HB1237

First, a typo - "perspective" should probably be "prospective" Then "new tarpaulin of a minimum size of 11 feet by 23 feet" in 106-B:31 XI (k) would seem to be an excessive expense which must be charged to customers, why not require "clean and not torn" instead of "new"? I can see no legitimate reason why personal property or cargo is impounded for towing fees, as it may not even belong to the vehicle owner or operator. There may be an issue of whom the material belongs to that is not easily resolved by the tow operator, but that is not affected by whether the towing bill was paid. Maybe require police to be present during item removal if this is in question. It is a sign of the disregard that the Division has for the traveling public that fees have no place in the dispatch order. Testimony before the House Commerce Committee was that a truck with a flat tire received (if I remember correctly) a tow bill of $22,000 from Bedford to Milford and the owner was told that was legal. The rotation list should be segmented such that calls are rotated in groups with the first group being those with fees within (say) 10% of the lowest, those in the second group (say 10% to 20% higher) called only if nobody is available in the first group, and so on. This would not prevent somebody from charging $22,000 but at least they would be the last to be called. The ability of the director under 106-B:29 was IV to become II to refuse to add businesses to the list is unreasonable and if the list gets to be too long calls to the highest-priced services should be discontinued.