The Transporting Livestock Across America Safely Act was introduced in the Senate earlier this week. Now, House Ag Committee Chair Collin Peterson and Greg Pence of Indiana introduced H.R. Bill 2460, the Modernizing Agricultural Transportation Act. The legislation is a companion to a Senate Bill introduced last February and already drawing bipartisan supporters. It would require the Secretary of Transportation to establish a working group to study regulatory and legislative improvements for the livestock and agricultural commodities transport industries. The working group would then be charged with presenting a report to the Secretary of Agriculture that would identify the “initiatives and regulatory changes that maintain and protect the safety of highways and allow for the safe, efficient, and productive marketplace transport of livestock, and agricultural commodities.”
Steve Hilker, U.S. Cattlemen’s Association Transportation Committee Chair, says they appreciate Congress working to come up with solutions to allow for the safe and efficient movement of cattle throughout the country. “New regulations imposed in 2017 don’t work for the livestock transportation industry,” Hilker says. “We’ve been working with members of Congress and the Administration to find regulations that enhance highway safely, while also allowing haulers to deliver their live cargo as humanely as possible.”
Source: National Association of Farm Broadcasters