Washington — The U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 5 approved the “Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform (STRR) Act of 2015,” a six-year funding bill designed to address needed infrastructure investments and give states and local governments more flexibility in allocating resources. The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) said it supports the measure, but had pressed for two amendments, neither of which made it into the final bill – the Crawford-Ashford Short Haul Graduated Driver Pilot Program amendment and the Ribble SAFE Trucking amendment. ARA told Green Markets that the House Rules Committee blocked consideration of the Crawford-Ashford amendment, which would have allowed commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders who are 18 years old to operate a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) from one state to an adjacent state. Current regulations allow CDL drivers between the ages of 18 and 20 to only operate a CMV within their state, while interstate CDL drivers must be 21 years old. ARA had earlier distributed a coalition letter seeking signatures of national and state agricultural groups who supported the amendment. Also defeated on the House floor was the Ribble amendment, which would have given states the option to raise the truck weight maximums on their interstate highways from 80,000 to 91,000 pounds. More than 100 amendments were reportedly considered for the bill, which was approved by a vote of 363 to 64 after three days of debate.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain