66-6,115. Prohibited acts; violation; penalty; transport and delivery vehicles.

(1) The fuel supply tank of a motor vehicle registered or required to be registered for operation on the highway shall not contain or be used with compressed fuel unless the taxes imposed by the Compressed Fuel Tax Act are paid to the retailer of the fuel at the time the fuel is purchased. Any person who violates this section is guilty of a Class IV misdemeanor and, in addition to the taxes imposed by the act, is subject to an administrative penalty of one thousand dollars for each violation to be assessed and collected by the department. All such penalties collected shall be remitted to the State Treasurer for credit to the Highway Trust Fund. All such penalties shall be assessed against the owner of the vehicle as of the date of the violation.

(2) The department shall by rule or regulation adopt a standard miles-per-gallon rating for compressed fuel transport and delivery vehicles that are not equipped with a separate fuel supply tank. The miles-per-gallon rating adopted shall be used by the owners of the vehicles to calculate the amount of fuel tax owed to the state on the fuel consumed from the vehicle's cargo tank for purposes of operating the vehicle. The owners of the vehicles shall pay the excise taxes imposed by the act and make a report concerning the taxes to the department in like manner, form, and time as is required by the act for retailers of compressed fuel.

(3) For purposes of this section:

(a) Owner means registered owner, titleholder, lessee entitled to possession of the motor vehicle, or anyone otherwise maintaining a possessory interest in the motor vehicle, but does not include anyone who, without participating in the use or operation of the motor vehicle and otherwise not engaged in the purpose for which the motor vehicle is being used, holds indicia of ownership primarily to protect his or her security interest in the motor vehicle or who acquired ownership of the motor vehicle pursuant to a foreclosure of a security interest in the motor vehicle; and

(b) Use means to operate, fuel, or otherwise employ.

Source:Laws 1995, LB 182, § 19; Laws 2000, LB 1067, § 25.