--- . . 

.r., 

MARK WHITE 

Attorney General 

‘23 Main. Suite 610 

,O’ n. TX. 77coz 

‘1 4701 

313 N. Tmh. sun4 F 

whn.lx,6601 

13a63-4347 

The Attorney General of Texas 

March 21, 1979 

Honorable Don Henderson, Chairman 

House Transportation Committee 

State Capitol 

Austin, Texas 70767 

Opinion No. Mw-7 

Re: Registration of machinery 

used to transport and apply 

fertilizer. 

Dear Representative Henderson: 

You have requested our opinion regarding the registration of 

machinery used to transport and apply fertilizer. 

The 65th Legislature enacted two separate statutes dealing with the 

ragktration of fertilizer machinery. Article 6675a-2, V.T.C.S., which 

specifies the requirements for registering motor vehicles, provides that 

owners of . . . implements of husbandry operated or 

moved temporarily upon the highways shall not be 

required to register such . . . implements of 

husbandry. 

,Article 667%-2(b). House Bii 1324,65th Leg., 1977, ch. R9, at 252, amended 

the definition of Ymplements of husbandry” to include. 

self-propelled machinery specifically designed or 

especially adapted for applying plant food materials 

or egricultural chemicals and not designed or adapted 

for the sole purpose of transporting the materials or 

chemicals, but shall not include any passenger car or 

~trwk. 

V.T.C.S. art. 6675a-l(r). House Bill 1324 also amended the traffic 

regulations to provide: 

No person may operate on a public highway at a speed 

greater than thirty (30) miles per hour any ~selfemWed machinery specifically designed or 

especially adapted for applying plant fcod materials 

or agricultural chemicals and not designed or adapted 

p. 19 
Honorable Don Henderson - page Two IMW-7) 

for the sole purpose of transporting the materials or chemicals, 

unless the machinery is registered mder Chapter 86,GeneraJ Laws, 

Acts of the Ust Legislature, 2nd Called Session, 1929, as amended 

(Article 6675s~1, et seq., Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes). 

V.T.C.S.. art. 6701d, S 169Afe). 

The Other relevant statute enacted by the 65th Legislature, House Bill Sl, Acts, 65th 

Leg., 1977, oh. 184, at 373, added another provision to the traffic regulations: 

Section L In this Act, “fertilizer” includes agricultural limestone.. 

Sec. 2. The annual license fee for the registration of motor 

vehicles designed or modified exclusively to transport fertilizer to 

the field and spread it, and used only for that purpose, is $50. 

Sec. 3. The width requirements in Subsection (a), Section 3, 

Chapter 42, General Laws, Acts of the 4lst Legislature, 2nd Called 

Session, 1929, as amended (Article 67Old-U, Vernon% Texas Civil 

Statutes), do not apply to a vehicle registered’under Section 2 of 

this Act ,which has a width of 136 inches ce less at its widest point. 

V.T.C.S. art. 670%lla. Thus, there is a category of fertilizer ‘ma&ii to which both 

House Bill 1324 and House ,Bill 61 are applicable: certain motor vehicles designed or 

modified bdth to transport and apply fertilizer. Since the former~ statute provides an 

exemption from registration, and the latter fiies an annual registration fee of $50, it has 

been contended that the two statutes are in irreconcilable conflict. In our cpinion, they 

may be harmonized and both given effect. 

House Bill 1824, when read together with article 6675a-2(b), exempts from 

.registration certain self-propelled machinery designed or adapted for applying fertiizer. 

The statute then rescinds the exemption for one clam of fertilizer ~machinery -those 

operated at speeds of greater than 30 miles per hour. As to such machinery, registration 

is stillrequired. 

House Bill 81 does not itself require any vehicle to be registered. Rather, it merely 

specifies a fee when registraticn is required. The fee is imposed mn re ’ tered fertilizer 

machinery which is &signed or modified for both transporting and sprea +kiYhus,itis g. 

applicable to certaii kinds of machinery described by House Bill 1324 but not exempt from 

~tration tbzreunder by virtue of their operation at speeds greater than 30 miles per 

. 

ln answer to your specific questions, we believe that the passage of House Bills 81 

and 1324 has somewhat altered the law set forth in, Attorney General Opinion M-l288 

(1972), which applied the test of “primary design and use” to a particular vehicle. We need 

not determine the extent to which the “primary design and use” test has survived the 

enactment of the two statutes, however, since we are confident that the vehicle described 

in Opinion M-l288 retains its exemption from registration, so long as it is not operated at 

speeds greater then 30 miles per hour. 

P. ‘20 
Honorable Don Henderson - Page Three (r4w-7) 

In Motor Vehicle Snformatiem Circular No. 10-77, dated August 26,1977, the State 

Department of Highways and Public Transportation interpreted House Bill 1324 to provide 

an exemption from registration only for those motor vehicles which “have been built from 

the 

inigi Y%tf . 

9 a~ machinery for the exclusive purpose of spreading fertilizer.R (emphasis 

In our opinion, such a construction imposes a requirement not present in the 

statute and is im%nsistent therewith. As we have indicated, fertilizer machinery is 

exempt fmm registration if it is included within the definition of vimplements of 

husbandryv in article 6675a-lb) and is not operated at speeds greater than 30 miles per 

hour. 

SUMMARY 

Selfpropelled machinery which does not come within the statutory 

defmition of passenger car or truck and which is designed or 

adapted for applying fertilizer ls exempt from registration under 

article 6675a, et 

7iF 

V.T.C.S., so long aa such ma&inery is not 

operated at spee greater than 30 miles per hour. 

Very truly yours, 

- 

MARK WHITE 

Attorney General of Texas 

JOHN W. PAINTER, JR. 

First Assistant Attorney General 

TRD L. HARTLEY 

Executive ~Assistant Attorney General 

Prepared by Rick Gilpin 

Assistant Attorney General 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTRE 

C. Robert Heath, Chairman 

Watson Arnold 

David B. Brooks 

Rick Gilpin 

WilRam G Refd 

Lambeth Townsend 

Bruce Youngblood 

p. 21