When a logging operation transports forest products in a heavy truck, do the drivers need a commercial driver's license (CDL), or do they qualify for the same farm-vehicle exemption available to traditional farmers?

Plain-English summary

Representative Beverly Perdue asked whether drivers employed in logging operations could use the farm-vehicle exemption from North Carolina’s commercial driver’s license requirement. The AG answered yes if the forest products being transported were raised and grown by the employer. The opinion also says the forester must not engage in buying products for resale and must satisfy the farm-vehicle criteria applied to forestry operations.

G.S. 20-37.16(e)(3), quoted in the opinion, required a qualifying vehicle to be controlled and operated by the farmer or an employee, used exclusively for farm use, used to carry specified products or supplies to or from a farm, not used in common or contract carrier operations, and used within 150 miles of the farm. North Carolina’s added sentence said a forestry vehicle meeting those criteria could be a farm vehicle.

To interpret “farmer” and “agricultural products” for forestry, the AG consulted the federal rule summary and North Carolina’s farmer license plate provision. That separate plate provision included a 10-acre requirement. The opinion used its definitions as guidance but did not add 10 acres to the CDL exemption’s stated criteria. It concluded that a forester who engages in buying forest products for resale does not qualify; it did not say that person may claim the exemption for selected self-grown loads.

Currency note

This opinion interprets the CDL exemption and related provisions as they stood in 1990. Check current federal and North Carolina CDL rules before deciding whether a driver needs a license.

Background and statutory framework

The opinion quotes a federal rule summary explaining why the farm-vehicle waiver was limited to small-scale farm-to-market movement rather than long-haul or for-hire trucking. It then reads the North Carolina forestry sentence alongside the statutory vehicle criteria. For forest products, the AG required a grower relationship and rejected the exemption when the forester bought products for resale.

Common questions

Is owning at least ten acres a CDL exemption requirement in this opinion?

The opinion quotes that acreage threshold from a different statute about purchasing farmer license plates. Its conclusion about the CDL exemption does not list acreage as a separate requirement.

Can a forester who buys products for resale claim the exemption for self-grown loads?

The AG’s stated interpretation requires that the forester not engage in buying products for resale. It does not create a load-by-load exception for a buyer’s self-grown products.

May an employee drive a qualifying forestry vehicle without a CDL?

The opinion says yes when the forest products were raised and grown by the employer, the employer was not in the resale-buying business, and the vehicle met the listed use and distance criteria.

Source

• Landing page: https://ncdoj.gov/opinions/motor-vehicles-commercial-drivers-license-exemption-of-forestry-vehicles/

Citations

• N.C.G.S. § 20-37.11 (NC CDL purpose)
• N.C.G.S. § 20-37.16(e)(3) (CDL farm vehicle exemption with forestry clause)
• N.C.G.S. § 20-4.01(3d) (commercial motor vehicle definition)
• N.C.G.S. § 20-88(b)(2) (farmer license plate qualifications)
• N.C.G.S. § 20-88(b)(4) (farm products including forest products)
• 53 Fed. Reg. 37314-37315 (FHWA CDL exemption summary)

Original opinion text

Requested By:

Representative Beverly M. Perdue
3rd District: Craven, Lenoir, Pamlico Counties

Question:

Are private carriers operated by drivers employed in logging operations entitled to the exemption for "farm" vehicles under G.S. 20-37.16(e)(3)?

Conclusion:

Yes, if the forest products being transported were raised and grown by the employer.

By April 1, 1992, all drivers of commercial vehicles as defined in G.S. 20-4.01(3d) will be required to obtain a commercial driver's license (CDL) in order to continue driving such a vehicle. The CDL legislation is a result of the federal Motor Carrier Safety Act of 1986 and its stated purpose is to "reduce or prevent commercial motor vehicle accidents, fatalities and injuries" by allowing commercial drivers to hold only one license, by disqualifying commercial drivers who have committed serious traffic violations and by strengthening commercial driver licensing and testing standards. G.S. 20-37.11. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) was charged with promulgating certain regulations that the states would have to follow in implementing their CDL programs or face the loss of federal highway funds. During the rulemaking process, comment was sought on providing exemptions for certain classes of vehicles and after the comments had been received, the FHWA provided for three types of exemptions. (They had already indicated that the law was not meant to apply to personal use vehicles such as recreational vehicles.) North Carolina adopted the language from the federal regulations verbatim with two exceptions as underlined below:

(3) Farm vehicles that meet all of the following criteria:

a. Controlled and operated by the farmer or the farmer's employee and used exclusively for farm use;

b. Used to transport either agricultural products, farm machinery, farm supplies, or any combination thereof to or from a farm;

c. Not used in the operations of a common or contract motor carrier; and

d. Used within 150 miles of the farmer's farm. A farm vehicle includes a forestry vehicle that meets the listed criteria when applied to the forestry operation.

The basis for the exemption for certain farm vehicles can be found in the summary to the rules found in Volume 53 of the Federal Register, pages 37314-37315. In pertinent part that summary states: "The FHWA has determined that is not contrary to the public interest to allow States, at their discretion, to waive certain farmers from the requirements of the CDL program. Absent a waiver, all farmer operators of commercial vehicles of over 26,000 pounds and of vehicles carrying hazardous material in amounts sufficient to be placarded would be subject to the CDL program. Based on the farm vehicle operations safety data available to FHWA at this time, comments to the docket, and the potential burdens imposed on the farmers, FHWA believes that a waiver for farmers involved in small scale farm to market transportation movements is appropriate. The FHWA believes that it is contrary to public interest to waive long haul farm vehicle movements, as well as persons that provide for-hire trucking services to the farm community. . . . The waiver would not be available to operators of farm vehicles who operate over long distances, operate to further a commercial enterprise, or operate under contract or for-hire for farm cooperatives or other farm groups. Such operators drive for a living and do not drive only incidentally to farming."

The last sentence of the statute makes it clear that farm vehicles include forestry vehicles that meet the four listed criteria. The remaining questions are what constitutes a "farmer" and what are "agricultural products" within the forestry industry?

The Commercial Driver License Act does not contain a specific definition of farmer. The summary language would indicate the federal rule envisioned the "traditional" farmer. The only definition of farmer found in the Motor Vehicle Code is that in G.S. 20-88(b)(2), but it is limited to defining the qualifications necessary to purchase a farmer license plate as the farmer plate costs one-half of the regular rate for other private carriers. However, it does require that to be eligible for farmer plates, the farmer must be "engaged in the raising and growing of farm products on a farm in North Carolina not less than 10 acres in area, and who does not engage in the business of buying products for resale." "Farm products" as defined in subsection (b)(4) includes "logs, bark, pulpwood, tannic acid wood and other forest products grown, produced, or processed by the farmer." Reading the federal rule summary in conjunction with the definitions contained in the registration criteria for farmer plates, it is reasonable to conclude that if the agricultural or forest products being transported were raised and grown by the farmer/forester and he does not engage in the business of buying products for resale, then he and his employees could transport such forest products within 150 miles of the farm in vehicles not used in common or contract motor carrier operations without obtaining a CDL. Conversely, if the forest products were not raised and grown by the forester, or he engages in the buying of forest products for resale, the transporting of those products by him or his employees would not be exempt from the CDL requirements. As to those forest products, the forester was not a farmer.

LACY H. THORNBURG
Attorney General

Jane P. Gray
Special Deputy Attorney General