Home > News > Press Releases
 
NEW JERSEY, PENNSYLVANIA REACH AGREEMENT
ON COMMERCIAL DRIVERS’ LICENSE EXEMPTION FOR FARMERS
 
For Immediate Release: May 27, 2005 Contact:

Lynne Richmond
(609)292-8896
lynne.richmond@ag.state.nj.us

     
(TRENTON) –New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Charles M. Kuperus and New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission Chief Administrator Sharon A. Harrington today announced that New Jersey and Pennsylvania have signed an agreement allowing operators of farm vehicles to drive their vehicles across state borders.

The reciprocal agreement recognizes each state’s exemption from the commercial drivers license requirement for farmers, enabling farmers to drive their vehicles into the other state without being cited.

The “Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986” requires a person who operates a vehicle that has a gross weight rating in excess of 26,000, carries 15 or more passengers or transports hazardous materials to have a commercial drivers license (CDL). However, states have the authority to exempt certain drivers, including operators of farm vehicles, from the CDL requirement, which both New Jersey and Pennsylvania have done.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations limit use of the CDL exemptions for the operators of farm vehicles to the driver’s home state unless there is a reciprocity agreement with adjoining states.

The CDL exemption applies to vehicles controlled and operated by farmers, their employees or family members that are used to transport agricultural products, farm machinery or both to and from a farm, provided they are within 150 miles of their farms.

Dialogue continues with the other states within 150 miles of New Jersey that have not yet signed reciprocity agreements with the Garden State.