House Status:
Senate Status:
Senate Status:
Minutes for HB2095 - Committee on Transportation
Short Title
Providing a special vehicle permit for certain vehicle combinations.
Minutes Content for Thu, Feb 2, 2017
Staff explained the bill.
Chairman Proehl recognized Randy Stookey, Vice President and General Counsel,KS Grain and Feed Association. Mr. Stookey said HB2095 as drafted, would allow motor carriers to obtain an annual special permit allowing them to transport up to 90,000 pounds on six-axle truck configurations. (Attachment 1)
The next proponent was Leslie Kaufman, President/CEO, KS Cooperative Council. According to Ms. Kaufman, for their members it is not a question of whether to ship by truck or by rail because a large percentage of the grain handling facilities in Kansas currently have no rail service. (Attachment 2)
Tucker Stewart, Associate Counsel, KS Livestock Association, the next proponent, said the KS Livestock Ass'n. supports HB2095 which would allow the Department of Transportation to issue a special permit for divisible loads of up to 90,000 pounds gross vehicle weight on non-interstate roads if the vehicle has six or more axles. (Attachment 3)
The Chairman recognized Tom Whitaker, Executive Director, KS Motor Carriers Ass'n. Mr. Whitaker said in addition to increasing the allowable gross vehicle weight, the bill expands the Federal Bridge Formula to accommodate the increased weight and sets an annual permit fee of $200.00. (Attachment 4)
Josh Roe, Assistant Secretary for the KS Department of Agriculture was the next proponent. According to Mr. Roe, an important facet of the agricultural industry in Kansas is the ability to move agricultural products to market efficiently and KDA supports all efforts to improve agricultural producers' transportation efficiency so long as safety and infrastructure are not jeopardized. (Attachment 5)
Chairman Proehl recognized Mike Steenhoek, Executive Director, Soy Transportation Coalition as the next proponent. He said while the proposed truck configurations will permit more freight to be transported per semi, the size and maximum allowable length of the truck will not increase. He said a semi will simply be allowed too utilize a higher percentage of its available capacity. (Attachment 6)
Lucas Heinen, President, KS Soybean Ass'n. spoke next. He said he was a row-crow farmer producing 600 acres of soybeans and corn annually in Brown County and was familiar with what it took to get his grain to market. He said research indicates increasing truck-weight limits, among other positive results, would provide greater efficiency and safety in transporting soybeans and other grains.(Attachment 7)
The Chairman drew the Committee's attention to the written testimony submitted in support of HB2095 by: Ron Seeber, Sr. Vice President of Government Affairs, Renew Kansas (Attachment 8) Greg Krissek, Kansas Corn Growers Ass'n. (Attachment 9) Ted Schultz, Chief Operating Officer, Team Marketing Alliance (Attachment 10). Tim Stroda, Kansas Pork Ass'n. (Attachment 11) Larry Martin, resident, KS Livestock Ass'n. (Attachment 12)
Neutral testimony was presented by Larry Baer, League of Kansas Municipalities.(Attachment 13) Mr. Baer said The League understands the position of the agricultural and trucking industries seeking to increase load capacities of trucks, however, while they support the access to economic opportunity being proposed The League also has concerns regarding the impact that heavier trucks will have on the streets, roads and bridges in Kansas cities.
The next neutral testimony presented was Melissa Wangemann, representing the Kansas Ass'n. of Counties. (Attachment 14) She said they want to promote the ag industry when possible, however, Kansas counties own and maintain 109,000 miles of roads and 19,468 bridges in Kansas and heavier trucks are always a concern because of the impact on both roads and bridges.
The last neutral testimony was presented by Joel Skelley, Director of Policy, KS Department of Transportation. He said increased weights on trucks has been a topic of discussion in Kansas and other states across the country for several years. Mr. Skelley said as a result of these discussions in Kansas specifically KDOT performed some analysis on their system of highways and bridges. Based on this analysis KDOT believes that any increase in weight would need to have an increase in number of axles on the vehicle. (Attachment 15)
There was no other proponent or neutral testimony so the Chairman recognized Pat Hubbell who was representing the railroads.(Attachment 16) Mr. Hubbell said a 2000 U.S. DOT study found that increased truck size and weights would lead to a sharp decline in rail traffic. He said more recent studies have confirmed this, projecting that an increase in allowable truck weight from 80,000 pounds to 97,000 pounds could reduce merchandise traffic on Class 1 railroads by up to 50 percent and overall Class 1 rail traffic by up to 19 percent. He said traffic on short-line railroads could suffer similarly large diversion, likely crippling many short lines.
Chairman Proehl drew the Committee's attention to the written testimony in opposition to HB2095 submitted by Ty Dragoo, Director/Chairman KS State Legislative Board, International Ass'n. of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (Attachment 17), Matthew Hall, Business Agent at Teamsters Local Union 595 (Attachment 18), and Tony Hofmann, director of Public Works, Overland Park, KS (Attachment 19).
After all questions were answered, the Chairman closed the hearing on HB2095.
Chairman Proehl announced the next meeting will be Tuesday, February 7th and the Committee will hear HB2076, HB2170 and do Final Action on HB2096.
There being no further business before the Committee the meeting was adjourned.
