Legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would permanently exempt livestock, insect and aquatic animal haulers from federal hours-of-service (HOS) regulations.
The Hauling Exemptions for Livestock Protection (HELP) Act (H.R. 4500) recognizes the unique demands of transporting live animals and builds on a COVID-era Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) emergency declaration that allowed these haulers flexibility while still operating at an excellent safety level, according to Colorado Rep. Jeff Hurd, who co-sponsored the bill.
“These provisions regulating livestock haulers have proven time and time again to be unnecessary and burdensome,” Hurd said. “Live animals have unique care needs and require flexibility to be safely transported along the supply chain, and frequent road closures and adverse weather makes this flexibility especially important in Colorado. The HELP Act provides this critical regulatory relief and allows haulers to continue delivering for our producers and food supply safely and effectively, as they’ve shown for over two years during the pandemic.”
Kansas Rep. Tracey Mann, another co-sponsor of the bill, said livestock requires unique care and flexibility.
“The Department of Transportation’s hours of service and electronic logging device rules fail to take that reality into account and puts unnecessary burdens on livestock, livestock haulers, and the nation’s food supply chain as a whole,” Mann said. “Our bill rolls back these burdensome regulations and gives our nation’s livestock haulers the flexibility they need to keep our food supply chain strong.”
The bill’s other co-sponsors are Colorado Rep. Gabe Evans and Tennessee Rep. John Rose.
The HELP Act is supported by groups including the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, American Sheep Industry Association and the National Aquaculture Association.
