Man, this would have been some AAA grade, primo, anti-regulation rant stuff:
A new rule being proposed by the federal Department of Transportation would require farmers to get commercial drivers licenses.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which is a part of DOT, wants to adopt standards that would reclassify all farm vehicles and implements as Commercial Motor Vehicles, officials said. Likewise, the proposal, if adopted, would require all farmers and everyone on the farm who operates any of the equipment to obtain a CDL, they added.
I was all set to go, but then I had to go and do something stupid like check to see if the problem was real:
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced today that it has no intention to propose new regulations governing the transport of agricultural products. The agency also released guidance designed to make sure states clearly understand the common sense exemptions that allow farmers, their employees, and their families to accomplish their day-to-day work and transport their products to market.
The guidance linked above is quite clear about not changing any regulations and leaving it to the states to decide what farming activities do or do not require a CDL. Minnesota's clear and common sense farming exemptions can be found here.
Damn. A perfectly good end of the week outrage, shot all to hell.
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