20 Oct IMPORTANT UPDATE: Renew Kansas receives official clarification on COVID-19 truck weight exemptions
Renew Kansas Biofuels Association has received updated guidance from the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) and the Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP) regarding the COVID-19 truck weight exemption set forth in Governor Laura Kelly’s Executive Order 20-65. The exemption allows for a 10 percent weight waiver (up to 90,000 pounds) on trucks hauling essential goods for direct relief of the COVID-19 pandemic.
KDOT and KHP have provided the following guidance on the COVID-19 truck weight exemption under Governor Laura Kelly’s Executive Order 20-65:
- Only livestock and livestock feed would qualify for this emergency truck weight exemption.
- To qualify for the overweight truck permit, livestock feed must be hauled in direct support of livestock that has a shortage of feed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- If livestock feed is hauled in direct support of COVID-19 relief, then the motor carrier can obtain an Emergency COVID-19 Relief Permit which expires on December 31, 2020.
- The overweight hauling of livestock feed as part of the normal course of business would not be considered direct relief of the COVID-19 pandemic, and would not qualify for the overweight exemption.
In reaching this determination, KDOT and KHP stated that they followed the exemptions set forth in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Sept. 11, 2020 extension of its Emergency Declaration 2020-002.