Heitkamp Helps Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Fix Trucking Regulations that Burden Agriculture Transporters

Statement

U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today helped introduce bipartisan legislation to ease the burden of the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) regulations set to go into effect for livestock and insect haulers later this year.

After leading a bipartisan effort to get a delay in the new ELD rules signed into law, Heitkamp joined Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) to introduce the Transporting Livestock Across America Safely (TLAAS) Act to address the concerns of livestock haulers and the agriculture producers who rely on them to safely and quickly transport their goods.

Heitkamp has heard concerns from many North Dakotans about the new ELD rules and has been fighting for clarity and common sense in the regulations.

"The unique demands on livestock and insect haulers must be taken into account when developing rules that affect them, because one-size-fits-all regulations simply don't work in rural America," Heitkamp said. "After hearing from many concerned North Dakotans and fighting to delay these regulations, this bill takes common sense, bipartisan action to alleviate the burden the new ELD rules would have on haulers of livestock and insects. North Dakota farmers and ranchers need their products to be transported safely and quickly, and haulers need flexibility to handle a variety of unpredictable factors like the weather. Moving forward, I'll continue to push the Department of Transportation to protect our rural economy and agriculture community from regulations that just don't make sense for North Dakota."

The TLAAS Act attempts to address problems with the trucking rules and ease the burden of these regulations for haulers of livestock or insects by:

Increasing the distance transporters must travel before needing to comply with the hours of service (HOS) and ELD rules. The drive time for HOS purposes would not start until after 300-air mile threshold is reached.

Exempting loading and unloading times from the HOS calculation of driving time.

Extending the HOS on-duty time maximum hour requirement from 11 hours to a minimum of 15 hours and a maximum of 18 hours of on-duty time.

Granting flexibility for drivers to rest at any point during their trip without counting against HOS time.

Allowing drivers to complete their trip -- regardless of HOS requirements -- if they come within 150-air miles of their delivery point.

Cosponsors of the legislation include U.S. Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA), John Hoeven (R-ND), Doug Jones (D-AL), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Rand Paul (R-KY), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Tina Smith (D-MN), and Jon Tester (D-MT).

Heitkamp also recently sent a bipartisan letter to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration pushing the agency to improve regulations and address issues within HOS regulations for all drivers, including long-haul drivers, short-haul drivers, agricultural and livestock haulers. Click here to read the letter.

Heitkamp has been working to address concerns about the ELD rules after hearing from transporters of livestock and honeybees that the new ELD rules could put their cargo at risk, threatening the economic security of farmers and transporters alike. In March, Heitkamp sent a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao urging her to immediately address several serious concerns about the new ELD rules, and the Department of Transportation responded by announcing another delay in implementation to allow more time to gain input and address the concerns of the agriculture community.

In December, Heitkamp led a bipartisan effort to delay implementation of the new ELD regulations, joining U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) and others supporting a provision in the U.S. House-passed Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill delaying implementation of ELDs and providing the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) time to make the necessary adjustments to hours of service rules. That delay was signed in to law last month.

Heitkamp has been fighting for livestock and honey bee producers, especially as they continue to face the effects of a severe drought. Earlier this year, Heitkamp's plan to remove the funding cap for the Emergency Livestock Assistance Program (ELAP), which provides financial assistance to producers of livestock and honeybees for losses due to weather events and disease, was signed in to law.

Heitkamp has introduced legislation to expand assistance available to livestock and honey bee producers as they recover from drought. Last August, Heitkamp conducted a two-day drought and Farm Bill tour across western North Dakota to hear directly from farmers, ranchers, researchers, and FSA workers about the solutions they need now to weather the drought, and the critical programs that need to be protected and strengthened in the 2018 Farm Bill. The tour built on a listening session Heitkamp convened in July with ranchers, local leaders, and experts on the ground in Bowman to talk about solutions to address challenges they currently face related to the drought, and discuss how to best prepare down the road.

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