state other than
29 in the ordinary course of business by or through a manufacturer or dealer and which
30 has not been registered in this state.
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1 27.28. "Gross weight" means the weight of a vehicle without load plus the weight of any load
2 thereon.
3 28.29. "Guest" means and includes a person who accepts a ride in any vehicle without giving
4 compensation therefor.
5 29.30. "Highway" means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way publicly
6 maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of
7 vehicular travel and of every way privately maintained within a mobile home park,
8 trailer park, or campground containing five or more lots for occupancy by mobile
9 homes, travel trailers, or tents when any part thereof is open for purposes of vehicular
10 travel.
11 30.31. "House car" or "motor home" means a motor vehicle which has been reconstructed or
12 manufactured primarily for private use as a temporary or recreational dwelling and
13 having at least four of the following permanently installed systems:
14 a. Cooking facilities.
15 b. Icebox or mechanical refrigerator.
16 c. Potable water supply including plumbing and a sink with faucet either
17 self-contained or with connections for an external source, or both.
18 d. Self-contained toilet or a toilet connected to a plumbing system with connection
19 for external water disposal, or both.
20 e. Heating or air-conditioning system, or both, separate from the vehicle engine or
21 the vehicle engine electrical system.
22 f. A 110-115 volt alternating current electrical system separate from the vehicle
23 engine electrical system either with its own power supply or with a connection for
24 an external source, or both, or a liquefied petroleum system and supply.
25 31.32. "Implement of husbandry" means every vehicle designed and adapted exclusively for
26 agricultural, horticultural, or livestock raising operations or for lifting or carrying an
27 implement of husbandry and in either case not subject to registration if used upon the
28 highway.
29 32.33. "Intersection" means the area embraced within the prolongation or connection of the
30 lateral curb lines, or, if none, then the lateral boundary lines of the roadways of two
31 highways which join one another at, or approximately at, right angles, or the area
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