New Jersey bill would extend truck inspection powers

A New Jersey bill would allow Passaic County Sheriff’s Department officers to issue summonses for overweight trucks. The bill, sponsored by Sen. John Girgenti, D-Hawthorne, and Sen. Paulo Sarlo, D-Wood Ridge, already has cleared the Assembly and is up for a vote in the Senate in 2006, the Herald News of northern New Jersey reported.

Weighing trucks and handing out fines is currently the domain of the state police, who use three weighing stations the state operates, or bring a portable scale to the scene. The state so far has resisted extending truck inspection powers to local officers because it would tie up interstate traffic, according to the Herald News.