In 1982 Congress established the Motor Carrier Safety Act and required a State who wished to apply for funding to adopt and assume responsibility for enforcing safety requirements that are compatible with the Federal Safety regulations. The States inspect vehicles and driver records, train their personnel in the safety requirements, and promote public awareness about commercial motor vehicle laws and safety. The States provide a 20% match for the Federal funds.

The regulations are very specific about rules for vehicles engaged in interstate commerce, and each State is required to comply with the letter of the law. Intrastate regulations are left up to the individual state; however, to receive funding the State must demonstrate a "good faith effort" to bring State intrastate regulations into compatibility with the Federal regulations. On October 1 of each year, the Department of Transportation requires an enforcement plan from each state be submitted to show their 'good faith effort". What this means for us is that the truck safety rules will continue to change.

At the present time, only 7 states in the cotton belt are listed by the Department of Transportation as being compatible with the Federal regulations (Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas). The differences the States must confront are primarily weight, driver qualifications and age, and hours-of-service regulations.

Agriculture in general has come a long way in it's growth into the modern era of equipment. It is no longer good enough to believe that the word "farmer" is an all encompassing phrase for all of agriculture. State of the art equipment can no longer be judged by weight alone, we must begin looking at function as well. Agribusinesses should recognize that new regulations will not necessarily fit their past situations.