Senate Bill 2304

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 63-21-5, 63-21-9 AND 63-21-11, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO MAKE IT CLEAR THAT ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLES MAY BE VOLUNTARILY TITLED; TO PROVIDE THAT TITLES TO ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLES MAY BE ISSUED TO NONRESIDENT OWNERS OF SUCH VEHICLES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 63-21-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

63-21-5. The following words and phrases when used in this chapter shall, for the purpose of this chapter, have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this section except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

(a) "State Tax Commission" means the State Tax Commission of the State of Mississippi.

(b) * * * "Dealer" means every person engaged regularly in the business of buying, selling or exchanging motor vehicles, trailers, semitrailers, trucks, tractors or other character of commercial or industrial motor vehicles in this state, and having in this state an established place of business as defined in Section 27-19-303, Mississippi Code of 1972. The term "dealer" shall also mean every person engaged regularly in the business of buying, selling or exchanging manufactured housing in this state, and licensed as a dealer of manufactured housing by the Mississippi Department of Insurance.

(c) * * * "Designated agent" means each county tax collector in this state who may perform his duties under this chapter either personally or through any of his deputies, or such other persons as the State Tax Commission may designate. The term shall also mean those "dealers" as herein defined and/or their officers and employees and other persons who are appointed by the State Tax Commission in the manner provided in Section 63-21-13, Mississippi Code of 1972, to perform the duties of "designated agent" for the purposes of this chapter.

(d) * * * "Implement of husbandry" means every vehicle designed and adapted exclusively for agricultural, horticultural or livestock raising operations or for lifting or carrying an implement of husbandry and in either case not subject to registration if used upon the highways.

(e) * * * "Vehicle identification number" means the numbers and letters on a vehicle, manufactured home or mobile home designated by the manufacturer or assigned by the State Tax Commission for the purpose of identifying the vehicle, manufactured home or mobile home.

(f) * * * "Lien" means every kind of written lease which is substantially equivalent to an installment sale or which provides for a right of purchase; conditional sale; reservation of title; deed of trust; chattel mortgage; trust receipt; and every other written agreement or instrument of whatever kind or character whereby an interest other than absolute title is sought to be held or given on a motor vehicle, manufactured home or mobile home.

(g) * * * "Lienholder" means any natural person, firm, copartnership, association or corporation holding a lien as herein defined on a motor vehicle, manufactured home or mobile home.

(h) * * * "Manufactured housing" or "manufactured home" means any structure, transportable in one or more sections, which in the traveling mode, is eight (8) body feet or more in width or forty (40) body feet or more in length or, when erected on site, is three hundred twenty (320) or more square feet and which is built on a permanent chassis 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 therein; except that such terms shall include any structure which meets all the requirements of this paragraph except the size requirements and with respect to which the manufacturer voluntarily files a certification required by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and complies with the standards established under the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, 42 USCS, Section 5401.

(i) * * * "Manufacturer" means any person regularly engaged in the business of manufacturing, constructing or assembling motor vehicles, manufactured homes or mobile homes, either within or without this state.

(j) * * * "Mobile home" means any structure, transportable in one or more sections, which in the traveling mode, is eight (8) body feet or more in width or forty (40) body feet or more in length or, when erected on site, is three hundred twenty (320) or more square feet and which is built on a permanent chassis 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 therein and manufactured prior to June 15, 1976.

(k) * * * "Motorcycle" means every motor vehicle having a seat or saddle for the use of the rider and designed to travel on not more than three (3) wheels in contact with the ground, but excluding a farm tractor.

(l) * * * "Motor vehicle" means every automobile, motorcycle, mobile trailer, semitrailer, truck, truck tractor, trailer and every other device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a public highway which is required to have a road or bridge privilege license, except such as is moved by animal power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.

(m) * * * "New vehicle" means a motor vehicle, manufactured home or mobile home which has never been the subject of a first sale for use.

(n) * * * "Used vehicle" means a motor vehicle, manufactured home or mobile home that has been the subject of a first sale for use, whether within this state or elsewhere.

(o) * * * "Owner" means a person or persons holding the legal title of a vehicle, manufactured home or mobile home; in the event a vehicle, manufactured home or mobile home is the subject of a deed of trust or a chattel mortgage or an agreement for the conditional sale or lease thereof or other like agreement, with the right of purchase upon performance of the conditions stated in the agreement and with the immediate right of possession vested in the grantor in the deed of trust, mortgagor, conditional vendee or lessee, said grantor, mortgagor, conditional vendee or lessee shall be deemed the owner for the purpose of this chapter.

(p) * * * "Person" includes every natural person, firm, copartnership, association or corporation.

(q) * * * "Pole trailer" means every vehicle without motive power designed to be drawn by another vehicle and attached to the towing vehicle by means of a reach or pole, or by being boomed or otherwise secured to the towing vehicle, and ordinarily used for transporting long or irregularly shaped loads such as poles, pipes, boats or structural members capable generally of sustaining themselves as beams between the supporting connections.

(r) * * * "Security agreement" means a written agreement which reserves or creates a security interest.

(s) * * * "Security interest" means an interest in a vehicle, manufactured home or mobile home reserved or created by agreement and which secures payment or performance of an obligation. The term includes the interest of a lessor under a lease intended as security. A security interest is "perfected" when it is valid against third parties generally, subject only to specific statutory exceptions.

