The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

The Agricultural Information page on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) website shared an announcement on December 13 that will positively impact the agriculture industry: “Transporters of livestock and insects are not required to have an ELD. The statutory exemption will remain in place until further notice. Drivers do not need to carry any documentation regarding this exemption.”

This is good news for truck drivers in Blaine County who haul livestock and honeybees because they can continue to run on paper logs and without an electronic logging device (ELD).

At least temporarily, the current exemption removes uncertainty surrounding whether or not livestock haulers need to adopt an ELD, a mandate which initially went into effect on December 18, 2017, and has since been amended three times. As part of a budget package for the 2018 fiscal year, Congress exempted drivers hauling livestock and insects from ELD compliance through Sept. 30. They then extended that through Dec. 7 with a short-term, stopgap spending measure meant to ward off a government shutdown. The deadline was then moved again, when lawmakers pushed through another brief spending bill.

Only time will tell whether Congress and President Trump can agree to a deal to fund the government for the 2019 fiscal year and whether that deal will include an extension of the ELD waiver for livestock and insect haulers.