HAULS Act in Senate refines drivers’ hours-of-service rules
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ByKevinHecteman Drivershaulingagricultural cargowould see refinements to hours-of-service rules, if a bill in theU.S. Senate becomes law. TheHaulersofAgricultureandLivestock Safety, orHAULS, Act of 2020 has been in- troduced by Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb. TheCaliforniaFarmBureauFederation joinedmore than100other agricultural or- ganizations, including theAmericanFarm Bureau Federation andmany other state Farm Bureaus, in writing Fischer a letter of support for her efforts. Current federal hours-of-service rules limit truck drivers to 11 hours of drive time and 14 hours of on-duty time at a stretch before theymust take a 10-hour rest break. An agricultural exemption applies within 150 air miles, or 172.6 statutemiles, of the sourceofacommodity.Scenariosdepicting when the exemptionappliesmay be found atwww.fmcsa.dot.gov/hours-service/elds/ agriculture-exemption-diagrams. Fischer’sbillwouldmake threechanges: • “Planting and harvesting periods” would be done away with, extending the agricultural exemption year-round across all 50 states. •Anexemptiontohours-of-service time wouldapply toanareawithin150airmiles of thehauler’sdestination; suchanexemp- tion already exists within 150 air miles of the load’s origin. • The bill also updates the definition of anagricultural commodity for thepurpose ofdeterminingeligibilityfor theexemption. The bill proposes to define an agri- cultural commodity as any nonpro- cessed product planted or harvested for food, feed, fuel or fiber; fish, insects and livestock, and the nonprocessed products of same, such as milk, honey and eggs; nonprocessed forestry, aqua- cultural, horticultural and floral com- modities; fresh or minimally processed
fruits and vegetables; and animal feed. The 150 air-mile exemption at the des- tination end of the journey is the most important part of the bill to Kirk Wilbur, vicepresident of government affairs for the CaliforniaCattlemen’sAssociation,which also supports the bill. “The whole idea behind the front-end 150 air-mile exemption is a recognition thathaulersoftentimesneedtomovemore slowly,moredeliberatively, at the front end of their hauls,”Wilbur said. “If you’rehaul- ing cattle froma pasture or a ranch, often you’re on rural roads, unpaved roads, and thereareother considerations that require you to take that beginning of the trip rela- tively slowly.” Those same concerns also exist at the destination, “whenwe’re trying to deliver those cattle to feedlots, whenwe’re trying to deliver them to other ranches and pas- ture,” Wilbur said. “Obviously, with those rural roads, they’ve also got to go slowly, and carefully handle their vehicles and those livestock.” The exemption also benefits animal welfare,Wilbur added.Without it, adriver who runs out of time ismandated to takea 10-hour rest before finishing the trip. “As a result, you’ve got cattle languish- ing in the trailer, which is not particularly good for their health,” he said. “If we have that added 150 air-mile exemption on the back end of the haul, it gives that hauler a chance to actually deliver those cattle to their destination. “They need to eat, they need to drink, they need to roam,”Wilbur said. Sara Neagu-Reed, CFBF associate di- rector of federal policy, said Congress is likely to take up the bill after the election, perhaps as part of a future stimulus or ap- propriations bill. (Kevin Hecteman i s an ass i stant editor of Ag Alert. He may be contacted at khecteman@cfbf.com.)
Projectswill provide training to socially disadvantaged farmers
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Three California-based projects have received federal grants toprovide training, outreach and technical assistance to so- cially disadvantaged and veteran farmers and ranchers. The grantswere among $19.1million in awardsnationwideannouncedby theU.S. Department of Agriculture. The Asian Business Institute and ResourceCenter inFresnoreceivedagrant of $237,500 toconduct outreachand train- ing to ensure Southeast Asian farmers are awareofUSDAprograms that benefit their work in terms of financial resources, re- sources forgrowth, environmental practic- es and long-termeconomic sustainability. TheNapaValleyFarmworkerFoundation received $347,700 for training and educa- tion intended tobuild the financial literacy
of socially disadvantaged farmers, socially disadvantaged farm employees who are current farm operators and prospective farmowners, and socially disadvantaged youngpeople in theNapaValley. Pie Ranch in Pescadero received $400,000 to provide opportunities to beginning and early-stage farmers and ranchers of color, women, former farm employees, Black, Latinx and indigenous American producers, and people from under-resourced communities, who have experience working on farms andmay be ready to take the next step to establish a land-based enterprise. Overal l , the USDA Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Program issued grants to 49 organizations in 28 states.
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