LB138 LB138
2023 2023
LEGISLATIVE BILL 138
Approved by the Governor June 1, 2023
Introduced by Bosn, 25; Geist, 25; Raybould, 28; Brewer, 43; DeKay, 40.
A BILL FOR AN ACT relating to transportation; to amend sections 3-107, 13-1205,
29-431, 39-1348, 60-484.05, 60-484.06, 60-4,120, 60-4,142, 60-4,144,
60-4,172, 60-4,181, 60-601, 60-605, 60-611, 60-640, 60-678, 60-6,279,
60-6,282, and 66-4,100, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, and sections
39-847, 39-1351, 60-107, 60-119.01, 60-169, 60-302.01, 60-336.01, 60-386,
60-3,113.04, 60-3,193.01, 60-462, 60-462.01, 60-479.01, 60-4,111.01,
60-4,115, 60-4,122, 60-4,132, 60-4,134, 60-4,138, 60-4,147.02, 60-4,168,
60-501, 60-628.01, 60-6,265, 60-2705, 60-2909.01, 75-363, 75-364, 75-366,
75-369.03, 75-392, and 75-393, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement,
2022; to provide for the use of the Highway Cash Fund for administrative costs of the Division of Aeronautics of the Department of Transportation;
to provide powers and duties; to change the required county contribution for bridge replacement; to provide for adjustments to threshold amounts for road construction contracts; to adopt updates to federal law and update certain federal references; to change provisions of the Motor Vehicle Operator's License Act as prescribed; to define and redefine terms; to provide for the regulation of electric bicycles as prescribed;
to change and provide for certain penalties; to change provisions relating to helmets and eye protection as prescribed; to harmonize provisions; to provide operative dates; to repeal the original sections; and to declare an emergency.
Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska,
Section 1. Section 3-107, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is amended to read:
3-107 (1) The division shall have general supervision over aeronautics within this state. It is empowered and directed to encourage, foster, and assist in the development of aeronautics in this state and encourage the establishment of airports and other air navigation facilities.
(2) The Department of Transportation may budget for and pay any of the costs related to the administration of the division, including, but not limited to, employee salaries and benefits, out of the Highway Cash Fund, as the Director-State Engineer determines, in his or her sole discretion, to be in the best interest of transportation in Nebraska. Such costs do not include costs related to the construction, reconstruction, repair, operation, or maintenance of airport infrastructure, including runways, concrete surfacing, hangers or
capital improvements, buildings, and structures.
(3) No state funds for the acquisition, engineering, construction,
improvement, or maintenance of airports shall be expended upon any project or
for any work upon any such project which is not done under the supervision of
the division. When any airport which has received state grant funds pursuant to
the State Aeronautics Act ceases to be an airport or a privately owned public use airport, the division shall, consistent with all other provisions of state and federal law, seek to recover so much of the state funds provided to the airport as it may and shall deposit any such funds so recovered into the Aeronautics Cash Fund.
Sec. 2. Section 13-1205, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is amended to read:
13-1205 The department shall have the following powers, duties, and responsibilities:
(1) To collect and maintain data on the level of public transportation services and needs in the state and identify areas not being adequately served by existing public or private transportation services;
(2) To assess the regional and statewide effect of changes, improvement,
and route abandonments in the state's public transportation system;
(3) To develop a six-year statewide transit plan and programs for public transportation in coordination with local plans and programs developed by
municipalities, counties, transit authorities, and regional metropolitan transit authorities;
(4) To provide planning and technical assistance to agencies of the state,
political subdivisions, or groups seeking to improve public transportation;
(5) To advise, consult, and cooperate with agencies of the state, the federal government, and other states, interstate agencies, political subdivisions, and groups concerned with public transportation;
(6) To cooperate with the Public Service Commission by providing periodic assessments to the commission when determining the effect of proposed regulatory decisions on public transportation;
(7) To administer federal and state programs providing financial assistance to public transportation, except those federal and state programs in
which a municipality, county, transit authority, regional metropolitan transit authority, or other state agency is designated as the administrator; and
(8) To develop and administer a safety oversight program to oversee rail transit systems operated by the state, an interstate agency, or any political
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subdivision; and
(9) (8) To exercise all other powers necessary and proper for the discharge of its duties, including the adoption and promulgation of reasonable rules and regulations to carry out the Nebraska Public Transportation Act.
Sec. 3. Section 29-431, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is amended to read:
29-431 As used in sections 28-416, 29-422, 29-424, 29-425, 29-431 to
29-434, 48-1231, and 53-173, unless the context otherwise requires, infraction means the violation of any law, ordinance, order, rule, or regulation, not including those related to traffic, which is not otherwise declared to be a misdemeanor or a felony. Infraction includes violations of section 60-6,267 and beginning January 1, 2024, section 60-6,279.
