Farmers’ ability to efficiently transport crops during harvest proved key to the General Assembly’s passage of HB 5749. Illinois Farm Bureau supported the bipartisan legislation sponsored by a Senate Republican and a House Democrat.

 

Sen. Dale Fowler, R-Harrisburg, and Rep. Natalie Phelps Finnie, D-Elizabethtown, sponsored the bill that would allow farmers to apply for a special permit from the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). (Farmers would be required to also apply to local jurisdictions.) The legislation heads to Gov. Bruce Rauner.

 

“This will really help us to get the crop out when the weather is bad,” said Gallatin County Farm Bureau President Hugh David Scates of Shawneetown. “It’s hard to judge how many pounds are on a semi when you’re in the field.”

 

Farmers approached Phelps Finnie about difficulties hauling crops from the field during the harvest time crunch, she recalled.

 

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