MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2024 Regular Session
To: Judiciary B
By: Representative Steverson
AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE "COMMERCIAL VEHICLE TOWING ADVISORY COMMITTEE" WITHIN THE COMMERCIAL TRANSPORTATION ENFORCEMENT DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY; TO PROVIDE FOR THE COMMITTEE'S MEMBERSHIP COMPOSITION, TERMS OF SERVICE AND PRESCRIBE ITS POWERS AND DUTIES; TO PROVIDE FOR THE REGULATION OF NONCONSENSUAL TOWING AND CHARGES FOR COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLES; TO ESTABLISH REGULATIONS FOR TOWING AND RECOVERY SERVICE PROVIDERS; TO ESTABLISH A RESOLUTION PROCESS FOR COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLE OWNERS WHO DISPUTE THE AMOUNT OF TOWING AND RECOVERY FEES AND CHARGES; TO REQUIRE THE COMMITTEE TO APPROVE TOWING RATES BASED ON CERTAIN STANDARDS; TO PROVIDE FOR DISCIPLINARY ACTION AGAINST TOWING AND RECOVERY SERVICE PROVIDERS FOR VIOLATIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. For purposes of this act, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed in this section unless the context of use clearly requires otherwise:
(a) "Motor vehicle" means a vehicle intended primarily for use and operation on public roads and highways which is self-propelled.
(b) "Nonconsensual towing" means the moving, transporting, or recovery of a commercial vehicle by a towing and recovery service without the prior consent or authorization of the owner or operator of the motor vehicle from private property and/or by police-initiated towing.
(c) "Towing" means the moving, transporting, or recovery from public or private property or from a storage facility of a person's commercial motor vehicle, the moving or removing of an unclaimed commercial motor vehicle, or the immobilization of or preparation for moving or removing of the commercial motor vehicle, for which a fee is charged, either directly or indirectly.
(d) "Heavy-duty towing" means towing of a vehicle including trailers and semitrailers with a gross vehicle rating over twenty-six thousand (26,000) pounds.
(e) "Medium-duty towing" means towing of a vehicle including trailers or semitrailers with a gross vehicle rating from over fifteen thousand (15,000) pounds to twenty-six thousand (26,000) pounds.
(f) "Towing and recovery service" means an individual or business entity that provides towing and recovery services at the direction of a law enforcement officer or private property owner in exchange for a fee or charge.
(g) "Law enforcement officer" means any person appointed or employed full time by the state or any political subdivision thereof, by the state military department as provided in Section 33-1-33 or by a hospital as provided in Section 41-9-41, who is duly sworn and vested with authority to bear arms and make arrests, and whose primary responsibility is the prevention and detection of crime, the apprehension of criminals and the enforcement of the criminal and traffic laws of this state and/or the ordinances of any political subdivision thereof. The term "law enforcement officer" also includes those district attorney criminal investigators who are designated as law enforcement officers, the acting Commissioner of Public Safety, the acting Director of Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, the acting Director of the Office of Homeland Security, and any employee of the Department of Public Safety designated by the commissioner who has previously served as a law enforcement officer and who would not otherwise be disqualified to serve in such capacity.
(h) "Tow list" means a list of approved towing companies compiled, maintained, and utilized by a law enforcement officer or his or her designee and as authorized by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety to perform police-initiated towing services of disabled or abandoned commercial motor vehicles.
(i) "Police-initiated towing" means towing of a commercial motor vehicle which was authorized, requested or dispatched by a law enforcement officer.
(j) "Vehicle immobilization device" means a mechanical device that is designed or adapted to be attached to a wheel, tire, or other part of a parked commercial motor vehicle to prohibit the vehicle's usual manner of movement or operation.
(k) "Per pound billing" means a method of calculating a fee for towing using a formula that considers the weight of the commercial motor vehicle, equipment or cargo that is the subject of the towing and multiplies the weight of the vehicle, equipment or cargo by a monetary amount.
(l) "Drop fee" means a fee for towing and recovery service charges to unhook a commercial motor vehicle from a tow truck.
(m) "Cargo" means goods and materials transported by a commercial motor vehicle as defined in 49 CFR Section 390.5, including, without limitations:
(i) Pallets;
(ii) Containers;
(iii) Bracing;
(iv) Air pillows;
(v) Tie-down assemblies and other securement systems;
(vi) Cradles;
(vii) Shocks; and
(viii) All other dunnage or packaging.
(n) "Commercial vehicle" means any self-propelled or motored device designed to be used or used primarily for the transportation of passengers or property, or both, and having a gross vehicular weight rating of fifteen thousand (15,000) pounds or more.
