39:3-10j Findings, declaration concerning commercial driver's licenses.

1. The Legislature finds that:

a. On September 20, 1988, the Secretary of the United States Department of Transportation granted the states of this nation the authority to exempt certain drivers from the licensing provisions of the "Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986," Pub.L.99-570 (49 U.S.C. s.2701 et seq.).

b. The "Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986" requires a commercial driver's license for anyone who operates a vehicle that has a gross weight rating in excess of 26,000 pounds, carries 15 or more passengers or transports hazardous materials.

c. While that act's objectives to regulate and improve the traffic safety of the commercial trucking industry are laudable, it could have an unintended, and largely adverse, impact upon certain non-commercial drivers.

d. Unless the State of New Jersey, in accordance with the Secretary of the United States Department of Transportation's directive, exercises its exemption authority, certain operators of firefighting apparatus, operators of emergency or rescue equipment operated for the purposes of a first aid, ambulance or rescue squad or for disaster control, non-civilian operators of military vehicles owned or operated by the United States Department of Defense or the National Guard, and farmers operating farm vehicles will be obligated to secure commercial driver's licenses under that act.

e. There appears to be no significant evidence that the operators of firefighting apparatus, operators of emergency or rescue equipment operated for the purposes of a first aid, ambulance or rescue squad or for disaster control, non-civilian operators of military vehicles owned or operated by the United States Department of Defense or the National Guard, or farmers operating farm vehicles in and about their regular agricultural activities pose or have created any safety hazards on the public highways which would warrant their being licensed under the provisions of the "Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986."

The Legislature, therefore, declares that it is altogether fitting and proper to authorize, in accordance with the directives issued by the Secretary of the United States Department of Transportation, that the designated operators of firefighting apparatus, operators of emergency or rescue equipment operated for the purposes of a first aid, ambulance or rescue squad or for disaster control, non-civilian operators of military vehicles owned and operated by the United States Department of Defense or the National Guard, and operators of farm vehicles under certain circumstances be exempted from the licensing requirements set forth in the "Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986."

L.1989,c.164,s.1; amended 1990, c.103, s.36; 1991, c.11, s.1; 1991, c.126, s.1; 1997, c.269, s.1.