Rob:  Federal trucking regulations are making some Oklahoma farmers lawbreakers.  Weight limits on farm trucks crossing state lines has many cattle producers, and even horse owners, on the wrong side of the law without even knowing it.
Rob:  For Nowata rancher, Jerry Wright, the everyday task of sending cattle to market is putting him crossways with the law every time he crosses the state line.
Jerry Wright:  We have land leased on the other side of the border we are only thirty minutes from the border.  We do a lot of business on both sides of the state line.
Rob:  The same truck and trailer Wright uses to move his cattle legally in Oklahoma exceeds federal weight limits every time he crosses the border into Kansas.
Jerry:  You know, then we’re sure breaking the law just about every time we go across the line.
Rob:  Federal law mandates vehicles weighing in excess of ten thousand pounds, must meet commercial motor vehicle regulations.  Despite the fact Oklahoma, as well as, surrounding states exempt agricultural producers just as long as they don’t cross the state line, where they then violate federal regulations.  A limit members of Oklahoma’s congressional delegation want to change.
Mary Fallin:  Consequently a producer who travels with his pickup truck and a trailer that is loaded with seasonal market place produce is subject to the federal requirements of a professional commercial truck driver and these requirements include possessing a commercial drivers license, they have to have a medical examination certificate, document their hours of driving in service, as well as, being subject to control substance and alcohol testing.  When you’re farmer just trying to take some cantaloupes to a local market place.
Rob:  At our state capitol, representatives Mary Fallin and Dan Boren held a congressional forum where Oklahoma ag leaders could speak out
Don Armes:  How can we as ag producers and state legislators help you push this issue.
Rob:  House Ag Committee Chair Don Armes.
Don Armes:  We want people to come into our state and do business whether it to sell, buy, whatever, and I think if you are not careful with these laws they become a hindrance and it makes it tough to do business and we kind of hold people out and I don’t think we want to do that and I don’t think they want to do that to us.
Rob:  Concentration in the ag industry has reduced the number of grain elevators and livestock markets giving producers who live close to the state line little choice but to break the law. 
Dan Boren:  I have the entire Arkansas border.  I touch Missouri and Kansas and Texas and Louisiana so we have all these states touching Oklahoma and we have these farmers and ranchers that transport things they’re getting ticketed.  They’re getting fined and we need to make sure we have a uniformed code across the United States so that we’re able to transport these goods.
Rob:  A move Oklahoma farmers say just makes sense.
Farmer:  But I don’t have a choice.  In fact, last week I had to go to Dodge City, Kansas.  That’s the only sales place.  My grain has got to go to Texas cause it’s just ten miles to the line down there.  So I’m caught in the middle.
Mary:  This is not just an Oklahoma issue but an issue that affects all farmers and ranchers and producers anyone in the agriculture industry that is driving these types of vehicles not for long haul commercial semi truck hauling but just to get their local products to the market place.  And we want to make sure that our roads and highways and vehicles are always safe but we also want to make sure the system is efficient and helps us produce a strong economy.
Dan:  There is no reason that a farmer’s vehicle can be considered safe in their own state but unsafe when they cross the state line into a state with the same definition for a commercial motor carrier.
Rob:  But help for farmers like Wright may be a long time in coming.  Congressional authors of the bill admit it is unlikely that any action will be taken before Congress adjourns for the year.