SECTION 2. (1) There is established within the Commercial Transportation Enforcement Division of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, the "Commercial Vehicle Towing Advisory Committee," which shall consist of the following members:
(a) The Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, or his or her designee;
(b) The Director of the Mississippi Highway Patrol (Assistant Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety), or his or her designee;
(c) Two (2) members, appointed by the Governor, to represent the towing and recovery services in the state;
(d) Two (2) members, appointed by the Governor, to represent the commercial motor carriers within the state; and
(e) One (1) member, appointed by the Governor, to represent the local police jurisdictions.
(2) (a) The members of the committee shall be appointed within thirty (30) days of the effective date of this act. Any vacancy in the committee shall not affect its powers, but shall be filled as prescribed in subsection (1) of this section. The committee shall hold its first meeting within sixty (60) days of the effective date of this act, upon a call of the commissioner. A majority of the membership of the committee shall constitute a quorum, and shall meet at the call of the chairmen. All members must be notified in writing of all meetings at least five (5) days before the date on which a meeting of the committee is scheduled. At its first meeting, the committee shall elect a chairperson from its membership to serve for a term of two (2) years. A chairperson may serve consecutive terms.
(b) After its inaugural meeting, meetings of the committee shall be held on dates and at times and locations within the state selected by the chairperson in consultation with the other members, or as determined by the commissioner if the most recent chairperson's term has expired.
(3) Members of the committee shall serve for a term of two (2) years, and may serve consecutive terms. Members shall serve without compensation but shall receive a per diem in the amount provided in Section 25-3-69 for each day engaged in the business of the committee, and shall receive reimbursement for travel expenses incurred while engaged in official business of the committee in accordance with Section 25-3-41.
(4) The Commercial Vehicle Towing Advisory Committee shall keep and maintain a record of all proceedings of the Commercial Vehicle Towing Advisory Committee, and copies of all orders and recommendations issued by the Commercial Vehicle Towing Advisory Committee.
SECTION 3. The Commercial Vehicle Towing Advisory Committee shall:
(a) Establish and maintain a tow list, by county, of qualifying towing and recovery services for use by law enforcement officers in this state and make the tow list available to the public on request;
(b) Establish regulations and standards for the inclusion of a towing and recovery service on the tow list, including application procedures and minimum qualification requirements;
(c) Establish statewide maximum towing and storage rates for nonconsensual tows, including those from private property. The established maximum rates shall include maximum rates for administrative fees, as well as hazardous materials and cargo clean-up rates, provided as follows:
(i) A towing and recovery service may charge less than but may not charge more than the approved statewide maximum rates;
(ii) The governing authority of a municipality may require a towing and recovery service charge lower than maximum rates on towing between points within such municipality than those provided by the committee's maximum rates. The governing authority of a municipality shall not provide for higher maximum rates than are provided for by the department;
(iii) The towing and recovery service shall not charge or retain any fees not identified by the committee for the maximum rates for towing and storage of a commercial motor vehicle after a nonconsensual tow from private property; and
(iv) The statewide maximum towing and storage rates for nonconsensual tows shall be reviewed annually. Market fluctuations within the towing industry may be considered, along with current consensual towing market rates and their relationship to nonconsensual towing rates;
(d) Require the towing and service recovery service to ban the use of per pound billing for nonconsensual tows; and
(e) Publish a Towing Service Standards Manual, with rules and regulations governing the use of towing and recovery services for nonconsensual towing of commercial motor vehicles no later than January 1, 2025. At a minimum, the rules and regulations shall include the following provisions to:
(i) Establish the information required to be included on any invoice associated with the towing of a commercial motor vehicle, including, but not limited to, requiring that the invoice be itemized;
(ii) Establish factors that shall be considered in determining whether a charge levied by a towing and recovery service is fair, equitable and reasonable;
(iii) Establish a process the committee shall use to receive, investigate and adjudicate complaints against a towing and recovery service;
(iv) Establish a service charge dispute resolution process that includes, at minimum, provisions requiring completion of a written complaint form, deadlines for initiating a complaint after receiving an itemized invoice, deadlines for responding to a complaint, cessation of storage fees during the complaint resolution process, a hearing on the complaint, and deadlines for issuing a formal decision adjudicating the service charge dispute;
(v) Establish an appeals process for the appeal of any determination or order of the committee under this subsection;
(vi) Establish a disciplinary procedure for violations of the rules by a towing and recovery service, including the assessment of fines for violations and/or criminal misdemeanor or felony penalties and the suspension or removal of a towing and recovery service from the tow list; and
(vii) Establish a process the department may use to suspend or remove a towing and recovery service from any tow list.
