PEER Report #226

A REVIEW OF SELECTED ASPECTS OF TRUCK WEIGHT ENFORCEMENT, November 28, 1989, 17 pages

The State Tax Commission has clear statutory authority through its Administrative Review Board to reduce or withdraw overweight truck penalties assessed by the commission’s Bureau of Law Enforcement permanent and portable scale officers. Of 5,710 assessments in FY 1989, 146 were appealed, of which 46 (33%) were reduced or withdrawn. Of $175,400 in penalties appealed, $72,860 (41%) was eliminated by the board.

Contending the law intends the benefit of doubt to go to the violator, the Administrative Review Board has:

• Not provided a prosecution role for scale officers through written incident reports or officer testimony.
• Disregarded calibrated scale evidence and acted upon uncalibrated scale readings submitted by violators.

The Bureau of Law Enforcement also allows an additional, compounded 1% weight tolerance in circumstances where the law has already provided a tolerance for human error. The Tax Commission should improve training of enforcement officers, standardize field procedures, and provide a prosecution role in appeals proceedings.

For a paper copy of this report, contact PEER by telephone at 601-359-1226 or by e-mail at reports@peer.ms.gov.