SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — A bill sought after by South Dakota truckers passed the House in Pierre Thursday.
The bill raises the maximum height of a truck hauling animal feed, baled hay in particular.
The bill raises the maximum height from 14 feet, 3 inches to 15 feet. It now heads to the Senate.
Hay haulers had been upset that existing laws were too stringent and were enforced more frequently recently.
“That permit’s basically worthless. There’s not a single load of hay in round bales being baled today that can meet those specs,” said Josh Schmidt before the legislative session began. Schmidt produces and transports hay from farms near Avon and Sioux Falls.
South Dakota Farm Bureau Lobbyist Mike Held supports the measure.
“The Department of Transportation did some studies,” Held said. “If you go above that you start to run into some problems, so probably 15 feed is the right height.”
(Jerry Oster, WNAX, contributed to this report.)
