Just 10 days after the federal government granted livestock haulers a 90-day exemption from the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate, the new spending bill provides even more time.
Section 132 of the $1.3 trillion spending bill, which was signed Friday, March 23, 2018, by President Donald Trump, defunds enforcement of the ELD mandate during the 2018 fiscal year, which concludes Sept. 30, 2018.
The delay will provide more time for the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) to address industry concerns and educate drivers on the exemptions.
The USDOT announced March 13 that livestock haulers were exempted from the ELD mandate for 90 days, beginning March 18 through June 18. The full enforcement of the ELD rule was to begin April 1.
“We continue to see strong compliance rates across the country that improve weekly, but we are mindful of the unique work our agriculture community does and will use the following 90 days to ensure we publish more helpful guidance that all operators will benefit from,” says Ray Martinez, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).
The mandate requires a vehicle to be fitted with a device under some of the following conditions:
• The vehicle is used for commercial purposes.
• You are required to obtain a commercial driver’s license because any combination of commercial vehicles you drive have a gross combined weight rating of 26,001 or more pounds.
• You drive more than 150 miles and not more than 8 days in a 30-day period.
Although most farriers would not have been subject to the rule, Alabama farrier David Kimbrough led a grass roots effort opposing portions of the rule. The Tuscumbia, Ala., farrier teamed up with state officials to draft a resolution urging the U.S. Congress to “create more flexibility in Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations relating to agriculture and small business industries.”
“It’s going to ruin the horse business if we don’t do something,” Kimbrough told American Farriers Journal.
The rule requires 10 consecutive hours off duty. Livestock industry guidelines recommend that drivers avoid stops when hauling livestock, as stopping for long periods of time would have a detrimental effect on animals being hauled.
