(1) The Nebraska State Patrol is hereby designated as the agency to operate the weighing stations and portable scales and to perform carrier enforcement duties.

(2)(a) On and after July 20, 2002, officers of the Nebraska State Patrol appointed to operate the weighing stations and portable scales and to perform carrier enforcement duties shall be known as the carrier enforcement division. The Superintendent of Law Enforcement and Public Safety shall appoint officers of the Nebraska State Patrol to the carrier enforcement division, including officers as prescribed in sections 81-2001 to 81-2009, and carrier enforcement officers as prescribed in sections 60-1301 to 60-1309.

(b) The employees within the Nebraska State Patrol designated to operate the weighing stations and portable scales and to perform carrier enforcement duties before July 20, 2002, and not authorized to act under subdivisions (1) through (8) of section 81-2005 shall be known as carrier enforcement officers.

(3) All carrier enforcement officers shall be bonded or insured as required by section 11-201. Premiums shall be paid from the money appropriated for the construction, maintenance, and operation of the state weighing stations.

(4) All employees of the Nebraska State Patrol who are carrier enforcement officers and who are not officers of the Nebraska State Patrol with the powers and duties prescribed in sections 81-2001 to 81-2009 shall be members of the State Employees Retirement System of the State of Nebraska. Officers of the Nebraska State Patrol who are carrier enforcement officers on July 20, 2002, who subsequently become officers of the Nebraska State Patrol with the powers and duties prescribed in sections 81-2001 to 81-2009, and who elect to remain members of the State Employees Retirement System of the State of Nebraska shall continue to participate in the State Employees Retirement System of the State of Nebraska. Carrier enforcement officers shall not receive any expense allowance as provided for by section 81-2002.

(5) The Nebraska State Patrol and the Department of Transportation shall have the duty, power, and authority to contract with one another for the staffing and operation of weighing stations and portable scales and the performance of carrier enforcement duties to ensure that there is adequate personnel in the carrier enforcement division to carry out the duties specified in sections 60-1301 to 60-1309. Through June 30, 2005, the number of full-time equivalent positions funded pursuant to such contract shall be limited to eighty-eight officers, including carrier enforcement officers as prescribed in sections 60-1301 to 60-1309 and officers of the Nebraska State Patrol as prescribed in sections 81-2001 to 81-2009 assigned to the carrier enforcement division. Pursuant to such contract, command of the personnel involved in such carrier enforcement operations shall be with the Nebraska State Patrol. The Department of Transportation may use any funds at its disposal for its financing of such carrier enforcement activity in accordance with such contract as long as such funds are used only to finance those activities directly involved with the duties specified in sections 60-1301 to 60-1309. The Nebraska State Patrol shall account for all appropriations and expenditures related to the staffing and operation of weighing stations and portable scales and the performance of carrier enforcement duties in a budget program that is distinct and separate from budget programs used for non-carrier-enforcement-division-related activities.

(6) The Nebraska State Patrol may adopt, promulgate, and enforce rules and regulations consistent with statutory provisions related to carrier enforcement necessary for (a) the collection of fees, as outlined in sections 60-3,177 and 60-3,179 to 60-3,182 and the International Fuel Tax Agreement Act, (b) the inspection of licenses and permits required under the motor fuel laws, and (c) weighing and inspection of buses, motor trucks, truck-tractors, semitrailers, trailers, and towed vehicles.