Hardwood Floors June/July 2025

Government Affairs (Continued)

The current highway bill is up for reauthorization. This is the underlying statute that funds and authorizes our country’s surface transportation programs. This must-pass legislative vehicle presents an opportunity to finally make some progress on issues of importance to the hardwood industry, including truck weight reform.

Representatives Collins and Wied sit on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which is the panel that will hold the pen on writing a new highway bill. The Hardwood Federation team will be working with our partners in the forestry and forest products value chain to include either of these measures in the final surface transportation reauthorization bill as it is forged in the coming months. In addition to these two measures, a coalition of large manufacturers in the food, beverage, and pulp and paper sectors is promoting legislation that would authorize a 10-state pilot program to allow 91,000-pound rigs equipped with a sixth axle on the interstate highways. This bill is aimed at providing relief for shippers whose rigs weigh out before they “cube” out. In many instances, rigs are leaving distribution centers half or three quarters full because they have hit the 80,000-weight limit. This inefficiency results in more truck trips, increased traffic, and air pollution. Variations of this bill have been under consideration for several years. The farthest it has made it in the legislative process was a House floor vote in 2015.

Unfortunately, the Class 1 railroads have and will continue to oppose all of these measures to make truck transportation safer and more efficient. We are hopeful, however, that these bills will be recognized by House and Senate leaders as modest, practical reforms and will move to include them in the highway bill rewrite when it is finalized next year. It’s never too early to engage and offer input on these big picture, multi-year pieces of legislation. The Hardwood Federation will continue to work closely with our Congressional allies to effect positive change through the reauthorization process. Dana Lee Cole is the executive director at the Hardwood Federation, a Washington, D.C.-based hardwood industry trade association that represents thousands of hardwood businesses in every state in the United States and acts as the industry advocacy voice on Capitol Hill. She can be reached at dana.cole@hardwoodfederation.com.

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