The American Soybean Association (ASA) is making a strong push to get the increased truck weight limits included in the Highway bill in the House and needs your support and assistance.  The House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee announced that they will hold the mark-up on their draft Highway bill on Thursday Sept., 17.

On Thursday, Sept. 10, Rep. Reid Ribble (R-WI) is introducing a new “marker” bill, called the Safe, Flexible, and Efficient (SAFE) Trucking Act, that represents a compromise that is our best chance for success on this issue.

Click here to see a fact sheet on the Ribble bill and here for a section-by-section summary and here to see the Soy Transportation Coalition (STC) brochure on the benefits of increased trucking efficiency to soybean farmers.

ASA asks that you contact the members of your House delegation to urge them to cosponsor the SAFE Act to be introduced by Rep. Ribble, and express their support for this issue to the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) and/or Ranking Member Peter DeFazio (D-OR). 

If you are calling the office, you should contact the staff person that handles transportation issues as well as the staff person that handles agriculture issues. Sometimes, but not always, the same staff person handles both. Alternatively, members and staff may use the Soy Action Center to send a message directly to lawmakers (we encourage you to distribute this link broadly among your members).

The Coalition for Transportation Productivity (CTP) has officially endorsed new legislation soon to be introduced by Rep. Reid Ribble (R-WI), that would adjust the weight limit on our truck weight reform effort to 91,000 pounds from 97,000 pounds on six axles. The attached fact sheet will fully describe the benefits of the 91,000 pound configuration.  Experts have suggested this gets shippers as much as 70% of the productivity improvements of the 97,000 configuration and establishes the credibility of the six-axle vehicle.  While the new bill is not everything we wanted, enacting this change would be an important victory.

ASA will keep you updated as this issue moves forward.