Sec. 4. Section 39-847, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement, 2022, is amended to read:
39-847 (1) Any county board may apply, in writing, to the Department of
Transportation for state aid in the replacement of any bridge under the jurisdiction of such board. The application shall contain a description of the bridge, with a preliminary estimate of the cost of replacement thereof, and a certified copy of the resolution of such board, pledging such county to furnish up to twenty fifty percent of the cost of replacement of such bridge. The county's share of replacement cost may be from any source except the State Aid Bridge Fund, except that where there is any bridge which is the responsibility of two counties, either county may make application to the department and, if the application is approved by the department, such county and the department may replace such bridge and recover, by suit, one-half of the county's cost of
such bridge from the county failing or refusing to join in such application.
All requests for bridge replacement under sections 39-846 to 39-847.01 shall be
forwarded by the department to the Board of Public Roads Classifications and Standards. Such board shall establish priorities for bridge replacement based on critical needs. The board shall consider such applications and establish priorities for a period of time consistent with sections 39-2115 to 39-2119.
The board shall return the applications to the department with the established priorities.
(2) The plans and specifications for each bridge shall be furnished by the department and replacement shall be under the supervision of the department and the county board.
(3) Any contract for the replacement of any such bridge shall be made by
the department consistent with procedures for contracts for state highways and federal-aid secondary roads.
(4) After the replacement of any such bridge and the acceptance thereof by
the department, any county having jurisdiction over it shall have sole responsibility for maintenance.
Sec. 5. Section 39-1348, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is amended to read:
39-1348 (1) Except as otherwise provided in sections 39-2808 to 39-2823,
when letting contracts for the construction, reconstruction, improvement,
maintenance, or repair of roads, bridges, and their appurtenances, the department shall solicit bids as follows:
(a) (1) For contracts with an estimated cost, as determined by the department, of greater than two hundred fifty one hundred thousand dollars, the department shall advertise for sealed bids for not less than twenty days by
publication of a notice thereof once a week for three consecutive weeks in the official county newspaper designated by the county board in the county where the work is to be done and in such additional newspaper or newspapers as may appear necessary to the department in order to give notice of the receiving of
bids. Such advertisement shall state the place where the plans and specifications for the work may be inspected and shall designate the time when the bids shall be filed and opened. If through no fault of the department publication of such notice fails to appear in any newspaper or newspapers in
the manner provided in this subdivision, the department shall be deemed to have fulfilled the requirements of this subdivision; and
(b) (2) For contracts with an estimated cost, as determined by the department, of two hundred fifty one hundred thousand dollars or less, the department, in its sole discretion, shall either:
(i) (a) Follow the procedures given in subdivision (a) (1) of this subsection section; or
(ii) (b) Request bids from at least three potential bidders for such work.
If the department requests bids under this subdivision, it shall designate a time when the bids shall be opened. The department may award a contract pursuant to this subdivision if it receives at least one responsive bid.
(2) The Department of Transportation may adjust the amounts in
subdivisions (1)(a) and (b) of this section annually on October 1 by the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers published by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, at the close of the twelve-month period ending on August 31 of such year. The amounts shall be rounded to the next highest one-thousand-dollar amount.
Sec. 6. Section 39-1351, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement, 2022, is amended to read:
39-1351 (1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, any person desiring to submit to the department a bid for the performance of any contract for the construction, reconstruction, improvement, maintenance, or repair of roads, bridges, and their appurtenances, which the department proposes to let, shall apply to the department for prequalification. Such
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application shall be made not later than five days before the letting of the contract unless fewer than five days is specified by the department. The department shall determine the extent of any applicant's qualifications by a full and appropriate evaluation of the applicant's experience, bonding capacity as determined by a bonding agency licensed to do business in the State of
Nebraska or other sufficient financial showing deemed satisfactory by the department, and performance record. In determining the qualification of an applicant to bid on any particular contract, the department shall consider the resources available for the particular contract contemplated.
(2) The department may, in its sole discretion, grant an exemption from all prequalification requirements for (a) any contract for the construction,
reconstruction, improvement, maintenance, or repair of roads, bridges, and their appurtenances if the estimate of the department for such work is two hundred fifty one hundred thousand dollars or less or (b) any contract for the construction, reconstruction, improvement, maintenance, or repair of roads,
bridges, and their appurtenances if such work is of an emergency nature.