(t) * * * "Special mobile equipment" means every vehicle not designed or used primarily for the transportation of persons or property and only incidentally operated or moved over a highway, including, but not limited to: ditch-digging apparatus, well-boring apparatus and road construction and maintenance machinery such as asphalt spreaders, bituminous mixers, bucket loaders, tractors other than truck tractors, ditchers, leveling graders, finishing machines, motor graders, road rollers, scarifiers, earth-moving carryalls and scrapers, power shovels and draglines, and self-propelled cranes, vehicles so constructed that they exceed eight (8) feet in width and/or thirteen (13) feet six (6) inches in height, and earth-moving equipment. The term does not include house trailers, dump trucks, truck-mounted transit mixers, cranes or shovels, or other vehicles designed for the transportation of persons or property to which machinery has been attached.

(u) * * * "Nonresident" means every person who is not a resident of this state.

(v) * * * "Current address" means a new address different from the address shown on the application or on the certificate of title. The owner shall within thirty (30) days after his address is changed from that shown on the application or on the certificate of title notify the State Tax Commission of the change of address in the manner prescribed by the State Tax Commission.

(w) * * * "Odometer" means an instrument for measuring and recording the actual distance a motor vehicle travels while in operation; but shall not include any auxiliary instrument designed to be reset by the operator of the motor vehicle for the purpose of recording the distance traveled on trips.

(x) * * * "Odometer reading" means the actual cumulative distance traveled disclosed on the odometer.

(y) * * * "Odometer disclosure statement" means a statement certified by the owner of the motor vehicle to the transferee or to the State Tax Commission as to the odometer reading.

(z) * * * "Mileage" means actual distance that a vehicle has traveled.

(aa) * * * "Trailer" means every vehicle other than a "pole trailer" as defined in this chapter without motive power designed to be drawn by another vehicle and attached to the towing vehicle for the purpose of hauling goods or products. The term "trailer" shall not refer to any structure, transportable in one or more sections regardless of size, when erected on site, and which is built on a permanent chassis 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 therein regardless of the date of manufacture.

(bb) * * * "Salvage mobile home" or "salvage manufactured home" means a mobile home or manufactured home for which a certificate of title has been issued that an insurance company obtains from the owner as a result of paying a total loss claim resulting from collision, fire, flood, wind or other occurrence. The term "salvage mobile home" or "salvage manufactured home" does not mean or include and is not applicable to a mobile home or manufactured home that is twenty (20) years old or older.

(cc) "Salvage certificate of title" means a document issued by the State Tax Commission for a salvage mobile home or salvage manufactured home as defined in this chapter.

(dd) "All-terrain vehicle" means a motor vehicle that is designed for off-road use and is not required to have a motor vehicle privilege license.

SECTION 2. Section 63-21-9, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

63-21-9. (1) Except as provided in Section 63-21-11, every owner of a motor vehicle as defined in this chapter, which is in this state and which is manufactured or assembled after July 1, 1969, or which is the subject of first sale for use after July 1, 1969, and every owner of a manufactured home as defined in this chapter, which is in this state and which is manufactured or assembled after July 1, 1999, or which is the subject of first sale for use after July 1, 1999, shall make application to the State Tax Commission for a certificate of title with the following exceptions:

(a) Voluntary application for title may be made for any model motor vehicle which is in this state after July 1, 1969, and for any model manufactured home or mobile home which is in this state after July 1, 1999, and any person bringing a motor vehicle, manufactured home or mobile home into this state from a state which requires titling shall make application for title to the State Tax Commission within thirty (30) days thereafter.

(b) After July 1, 1969, any dealer, acting for himself, or another, who sells, trades or otherwise transfers any new or used vehicle as defined in this chapter, and after July 1, 1999, any dealer, acting for himself, or another, who sells, trades or otherwise transfers any new or used manufactured home or mobile home as defined in this chapter, or any designated agent, shall furnish to the purchaser or transferee, without charge for either application or certificate of title, an application for title of said vehicle, manufactured home or mobile home and cause to be forwarded to the State Tax Commission any and all documents required by the commission to issue certificate of title to the purchaser or transferee. The purchaser or transferee may then use the duplicate application for title as a permit to operate vehicle as provided in Section 63-21-67, until certificate of title is received.

(2) (a) Voluntary application for title may be made for any model all-terrain vehicle which is in this state.

(b) A dealer who sells, trades or otherwise transfers any new or used all-terrain vehicles as defined in this chapter, may furnish to the purchaser or transferee, without charge for either application or certificate of title, an application for title of said vehicle, and cause to be forwarded to the State Tax Commission any and all documents required by the commission to issue certificate of title to the purchaser or transferee.

(3) Any dealer, acting for himself or another who sells, trades or otherwise transfers any vehicle, manufactured home or mobile home required to be titled under this chapter who does not comply with the provisions of this chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined a sum not exceeding Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00).

SECTION 3. Section 63-21-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

63-21-11. (1) No certificate of title need be obtained for:

(a) A vehicle, manufactured home or mobile home owned by the United States or any agency thereof;

(b) A vehicle, manufactured home or mobile home owned by a manufacturer or dealer and held for sale, even though incidentally moved on the highway or used for purposes of testing or demonstration, or a vehicle used by a manufacturer solely for testing;

(c) A vehicle, manufactured home or mobile home owned by a nonresident of this state and not required by law to be registered in this state;

(d) A vehicle regularly engaged in the interstate transportation of persons or property for which a currently effective certificate of title has been issued in another state;

(e) A vehicle moved solely by animal power;

(f) An implement of husbandry;

(g) Special mobile equipment;

(h) A pole trailer;

(i) Utility trailers of less than five thousand (5,000) pounds gross vehicle weight.

(2) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the issuance of a certificate of title to the nonresident owner of an all-terrain vehicle that is purchased in this state.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2005.