Assembly Bill 306 – Authored by Rep. Jerry Petrowski (R-Marathon)
Senate Bill 223 – Authored by Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin)
Status
The Senate passed Senate Bill 223 with a vote of 33-0 on October 20, 2011.
Senate Bill 223 was passed by the Assembly on October 25, 2011.
2011 Wisconsin Act 56 was signed into law on November 9, 2011.
Summary
2011 Wisconsin Act 56 allows for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) to issue overweight permits for vehicle combinations that have six or more axels and that are transporting certain agricultural products to a farm or from a field or farm to a storage facility or processor. The agricultural products that may be transported under the permit include fruit, vegetables, grain, distillers' grain and livestock, but exclude milk, animal waste and raw forest products. Overweight loads cannot exceed 90,000 pounds.
Background
Under previous state law, with limited exception, no one could operate any vehicle or combination of vehicles that exceeds the road weight limit unless they obtained an overweight permit from the DOT or, when applicable, a local authority. A permit was unable to be issued for transportation of oversized loads if the load could be reasonably divided or reduced to comply with road weight limits.
Position
The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation supported this legislation since it allows for farmers to be more efficient when transporting their commodities to or from their farms. It may also reduce the number of trucks on roadways.
