ELD exemption questions dominate seminar at MATS

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Federal regulators faced a flurry of questions from drivers about exemptions to the electronic logging device mandate during a seminar Thursday at the Mid-America Trucking Show.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration hosted the seminar during the afternoon of the first day of MATS.

Since the use of electronic logging devices became mandatory on Dec. 18, interest in the various carve-outs continues to grow. Between built-in exemptions for older trucks and confusion over the agriculture exemptions, the hour-long seminar focused more on who doesn’t have to comply than who has to.

Joe DeLorenzo, director of the FMCSA Office of Compliance and Enforcement, fielded questions from a standing-room-only crowd. Right off the bat, older engines drove the conversation.

DeLorenzo said drivers of trucks with pre-2000 engines are exempt. It doesn’t matter if the pre-2000 engine came with the truck or was a replacement engine.

Drivers dove deeper into the differences between an original engine and remanufactured and rebuilt engines.

Because some engine service replaces older parts with newer parts, that is not enough to trump the exemption, DeLorenzo explained. However, if newer components are plentiful enough as an engine is rebuilt, the engine should be relabeled, he said.

When it comes to inspections on the roadside, officers will check the tag on the engine.

“If they can’t find it or figure it out, they will go by what the driver says. That’s what we’re telling them,” DeLorenzo said. “But paperwork always helps.”

OOIDA Board Member Monte Wiederhold took exception to DeLorenzo’s explanation of the pre-2000 exemption and the conflict between guidance and the rule’s language.

“Will you be issuing guidance to CVSA?” Wiederhold asked.

“Yes, we’ve already done that. We’re doing the best we can,” DeLorenzo responded.

Is all agriculture under the ag exemption?

That’s the next tricky question that truckers peppered DeLorenzo with.

The short answer is, regardless of what a state considers agriculture, the federal definition trumps all. In order to legally run under the ag exemption, you must haul livestock, bees, unprocessed fruits and vegetables.

When one driver joked about the exclusive nature of the federal definition of agricultural commodities, DeLorenzo joked, “Throw a cow on.”

Under the exemption, you do not have to have an ELD if you do not leave a 150-mile air radius more than eight times in any rolling 30-day period.

“If you exit that 150-mile radius, that’s when your clock starts,” DeLorenzo said.

The 150 miles? “That’s all free,” he said.

“Exit that 150-mile radius, you still have 11 hours of driving time and 14 hours of off-duty time.”

The new 90-day waiver for agricultural commodities pushes the pause button on any compliance with the mandatory use of ELDs until June 18. If you haul an agricultural product as defined under the federal definition DeLorenzo outlined, you won’t have to have an ELD, no matter how many times you leave the 150-mile air radius.

The looming compliance deadline

As of today, drivers found without an electronic logging device will be cited (and possibly ticketed under state or local laws) but not placed out of service.

After April 1, drivers without an ELD will be put out of service for 10 hours. They will then be allowed to complete their run. Before proceeding beyond the load currently under dispatch, an ELD must be installed in the truck.

DeLorenzo said that not having an ELD is the only out-of-service violation under the ELD mandate.

Listening session at 1:30 p.m., March 23

FMCSA also plans a listening session with the new administrator of the agency, Ray Martinez, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Friday, March 23, in Room B103 at the Kentucky Expo Center.