(A) The department or its appointees including federal government employees or persons operating under contract with the State, upon presenting appropriate credentials, may conduct inspections and remove samples of fuel from a vehicle, tank, or another container to determine coloration of diesel fuel or to identify shipping paper violations. Inspection must be performed in a reasonable manner consistent with the circumstances. However, prior notice is not required. Inspectors physically may inspect, examine, or otherwise search a tank, reservoir, or other container that can or may be used for the production, storage, or transportation of fuel. Inspection may be made of equipment used for, or in connection with, the production, storage, or transportation of fuel. Inspectors may demand to be produced for immediate inspection the shipping papers, documents, and records required to be kept by a person transporting fuel. These places may include, but are not limited to, a:

(1) terminal;

(2) fuel storage facility that is not a terminal;

(3) retail fuel facility;

(4) highway rest stops; or

(5) designated inspection site defined as any state highway or waterway inspection station, weigh station, agricultural inspection station, mobile station, or other location designated by the department either fixed or mobile.

(B) Inspections to determine violations under this chapter may be conducted by the Department of Public Safety, agents of the Department of Revenue, motor carrier inspectors in this State in addition to their duties otherwise defined, and other law enforcement officers through procedures established by the Department of Revenue. Agents of the Department of Revenue have the same power and authority provided to authorized personnel under the applicable statute.

(C) An inspector reasonably may detain a person or equipment transporting fuel in or through this State for the purpose of determining whether the person is operating in compliance with the provisions of this chapter and the regulations promulgated pursuant to it. Detainment may continue for a time only as is necessary to determine whether the person is in compliance.

HISTORY: 1995 Act No. 136, Section 2; 2000 Act No. 399, Section 3(P)(1), eff August 17, 2000.