More states working on APU weight exemptions

Apu Untitled 1On Jan. 23, Missouri and New Hampshire legislatures held hearings on bills that would allow the auxiliary power unit weight exemption permitted on trucks to be increased.

Additionally, New Hampshire lawmakers will meet in executive session Jan. 30 to discuss HB196, which would allow the weight exemption to be hiked to 800 pounds. The state safety department requested the bill, which currently has six sponsors.

Missouri’s legislature had a Jan. 23 hearing on SB 43, which would allow truckers an APU weight exemption increase from 400 to 550 pounds.

The 2012 federal surface transportation reauthorization law allows states to approve a hike in the weight exempted for the units be upped to 550 pounds after Oct. 1 without impacting state highway funding eligibility. The 2005 highway bill had provided states authority to enact a 400-pound exemption for idling reduction technology on trucks.

Further information on the New Hampshire bill was not immediately available.

Twenty-nine states have laws allowing the 400 pound exemption, while 15 states do so by enforcement policy rather than state law, according to a recent issue of the federal National Idling Reduction Network News.

Other states considering weight exemption measures are California, Hawaii, Kentucky, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee and the District of Columbia.

New
Overdrive's Load Profit Analyzer
Know your costs? Compute the potential profit in any truckload, analyze per-day and per-mile breakouts, and compare real offers on multiple loads or game out hypothetical rate/lane scenarios. Enter your trucking business's fixed and variable costs, and load information, to get started.
Try it out!
Attachments Idea Book Cover

Click here to see the NIRNN on the Department of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s website.

Looking for your next job?
Careersingear.com is the go-to platform for the Trucking industry. Don’t just find the job you need; find the job you want with the company that wants you!
The Business Manual for Owner-Operators
Overdrive editors and ATBS present the industry’s best manual for prospective and committed owner-operators. You’ll find exceptional depth on many issues in the Partners in Business playbook.
Access the Playbook
Partners in Business Issue Cover