Last Thursday, the National Potato Council joined dozens of ag groups on a letter of support for the Haulers of Agriculture and Livestock Safety (HAULS) Act of 2020 (S. 4720). Introduced by Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), the HAULS Act of 2020 modernizes the agricultural exemption to the hours-of-service rules and provides much needed regulatory relief.
In the letter, the groups write the HAULS Act would make three important incremental changes to the agricultural exemption to hours-of-services rules to help accommodate the seasonal spikes in the transportation of food, fiber and other agricultural supplies, including:
- Eliminating the “planting and harvesting periods” requirements to ensure uniformity within all states;
- Providing a 150-air-miles exemption from hours-of-service regulations on the backend of hauls before hours-of-service rules apply; and
- Updating the definition of an agricultural commodity for purposes of determining eligible freight for the agricultural exemption.
The full letter can be found here.