Monday, January 15, 2007

 

Lawmakers Mull Weight Limit Bill

Some lawmakers are weary of a bill proposed in the first days of the current legislative session which would require the Transportation Cabinet to issue permits to coal trucks with extra axles to carry extra weight. Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement officers began cracking down on overweight trucks in Eastern Kentucky in 2004. Last year, however, trucking companies discovered that a subsection of a 1986 law allows coal trucks to receive permits to haul an extra 20,000 pounds above existing weight limits for each new axle added under a truck bed. Some truckers resumed hauling heavier loads and some traditional 22-wheel coal buckets were turned into 28-wheelers, but Transportation officials stopped issuing the permits in August. The bill, introduced Jan. 3 by two Eastern Kentucky legislators, Reps. W. Keith Hall, D-Pikeville, and Teddy Edmonds, D-Jackson, is an amendment to the state's unique extended-weight coal-haul law, which already allows coal carriers to haul 46,000 pounds more than other truckers. Among other things, the amendment apparently would force the Transportation Cabinet to resume issuing permits to haulers with extra axles. Hall said he would withdraw as a sponsor if the bill poses a deterrent to enforcement of truck weight laws. Rep. Hubert Collins, chairman of the House Transportation Committee said that things are going pretty well with weights right now and that he plans on not taking up the issue, a sentiment other lawmakers echoed saying that the bill might very well be dead in the water.





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