20 Oct IMPORTANT UPDATE: KARA receives official clarification on COVID-19 truck weight exemptions
Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Association has received updated guidance from the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) and the Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP) regarding the COVID-19 truck weight exemption set forth in Governor Laura Kelly’s Executive Order 20-65. The exemption allows for a 10 percent weight waiver (up to 90,000 pounds) on trucks hauling essential goods for direct relief of the COVID-19 pandemic.
KDOT and KHP have determined that the overweight hauling of pesticide, fertilizer, and other ag inputs are not part of direct COVID-19 relief, and so do not qualify for the overweight exemption referenced in Governor Laura Kelly’s Executive Order No. 20-65.
In addition, KDOT and KHP provided the following guidance and clarification on the COVID-19 truck weight exemption under Executive Order 20-65:
- The hauling of grain that directly supports the feeding of livestock, due to shortages of livestock feed from the COVID-19 pandemic, would qualify for the emergency overweight truck permit.
- If grain is hauled in direct support of COVID-19 relief and is for livestock feed, then the motor carrier can obtain an Emergency COVID-19 Relief Permit, which expires on December 31, 2020.
In reaching this determination, KDOT and KHP stated that they followed the exemptions set forth in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Sept. 11, 2020 extension of its Emergency Declaration 2020-002.