Administration Proposing Changes for Agricultural Trucking Exemptions

(WASHINGTON, DC) The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is proposing a change to the hours-of-service (HOS) rules for commercial motor vehicle drivers. The proposal, published last week, includes provisions that would increase flexibility for drivers given the spike in freight rates that followed the implementation of the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate. In the proposal, the Administration included a recommendation to extend the time and distance that a commercial driver may operate under the short-haul exemption from 12 to 14 hours and from 100 to 150 air miles. This revision would promote consistency between the agricultural exemption and the short-haul exemption to the hours-of-service rules. Currently, commercial drivers operating under the agricultural exemption have a driving radius of 150 air miles but are limited to hauling raw agricultural commodities. However, drivers hauling processed commodities, such as flour and soybean meal, are ineligible to operate under the agricultural exemption, but all products are eligible under the short-haul exemption.