Inapplicability of certain regulatory statutes to local cartage activities; application for authority; rules

(1) The provisions of ORS 825.202, 825.220, 825.224 and 825.234, except for ORS 825.202 (2), (3) and (4), do not apply to for-hire carriers of household goods who are engaged in local cartage of property within areas designated in rules adopted by the Department of Transportation. The department shall designate a local cartage area as exempt from economic regulation if the department finds from the record and evidence in a rulemaking proceeding that: (a) The gross revenue derived from local cartage of household goods in the designated cartage area by carriers does not exceed $100,000 a year; (b) The population of the affected city or cartage area is less than 10,000; (c) The incorporated city or designated cartage area is not an essential part of a metropolitan, industrial or homogeneous economic area; (d) The incorporated city or cartage area is not contiguous to another city or within the area encompassed by the commercial zone of another city; (e) Service to the public would not be adversely affected; (f) The carrier’s ability to render service would not be adversely affected; and (g) It is not otherwise adverse to the public interest to exclude such area from regulation. (2) If the department finds in a future rulemaking proceeding that adequate service is not being provided or that the public interest demands that the exemption be removed, the department shall remove the exemption and require the affected cartage carriers to comply with the provisions of this chapter. (3) Within 90 days after the effective date of the order removing the exemption, carriers who operated within the local cartage area for at least six consecutive months immediately preceding the effective date of the order may file with the department an application for operating authority. The application shall be accompanied by evidence of qualified operations in the local cartage area. If the department finds that the applicant has engaged in qualified operations in the area, the department shall issue an appropriate certificate authorizing the carrier to provide service within the area. Applicants may continue to provide service pending the department’s decision on the application.