Passing A Transportation Bill

Passing A Transportation Bill. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

Will Congress finally pass a new transportation bill? The Surface Transportation Bill expired way back in 2009. In the meantime Congress has addressed the nation’s transportation infrastructure needs with short-term extensions. Now the Senate has passed a new two-year bill while the House passed another short-term extension that will let the two sides work to reconcile the two different versions.

Walmsley: This legislation is basically the surface transportation policy for the country, funds many of the construction projects we see on the side of the roads and helps fund and provide jobs for construction workers. States are ramping up right now during the summer months to repair the roads and fix the bridges that we all depend on. 

American Farm Bureau Transportation Specialist Andrew Walmsley says provisions in the legislation would exempt farmers and ranchers from a bunch of federal regulations if they haul their goods over state lines.

Walmsley: In today’s economy a lot of times your best market might be just across state lines, especially if you live in a border county. When you cross that state line a whole host of of regulations are triggered, federal regulations that start treating those farmers like long-haul, year-round, commercial trucker truck drivers, when simply a farmer in pickup truck and a livestock trailer is trying to get a few calves to market. It clarifies that if you happen to be under 26,000 pounds that you’re not subject to those federal regulations if you cross a state line. If you’re over 26,000 pounds you can only travel up to 150 air miles from your farm if you cross the state line.

Another provision would allow farm suppliers to deliver agricultural products to farms and ranches at the busiest times of the year without being restricted by hours of service rules that also affect long-haul truckers.

Walmsley: An ag retailer or a co-op can operate to get a farmer his inputs for planting or helping during the harvest season, the two busiest times of year for farmers and ranchers. So these two provisions are just trying to make it a little easier for farmers and ranchers to make a living.

Walmsley explains why this transportation bill is so important to U.S. farmers and ranchers.

Walmsley: Farmers and ranchers use the roads the highways to get our inputs to our farms along with get our products off our farms to market, to consumers. So we need good infrastructure. We need reliable and safe highways to do this. Also there are a couple of provisions in this bill that would help make a farmer’s life a little bit easier, help their business have a few less headaches and reduce burdens in as far as regulations go dealing with how they transport their products to market. 

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.