SECTION 4. (1) Upon nonconsensual towing or recovery of a commercial motor vehicle and movement of the commercial motor vehicle to a storage facility, a towing and recovery service shall allow an owner of a commercial motor vehicle or a designee of the owner of the commercial motor vehicle to access the vehicle in a reasonable manner as established by rules adopted by the Commercial Vehicle Towing Advisory Committee and retrieve any cargo or contents in or on the commercial motor vehicle, including a trailer, tractor, and any items necessary to carry out the interrupted job. Cargo and contents in or on the commercial motor vehicle may not be held by the towing and recovery service to secure towing and recovery charges.
(2) The towing and recovery service shall provide a commercial vehicle owner or operator or owner's designee with reasonable access to the vehicle so that the vehicle owner or operator or the owner's designee may access and collect any personal property or cargo contained in the vehicle, regardless of whether any payment has been made for the towing and recovery service charges.
(3) If there is no dispute as to the charges assessed by the towing and recovery service for the nonconsensual towing of the commercial motor vehicle, the vehicle owner or operator or owner's designee shall pay the tow invoice and the towing and recovery service shall release a vehicle and any cargo immediately.
(4) If there is a dispute as to the reasonableness or amount of the fees assessed by the towing and recovery service, the towing and recovery service shall release the cargo immediately to the owner or owner's agent on submission of:
(a) Proof of ownership if the cargo does not belong to the commercial motor carrier; or
(b) If the cargo belongs to the commercial motor carrier:
(i) A letter from the insurance company stating that there is coverage for the relevant claim or accident and including, at minimum, a claim number, policy number, and policy limit; or
(ii) If an insurance policy required under subparagraph (i) of this paragraph (b) is not high enough to cover the cost of the cargo clean-up, a signed letter of guarantee from the commercial motor carrier; and
(iii) The towing and recovery service shall release the vehicle to the owner or the owner's designee on payment of twenty percent (20%) of the invoice by the vehicle owner or operator or the owner's designee;.
(c) A payment under paragraph (b)(iii) of this subsection does not eliminate the remainder of the financial obligation to the towing and recovery service.
SECTION 5. In authorizing a towing and recovery service to perform towing services, any law enforcement officer may utilize the services of a tow list, provided:
(a) They are under no obligation to include or retain the services of any towing and recovery service in any contract or agreement with respect to any tow list established pursuant to this subsection. A towing and recovery service is subject to removal from a tow list at any time; and
(b) An owner or operator of a commercial motor vehicle may request a specific towing and recovery service, and that request shall be honored by the law enforcement officer unless the requested towing and recovery service cannot or does not respond in a reasonable time, as determined by the law enforcement officer.
SECTION 6. It shall be unlawful for:
(a) A law enforcement officer to:
(i) Receive compensation or receive any other incentive, monetary or otherwise, to select a particular towing and recovery service from the tow list;
(ii) Hold any financial interest in a towing and recovery service; or
(iii) Recommend any towing and recovery service in the performance of his or her duties;
(b) Any member of the Commercial Vehicle Towing Advisory Committee or Mississippi Department of Public Safety to receive compensation from a towing and recovery service for the privilege of being included on the tow list;
(c) A towing and recovery service to pay money or other valuable consideration for the privilege of nonconsensually towing commercial motor vehicles;
(d) A towing and recovery service to employ or otherwise compensate individuals, commonly referred to as "spotters," whose primary task is to report the presence of unauthorized, improperly or illegally parked commercial motor vehicles for the purposes of towing or removal and storage; and
(e) A towing and recovery service to travel to the scene of a commercial motor vehicle accident or a disabled commercial motor vehicle on public property or property open to the public to solicit business for the purposes of towing or removal and storage.
SECTION 7. (1) Before a towing and recovery service connects a commercial motor vehicle to a tow truck for a nonconsensual tow, the towing and recovery service shall document the vehicle's condition and the reason for the tow, as follows:
(a) By taking at least four (4) photographs of the vehicle, with at least one (1) photograph taken from the front, one (1) photograph taken from the rear, one (1) photograph taken from the driver's side, and one (1) photograph taken from the passenger's side. These photographs must:
(i) Show the entire vehicle from the required angles; and
(ii) Have the vehicle fill at least three-fourths (3/4) of the photograph, measured from side to side;
(b) By taking a photograph that shows the reason for the vehicle being towed nonconsensually. The photograph must show the portion of the vehicle in relation to the reason, including any sign, that the vehicle was towed;
(c) Provide copies of the photographs upon demand of the owner or operator of the commercial motor vehicle or the owner's designee, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety or the Commercial Vehicle Towing Advisory Committee;
(d) Failure of a towing and recovery service to produce the photographs shall create a rebuttable presumption that the towing and recovery service did not have authorization to tow a vehicle from either a private property owner or operator or from a law enforcement officer.
