House Bill No. 5418
               House Bill No. 5418

              PUBLIC ACT NO. 98-248


AN ACT CONCERNING THE OFFICIAL WEIGHING AREAS.


    Be it enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of
Representatives in General Assembly convened:
    Section  1. (NEW)  (a)  The  Commissioners  of
Public Safety and  Motor  Vehicles shall staff the
official weighing areas as follows:
    (1)  Greenwich:  Eight  work  shifts  in  each
seven-day period from  Sunday through Saturday. No
such shifts shall  be worked consecutively, except
that two shifts may be worked consecutively on not
more than three days;
    (2)  Danbury:  Three   work   shifts  in  each
seven-day period from Sunday through Saturday. The
Commissioner  of  Public  Safety  shall,  whenever
possible,   coordinate   coverage   between   this
official weighing area  and  the official weighing
area in Greenwich  in  order  to ensure concurrent
coverage;
    (3) Union: Between  five and eight work shifts
in  each  seven-day  period  from  Sunday  through
Saturday. The Commissioner of Motor Vehicles shall
coordinate the hours of operation of this official
weighing area; and
    (4) Portable scale  locations:  Ten  shifts in
each seven-day period from Sunday through Saturday
which  shall  be  staggered  throughout  the  four
geographical areas established by the Commissioner
of Public Safety  with concentration in areas that
have fewer hours  of  operation  for the permanent
weighing areas.
    (b) The Commissioners  of  Public  Safety  and
Motor  Vehicles  shall   adjust  the  work  shifts
required in subsection  (a)  of  this section on a
daily   basis   in    order   to   effectuate   an
unpredictable schedule.
    (c)  The Commissioner  of  Public  Safety  may
assign any remaining personnel in the traffic unit
to the permanent  weighing  areas in Waterford and
Middletown or to the portable scale operations.
    (d) The Commissioner  of  Public  Safety shall
assign personnel from  the  traffic  unit  to work
between nine and  twelve  shifts in each seven-day
period from Sunday  through Saturday to patrol and
enforce laws relative  to the safe movement of all
vehicles on the highways of the state.
    (e) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the
Commissioner  of Public  Safety  from  reassigning
personnel  in  the   traffic   unit  as  he  deems
necessary in order to ensure public safety.
    Sec. 2. Not  later  than  January 1, 1999, the
Division of State  Police within the Department of
Public Safety, in cooperation with the Departments
of Motor Vehicles and Transportation, shall report
to the joint  standing  committee  of  the General
Assembly having cognizance  of matters relating to
transportation,   on   the    participation    and
involvement  in  truck  safety  and  truck  weight
monitoring in relation  to  a  weigh station to be
located  on  the   Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island
border.
    Sec. 3. (NEW)  The  Division  of  State Police
within  the  Department  of  Public  Safety  shall
temporarily close any weigh station located within
the  state that  develops  a  backlog  of  traffic
entering said weigh station and therefor creates a
traffic hazard.

Approved June 8, 1998