The budget deal reached by Congress last week to avoid another government shutdown and fund the federal government through the 2019 fiscal year includes a provision that allows drivers hauling livestock and insects to continue to run on paper logs — and without an electronic logging device — at least through Sept. 30.
The deal was passed by both chambers of Congress and signed into law by President Trump, making the exemption official for at least seven more months, though lawmakers could extend the exemption again or clear another piece of legislation specifying a longer-term fix for addressing livestock haulers’ quandary with hours of service regs and the ELD mandate.
Livestock and insect haulers have been exempt from the mandate from its onset, due to their need to ensure that the animals they’re hauling have access to food and water and proper temperatures when they stop to rest. The spending deal forgoes enforcement of the ELD mandate for livestock and insect haulers through the bill’s expiration — Sept. 30.
The U.S. DOT is currently accepting public comments on a request for more lenient hours of service regs for operators hauling livestock.
In other ELD news, companies hauling fireworks and who are members of the American Pyrotechnics Association are exempt from the ELD mandate during the July Fourth holiday periods of 2019 and 2020. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration granted the waiver to the 53 companies that are members of APA that already receive an hours of service exemption during the holiday season.
