SSB 1015 (LSB 1884XC (3) 91)

SENATE FILE _____ 

BY  (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION BILL BY CHAIRPERSON ZUMBACH)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to driver age qualifications for certain commercial motor vehicle drivers operating solely intrastate to transport hazardous material.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 321.449, subsection 3, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows:
   3.  Rules adopted under this section concerning driver age qualifications do not apply to drivers for private and for-hire motor carriers which operate solely intrastate except when the vehicle being driven is transporting a hazardous material in a quantity which requires placarding. The minimum age for the exempted intrastate operations is eighteen years of age.
    Sec. 2.  Section 321.450, subsection 3, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows:
   3.  Notwithstanding other provisions of this section, or the age requirements under section 321.449, the age requirements under section 321.449 and the rules adopted under this section pertaining to compliance with regulations adopted under United States Code, Tit. 49, and found in 49 C.F.R. §177.804, shall not apply to retail dealers of fertilizers, petroleum products, and pesticides and their employees while delivering fertilizers, petroleum products, and pesticides to farm customers within a one-hundred-mile radius of their retail place of business.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   Under current law, the department of public safety (DPS), in consultation with the department of transportation, is authorized to adopt motor carrier safety rules consistent with federal motor carrier safety regulations. Federal regulations require a person to be at least 21 years old in order to be licensed as a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) driver (49 C.F.R. §391.11), with limited exceptions. DPS is authorized to adopt rules authorizing a person who is at least 18 years of age, but under 21 years of age, to be licensed to operate a CMV in interstate commerce if the person holds a valid commercial driver’s license (CDL) and is authorized under federal law to operate a CMV in interstate commerce. In addition, rules adopted by DPS concerning driver age qualifications do not apply to drivers for private and for-hire motor carriers which operate solely intrastate except when the vehicle being driven is transporting a hazardous material in a quantity which requires placarding. The minimum age for the exempted intrastate operations is 18 years of age.
   This bill strikes the age qualifications exception for drivers transporting a hazardous material in a quantity which requires placarding, thus making DPS rules concerning driver age qualifications inapplicable to persons who hold a CDL while driving a CMV for private and for-hire motor carriers, which operate solely intrastate, to transport hazardous material. The bill strikes a reference to the age requirements under Code section 321.449, amended by the bill, regarding the inapplicability of rules pertaining to retail dealers of fertilizers, petroleum products, and pesticides and their employees while delivering fertilizers, petroleum products, and pesticides to farm customers within a 100-mile radius of their retail place of business.
   The bill does not amend Code section 321.180(2)(f), which provides that a commercial learner’s permit is not valid for the operation of a vehicle transporting hazardous materials. In general, rules adopted by DPS for CMV drivers still apply to a CMV driver engaged exclusively in intrastate commerce to transport hazardous materials requiring a placard (see Code section 321.449(4)(a)).