In The News
Proposed appropriations act amendment allows 33-foot twin trailers
WASHINGTON — While the odds of its passage are almost as slim as that of winning the lottery, nevertheless Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., has introduced a sweeping amendment to the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 that includes increasing the length of twin trailers to 33 feet.
The issue of allowing the longer trailers on the nation's highways has been a hot topic for at least the past two years.
Section 31111(b)(1)(A) of Title 49 of the U.S. Code now prohibits states from enforcing any regulation that would limit the size of a trailer of or less than 28 feet.
Buck's bill strikes out language referring to 28-foot trailers and replaces it with similar language referencing a maximum length of 33 feet.
The attempt to allow 33-foot twin trailers is only one of dozens of proposed amendments to the appropriations bill as proposed by Buck.
The website govtrak.us says Buck's bill has only a 1 percent chance of passage.
The consolidated appropriations act brings together appropriations bills covering all federal agencies.
The House included allowing 33-foot trailers in its version of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Other Agencies appropriations bill.
The Senate Appropriations Committee also included 33-foot trailers in the bill it sent to the full Senate, but the provision was deleted from the full Senate bill and the provision was not included in the consolidated act.
Attempts to include a provision in the FAST Act, the new long-term surface transportation bill, also were unsuccessful.
The Trucker staff can be reached to comment on this article at [email protected].