A Michigan bill package that covers motor fuel reciprocity for timber haulers in the Upper Peninsula is moving forward at the statehouse.
The bipartisan legislation is touted to make it easier for logging companies to transport materials between Michigan and Wisconsin.
Recent Michigan laws on topic
In 2022, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law multiple reciprocity rules for affected loads. One change exempted timber haulers who must cross the state’s borders from the International Fuel Tax Agreement.
A second change permitted the Michigan Department of Treasury to set fuel tax reciprocity agreements with other states. Specifically, the agency can permit the transport of raw forest products within 30 air miles of the border.
Affected loads include logs, posts, poles, wood chips, sawdust and Christmas trees not altered by a manufacturing process off the land.
Another rule change exempted affected interstate carriers from the collection of streamlined sales and use tax under fuel tax reciprocity agreements.
Air miles revision
This week, the Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved two House bills that are described as giving logging companies more flexibility to transport their products between Michigan and neighboring states without the paperwork that is normally required under IFTA.
Speaking to the committee prior to the vote, Rep. Jenn Hill, D-Marquette, said the legislation is about making a technical fix to reduce paperwork for loggers.
She also said the legislation would make sure the state “is not making things harder for loggers transporting cargo in the U.P.”
Hill added that the pursuit is about supporting the hardworking loggers of the Upper Peninsula to maximize the efficiency of their operations.
“The logging industry is a cornerstone of our economy in the U.P., but it’s facing numerous challenges,” she said. “For years, one of those challenges has been navigating a system of taxing interstate shipments that just doesn’t make sense for U.P. loggers who are running fixed routes over the same distance day after day.”
In addition, Hill has said the legislation would allow greater flexibility in transporting raw forest products between Michigan and Wisconsin.
One revision covers the 30-air-miles rule.
Hill explained that due to an interpretation of the air-mile limit discovered after execution of the Michigan-Wisconsin reciprocity agreement, a mill in Escanaba, Mich., was inadvertently excluded.
The bills, HB5379 and HB5747, include a change to increase the allowable number of air miles traveled under these agreements from 30 to 50. The revision would allow both states to make a change to the allowed number of air miles, as long as both states agree.
Another revision would change the metric weights that apply to commercial vehicles from 12,000 kilograms to 11,797 kilograms, or 26,000 pounds. The change would match IFTA parameters.
The bills await further discussion on the Senate floor. If approved there, they would move to the governor’s desk. House lawmakers already approved them. LL
More Land Line coverage of news from Michigan is available.
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