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Minutes for HB2511 - Committee on Transportation
Short Title
Making commercial driver's licenses renewable every five years.
Minutes Content for Tue, Mar 6, 2018
Chairperson Petersen opened the hearing on the bill. Scott Wells, Revisor's Office, gave an overview. Mr. Wells said this bill extends from four to five years the renewal of a commercial driver's license (CDL).
Representative Adam Lusker gave proponent testimony on behalf of Representative Cindy Neighbor (Attachment 1). The CDL renewal is on a four-year time period per state law. The hazardous material endorsement is good for five years and is a federal requirement. State law requires an applicant renewing a CDL to also take and pass the test for any endorsement. This bill would extend the CDL renewal to five years to coincide with the hazardous material endorsement. Representative Lusker indicated this bill passed out of the House favorably and asked for support of the bill.
Senator Schmidt asked how the five and four years will line up. Representative Lusker said the CDL is at four years and the hazmat at five years, but the next time they are renewed, both will be for the same length of time. Not all CDL licenses have the hazmat endorsement, but for those that do, the endorsement must appear on the CDL license. Senator Schmidt said if a person renews and has one year left on the hazmat endorsement, that extra year doesn't do any good. Representative Lusker said that is correct, and with this bill, there will be an automatic lineup for both renewals at the same time.
Senator Hawk asked how the state chose a four-year renewal cycle for CDLs. Representative Lusker said he didn't know. It could have been that the driver's license was once renewable every four years and then changed to six years, and it was probably something like that. The bill would allow CDL holders to renew every five years instead of four, does align with the hazmat and federal guidelines, and should make truck drivers' lives a little easier.
Mandy Roe, Director, Member Services, Kansas Cooperative Council, provided proponent testimony (Attachment 2). At most agriculture cooperatives, she said, more than half of the employees have CDLs. A person applying for a hazmat endorsement must also have a background check and be fingerprinted at a cost of $130.00. Cooperatives across Kansas support this bill because it would lower the regulatory cost of doing business by not duplicating testing and cost.
Tom Whitaker, Executive Director, Kansas Motor Carriers Association (KMCA), provided proponent testimony (Attachment 3). He said one of his predecessors had said truck drivers want to renew after four years when state law was changed to allow other drivers to renew every six years, and that is the history of why every four years. This bill would provide the CDL expiration date to align with the hazardous materials endorsement expiration (background check and fingerprinting) and would be consistent with the current Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration CDL regulations. KMCA supports this bill.
Written proponent testimony was furnished by Shahira Stafford, Vice President, Government Affairs, Kansas Grain and Feed Association (Attachment 4).
Kent Selk, Commercial Driver Licensing Manager, Kansas Department of Revenue, was unable to be present to give testimony but his neutral testimony was distributed (Attachment 5).
There were no opponents.
The hearing was closed but will be continued on Thursday, March 8.