(2) Before a towing and recovery service connects a commercial motor vehicle to a tow truck for a nonconsensual tow, the towing and recovery service shall have authorization to nonconsensually tow a commercial motor vehicle, provided that:
(a) A law enforcement officer requests a police-initiated tow and requests that a towing and recovery service from the tow list provide towing; or
(b) The towing and recovery service has received permission to tow the commercial motor vehicle, within the twenty-four (24) hours immediately preceding the towing, from the owner of the private property in a manner consistent with the following:
(i) A towing and recovery service shall not nonconsensually tow a commercial motor vehicle from private property without the owner or operator of the private property owner giving the vehicle owner or operator twenty-four (24) hours written notice by placing the written notice on the windshield of the vehicle; and
(ii) The notice must clearly state:
1. That the commercial motor vehicle will be towed without consent if the vehicle remains parked inappropriately or illegally;
2. A description of the inappropriate or illegal parking that has caused the notice to be issued;
3. The time the vehicle will be towed if it is not moved to appropriate parking or the inappropriate parking has been corrected; and
4. That continuing to park inappropriately in the same manner may lead to the vehicle being towed without notice; and
(c) The private property owner must have posted signage visible and facing the driver at each entry way into the property that vehicles parked on the property without authorization, inappropriately or illegally are subject to being towed. The sign must also contain the international towing symbol no smaller than four (4) inches by four (4) inches and be permanently mounted in a position that is no lower than five (5) feet and no higher than eight (8) feet.
(3) Before a towing and recovery service connects a commercial motor vehicle to a tow truck for a nonconsensual tow, the towing and recovery service shall not assess a drop fee to release the commercial motor vehicle after the vehicle is hooked up to the tow truck before the vehicle is removed from the private property.
SECTION 8. (1) A towing and recovery service in the business of installing vehicle immobilization devices shall:
(a) Accept credit cards and debit cards as methods of payment for the removal of a vehicle immobilization device from a commercial motor vehicle, provided that:
(i) A fee to accept payment by credit card or debit card shall not be charged; or
(ii) An optional, alternative, online payment service may be offered as an optimal payment method. If the person making payment for the removal of the vehicle immobilization device elects to use the optional online payment method, then the provider of the online payment service may charge a three percent (3%) convenience fee;
(b) If the operator or owner of the commercial motor vehicle who is requesting removal of the vehicle immobilization device elects to make the payment by credit card or debit card and the payment cannot be completed by the card without undue delay at the site where the commercial motor vehicle to which the vehicle immobilization device is attached is located, and an optimal online payment method as described in paragraph (a)(ii) of this section is either unavailable or has been refused by the towing and recovery service, remove the vehicle immobilization device and issue a billing invoice for payment due to the operator who is requesting the removal of the vehicle immobilization device, if such operator provides a valid form of identification, or by mail to the registered owner of the commercial motor vehicle; and
(c) Not compensate employees on a commission basis or contract for or engage the services of an independent contractor to install or remove vehicle immobilization devices.
(2) If a vehicle immobilization device is placed on a commercial motor vehicle that is parked on private property due to the vehicle operator or owner's failure to pay the required parking charge, then the owner or operator of the private property may require the vehicle operator or owner to pay the applicable immobilization device removal fee and all unpaid parking fines and fees to have the immobilization device removed.
(3) (a) An owner or operator of private property for which an enforceable agreement exists with a towing and recovery service to provide enforcement services by installing vehicle immobilization devices on commercial motor vehicles on such property shall post signage in a conspicuous location on the property bearing notice:
(i) That the parking policy for the property is strictly enforced;
(ii) That the violator's vehicle will be immobilized with a vehicle immobilization device with the owner or operator of the vehicle having to pay to have the device removed;
(iii) Providing the name and phone number of the authorized towing and recovery service; and
(iv) That operators and owners of commercial motor vehicles are protected from violations of this subsection and that violations may be reported to the Commercial Vehicle Towing
Advisory Committee.
(b) The sign required by paragraph (a) must be no less than twenty-four (24) inches in height and eighteen (18) inches in width, and contain lettering that is no less than two (2) inches in height, and which such signage is to be located at each designated entrance to the property where parking prohibitions are in place. If there is not a designated entrance to the property, the signage must be erected in a place that is clearly visible from each parking space.
(c) A towing and recovery service engaged in the business of installing vehicle immobilization devices shall not install a vehicle immobilization device on a commercial motor vehicle if the vehicle is located on property that does not comply with the signage requirements under this subsection.
SECTION 9. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2024.