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To amend the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 to modify certain agricultural exemptions for hours of service requirements, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill would modify agricultural exemptions from federal hours of service requirements for truck drivers. It would expand exemptions to allow drivers transporting agricultural commodities within a 150 air-mile radius from the source or destination, removing previous limitations to state-determined planting and harvest periods. The bill would also make livestock feed exempt from hours of service requirements year-round. The Secretary of Transportation would be required to revise the definition of "agricultural commodity" within 180 days to include nonprocessed plants, nonhuman animals and their products, fresh or minimally processed produce, and animal feed. These changes would broaden which drivers and commodities qualify for federal hours of service exemptions.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Fischer, Deb [R-NE] (R-NE)
Actions (2)
- Dec 17, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. · senate
- Dec 17, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 17, 2025
Mrs. Fischer introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
A BILL
To amend the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 to modify certain agricultural exemptions for hours of service requirements, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Haulers of Agriculture and Livestock Safety Act of 2025” or the “HAULS Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. TRANSPORTATION OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES AND FARM SUPPLIES.
Section 229 of the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 (49 U.S.C. 31136 note; Public Law 106-159) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a)(1)—
(A) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking “during planting and harvest periods, as determined by each State,”; and
(B) by striking subparagraph (A) and inserting the following:
“(A) drivers transporting agricultural commodities within a 150 air-mile radius from—
“(i) the source of the agricultural commodities; or
“(ii) the destination of the agricultural commodities;”; and
(2) in subsection (e)(8), by striking “during the planting and harvesting seasons within each State, as determined by the State, and livestock feed at any time of the year” and inserting “and livestock feed”.
SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITY.
(a) In General.—Section 229(e) of the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 (49 U.S.C. 31136 note; Public Law 106-159) is amended by striking paragraph (7) and inserting the following:
“(7) Agricultural commodity.—The term ‘agricultural commodity’ has the meaning given the term in section 395.2 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation).”.
(b) Rulemaking.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall revise the definition of the term “agricultural commodity” in section 395.2 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, to include—
(1) any nonprocessed product planted or harvested for food, feed, fuel, or fiber;
(2)(A) any nonhuman living animal, including—
(i) fish;
(ii) insects; and
(iii) livestock (as defined in section 602 of the Emergency Livestock Feed Assistance Act of 1988 (7 U.S.C. 1471)); and
(B) the nonprocessed products of any nonhuman living animal, including—
(i) milk;
(ii) eggs; and
(iii) honey;
(3) nonprocessed forestry, aquacultural, horticultural, and floricultural commodities;
(4) fresh or minimally processed fruits and vegetables, including fruits and vegetables that are rinsed, cooled, cut, ripened, or otherwise minimally processed, as determined by the Secretary; and
(5) animal feed, including the ingredients of animal feed. <all>
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