Livestock auction markets sit directly in the middle of every transaction. That means trucking regulations have a direct impact on both markets and producers. Jara Settles, general counsel for the Livestock Marketing Association, said that’s why overburdensome trucking rules are a big concern for the association.
“Obviously, livestock auction markets sit in the middle of livestock transactions, so those animals have to be hauled to us, and then they have to be hauled away from us after the sale. And so, onerous or overburdensome regulations in the trucking space are extremely impactful and very much felt by our markets, and then also by the producers that they serve. So LMA has been at the table for years on the conversation surrounding electronic logging devices, and then the underlying conversation about hours of service.”
She talks about what they’ve seen in the regulatory space during the last decade.
“Livestock haulers are a special breed. They require special training. They require special equipment, and those haulers are just different. They haul a different commodity. They take different approaches because they’re hauling live animals. They have to go slower. They have to drive more carefully because of what they’re hauling. As a result, they should be able to use some flexibilities that take into account what they’re hauling.”
They’ve had some success in getting flexibility for livestock haulers.
We’ve been advocating across the board for whatever flexibilities can come the way of those livestock haulers. Specifically, the industry is getting behind the HELP Act, which has been introduced by Representative Heard of Colorado, and that would just eliminate livestock haulers from compliance with hours-of-service rules and the electronic logging device mandate. We’ve been electronic logging device-exempt since 2017. It’s going great. Let’s just make that a codified rule. And then during COVID, there was an emergency declaration that allowed those haulers to move those livestock hours of service free for 29 months. It went well. Let’s just go ahead and put that into the rule book and allow those livestock haulers to make professional and livestock welfare-minded decisions on their own.”