Any common carrier transporting solid waste in this state pursuant to authority granted under section five, article two, chapter twenty-four-a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, may make application to the commission for approval of a rate surcharge to pass through any increase in the disposal rate charged by the landfill at which solid waste is disposed by the motor carrier, commonly known as the tip fee, to commercial and residential customers, including increases which are the direct result of fees, charges, taxes, or any other assessment imposed upon the landfill by a governmental body. The commission shall within fourteen days of receipt of said application notify the motor carrier of approval of the requested rate surcharge, or approval of a rate surcharge other than in the amount requested and the reason therefor. The effective date of the approved rate surcharge shall be the same date as the effective date of the increase in the tip fee to which the surcharge relates; except that in the event the application for approval of the rate surcharge is received by the commission more than sixty days after the effective date of the tip fee increase, then the effective date of the approved rate surcharge shall be the date said application was received by the commission.
The commission shall immediately promulgate emergency rules which set forth the procedures for the filing of the tip fee rate surcharge application. It is the purpose of this statute to provide an expedited process which will allow the subject motor carriers to pass through tip fee increases to all customers. Only that data necessary to review in accordance with this statute may be required by the commission to be submitted by the motor carrier.