Livestock haulers can breathe a sigh of relief again for another year. Maybe.
The Senate has passed H.R. 6147, what’s been called the Minibus Appropriations bill, on Aug. 1 on a 92 to 6 vote. The bill included an amendment to prevent implementation of the electronic logging device (ELD) requirement on livestock haulers until Sept. 30, 2019.
“With this extension, we will have more time to bring common sense to these rules and provide additional flexibility,” declared Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) who authored the amendment, No. 3669.
“Driving from Billings, MT, to the middle of Kansas where cattle are finished—that trip is right on the cusp of being not allowed under the current hours-of-service regulations.” — Lia Biondo
The amendment specifically prohibits the appropriation of funds for the next fiscal year—ending on Sept. 30, 2019—to “implement, administer, or enforce the requirements” related to the use of ELDs in commercial vehicles transporting livestock.
The ELD delay is not yet a done deal, however. The Senate passed H.R. 6147 with a number of amendments, including the one-year delay in ELD requirements to livestock haulers. This means the version the Senate passed is different than the version the House passed. The two versions must be ratified before the bill can be passed on to the president for signing.
Even if the bill is ratified, and the ELD delay amendment survives the ratification process, livestock haulers still must be cautious.
“[Drivers] will need documentation when we do get this one-year delay,” Lia Biondo, director of policy and outreach for the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association (USCA), explained to WLJ.
“That will be provided by [the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration] once the one-year delay has passed both the House and the Senate and been signed by the president.”
Hours-of-service efforts
“Current Hours-of-Service rules were not written with the needs of livestock haulers in mind, and, therefore, offer very little flexibility when it comes to hauling live animals,” said Steve Hilker, transportation committee chairman for the USCA, in the group’s response to the Senate passage of H.R. 6147.
“Driving from Billings, MT, to the middle of Kansas where cattle are finished—that trip is right on the cusp of being not allowed under the current hours-of-service regulations,” Biondo told WLJ.
“[Drivers] are supposed to be on-duty when they’re sitting there, just waiting for cattle to be loaded up. That really eats into their hours of service and their time on-duty. Allowing that loading time to be exempt would be phenomenal.”
The hours-of-service limits have animal welfare implications, as well. Abiding by current limits on hours of service—something tracked by the ELDs—could mean multiple loading and unloading on a single trip, which increases the opportunity for accident or injury, or going even longer without food and water since the driver cannot get them to their destination at one stretch.
Both Hilker and Biondo noted that there is legislation before Congress that would address the hours-of-service limits for livestock haulers. The one-year delay would give more opportunity for the legislation to pass.
“It’s called the Transporting Livestock Across America Safely Act and we worked pretty hand-in-glove with Senators Ben Sasse and Heidi Heitkamp to get this across the finish line,” said Biondo.
The bill, S.2938, was introduced to the Senate in May and has been referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The bill would lengthen the hours-of-service limits to a maximum of 18 hours on-duty and would exempt drivers from the hours-of-service requirement for 300 miles from the source of a trip and 150 miles “from the backend.”
Though the bill is standalone at the moment, Biondo said the USCA has been trying to get it into a “must-pass” bill. Efforts to work it into the farm bill were not successful, so they are currently working on “something that will get it across the finish line.” — Kerry Halladay, WLJ editor