Sec. 7. Section 60-107, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement, 2022, is amended to read:
60-107 Cabin trailer means a trailer or a semitrailer, which is designed,
constructed, and equipped as a dwelling place, living abode, or sleeping place,
whether used for such purposes or instead permanently or temporarily for the advertising, sale, display, or promotion of merchandise or services or for any other commercial purpose except transportation of property for hire or
transportation of property for distribution by a private carrier. Cabin trailer does not mean a trailer or semitrailer which is permanently attached to real estate. There are four classes of cabin trailers:
(1) Camping trailer which includes cabin trailers one hundred two inches or less in width and forty feet or less in length and adjusted mechanically smaller for towing;
(2) Mobile home which includes cabin trailers more than one hundred two inches in width or more than forty feet in length;
(3) Travel trailer which includes cabin trailers not more than one hundred two inches in width nor more than forty feet in length from front hitch to rear bumper, except as provided in subdivision (2)(k) of section 60-6,288; and
(4) Manufactured home means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which in the traveling mode is eight body feet or more in width or
forty body feet or more in length or when erected on site is three hundred twenty or more square feet and which is built on a permanent frame and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities and includes the plumbing, heating, air conditioning,
and electrical systems contained in the structure, except that manufactured home includes any structure that meets all of the requirements of this subdivision other than the size requirements and with respect to which the manufacturer voluntarily files a certification required by the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and complies with the standards established under the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, as such act existed on January 1, 2023 2022, 42 U.S.C.
5401 et seq.
Sec. 8. Section 60-119.01, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement, 2022,
is amended to read:
60-119.01 Low-speed vehicle means a (1) four-wheeled motor vehicle (a)
whose speed attainable in one mile is more than twenty miles per hour and not more than twenty-five miles per hour on a paved, level surface, (b) whose gross vehicle weight rating is less than three thousand pounds, and (c) that complies with 49 C.F.R. part 571, as such part existed on January 1, 2023 2022, or (2)
three-wheeled motor vehicle (a) whose maximum speed attainable is not more than twenty-five miles per hour on a paved, level surface, (b) whose gross vehicle weight rating is less than three thousand pounds, and (c) which is equipped with a windshield and an occupant protection system. A motorcycle with a sidecar attached is not a low-speed vehicle.
Sec. 9. Section 60-169, Revised Statutes Cumulative Supplement, 2022, is amended to read:
60-169 (1)(a) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (c) of this subsection, each owner of a vehicle and each person mentioned as owner in the last certificate of title, when the vehicle is dismantled, destroyed, or changed in such a manner that it loses its character as a vehicle or changed in
such a manner that it is not the vehicle described in the certificate of title,
shall surrender his or her certificate of title to any county treasurer or to the department. If the certificate of title is surrendered to a county treasurer, he or she shall, with the consent of any holders of any liens noted thereon, enter a cancellation upon the records and shall notify the department of such cancellation. Beginning on the implementation date designated by the director pursuant to subsection (3) of section 60-1508, a wrecker or salvage dealer shall report electronically to the department using the electronic reporting system. If the certificate is surrendered to the department, it shall, with the consent of any holder of any lien noted thereon, enter a cancellation upon its records.
(b) This subdivision applies to all licensed wrecker or salvage dealers and, except as otherwise provided in this subdivision, to each vehicle located on the premises of such dealer. For each vehicle required to be reported under
28 C.F.R. 25.56, as such regulation existed on January 1, 2023 2022, the information obtained by the department under this section may be reported to
the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System in a format that will
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satisfy the requirement for reporting under 28 C.F.R. 25.56, as such regulation existed on January 1, 2023 2022. Such report shall include:
(i) The name, address, and contact information for the reporting entity;
(ii) The vehicle identification number;
(iii) The date the reporting entity obtained such motor vehicle;
(iv) The name of the person from whom such motor vehicle was obtained, for use only by a law enforcement or other appropriate government agency;
(v) A statement of whether the motor vehicle was or will be crushed,
disposed of, offered for sale, or used for another purpose; and
(vi) Whether the motor vehicle is intended for export outside of the United States.
The department may set and collect a fee, not to exceed the cost of
reporting to the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System, from wrecker or salvage dealers for electronic reporting to the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System, which shall be remitted to the State Treasurer for credit to the Department of Motor Vehicles Cash Fund. This subdivision does not apply to any vehicle reported by a wrecker or salvage dealer to the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System as required under 28 C.F.R. 25.56, as such regulation existed on January 1, 2023 2022.
(c)(i) In the case of a mobile home or manufactured home for which a certificate of title has been issued, if such mobile home or manufactured home is affixed to real property in which each owner of the mobile home or
manufactured home has any ownership interest, the certificate of title may be
surrendered for cancellation to the county treasurer of the county where such mobile home or manufactured home is affixed to real property if at the time of
surrender