Florida Senate - 2016                          SENATOR AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS/CS/HB 7061, 1st Eng.
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì3274186Î327418                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
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                 Floor: WD/2R          .                                
             03/10/2016 05:51 PM       .                                
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       Senator Simpson moved the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment to Amendment (588642) (with title
    2  amendment)
    3  
    4         Between lines 737 and 738
    5  insert:
    6         Section 7. Paragraph (b) of subsection (3) of section
    7  316.515, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
    8         316.515 Maximum width, height, length.—
    9         (3) LENGTH LIMITATION.—Except as otherwise provided in this
   10  section, length limitations apply solely to a semitrailer or
   11  trailer, and not to a truck tractor or to the overall length of
   12  a combination of vehicles. No combination of commercial motor
   13  vehicles coupled together and operating on the public roads may
   14  consist of more than one truck tractor and two trailing units.
   15  Unless otherwise specifically provided for in this section, a
   16  combination of vehicles not qualifying as commercial motor
   17  vehicles may consist of no more than two units coupled together;
   18  such nonqualifying combination of vehicles may not exceed a
   19  total length of 65 feet, inclusive of the load carried thereon,
   20  but exclusive of safety and energy conservation devices approved
   21  by the department for use on vehicles using public roads.
   22  Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a truck
   23  tractor-semitrailer combination engaged in the transportation of
   24  automobiles or boats may transport motor vehicles or boats on
   25  part of the power unit; and, except as may otherwise be mandated
   26  under federal law, an automobile or boat transporter semitrailer
   27  may not exceed 50 feet in length, exclusive of the load;
   28  however, the load may extend up to an additional 6 feet beyond
   29  the rear of the trailer. The 50-feet length limitation does not
   30  apply to non-stinger-steered automobile or boat transporters
   31  that are 65 feet or less in overall length, exclusive of the
   32  load carried thereon, or to stinger-steered automobile or boat
   33  transporters that are 75 feet or less in overall length,
   34  exclusive of the load carried thereon. For purposes of this
   35  subsection, a “stinger-steered automobile or boat transporter”
   36  is an automobile or boat transporter configured as a semitrailer
   37  combination wherein the fifth wheel is located on a drop frame
   38  located behind and below the rearmost axle of the power unit.
   39  Notwithstanding paragraphs (a) and (b), any straight truck or
   40  truck tractor-semitrailer combination engaged in the
   41  transportation of horticultural trees may allow the load to
   42  extend up to an additional 10 feet beyond the rear of the
   43  vehicle, provided said trees are resting against a retaining bar
   44  mounted above the truck bed so that the root balls of the trees
   45  rest on the floor and to the front of the truck bed and the tops
   46  of the trees extend up over and to the rear of the truck bed,
   47  and provided the overhanging portion of the load is covered with
   48  protective fabric.
   49         (b) Semitrailers.—
   50         1. A semitrailer operating in a truck tractor-semitrailer
   51  combination may not exceed 48 feet in extreme overall outside
   52  dimension, measured from the front of the unit to the rear of
   53  the unit and the load carried thereon, exclusive of safety and
   54  energy conservation devices approved by the department for use
   55  on vehicles using public roads, unless it complies with
   56  subparagraph 2. A semitrailer which exceeds 48 feet in length
   57  and is used to transport divisible loads may operate in this
   58  state only if issued a permit under s. 316.550 and if such
   59  trailer meets the requirements of this chapter relating to
   60  vehicle equipment and safety. Except for highways on the tandem
   61  trailer truck highway network, public roads deemed unsafe for
   62  longer semitrailer vehicles or those roads on which such longer
   63  vehicles are determined not to be in the interest of public
   64  convenience shall, in conformance with s. 316.006, be restricted
   65  by the Department of Transportation or by the local authority to
   66  use by semitrailers not exceeding a length of 48 feet, inclusive
   67  of the load carried thereon but exclusive of safety and energy
   68  conservation devices approved by the department for use on
   69  vehicles using public roads. Truck tractor-semitrailer
   70  combinations shall be afforded reasonable access to terminals;
   71  facilities for food, fuel, repairs, and rest; and points of
   72  loading and unloading.
   73         2. A semitrailer which is more than 48 feet but not more
   74  than 57 53 feet in extreme overall outside dimension, as
   75  measured pursuant to subparagraph 1., may operate on public
   76  roads, except roads on the State Highway System which are
   77  restricted by the Department of Transportation or other roads
   78  restricted by local authorities, if:
   79         a. The distance between the kingpin or other peg that locks
   80  into the fifth wheel of a truck tractor and the center of the
   81  rear axle or rear group of axles does not exceed 41 feet, or, in
   82  the case of a semitrailer used exclusively or primarily to
   83  transport vehicles in connection with motorsports competition
   84  events, the distance does not exceed 46 feet from the kingpin to
   85  the center of the rear axles; and
   86         b. It is equipped with a substantial rear-end underride
   87  protection device meeting the requirements of 49 C.F.R. s.
   88  393.86, “Rear End Protection.”
   89  
   90  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   91  And the title is amended as follows:
   92         Delete line 2909
   93  and insert:
   94         in vehicles; amending s. 316.515, F.S.; extending the
   95         allowable length of certain semitrailers authorized to
   96         operate on public roads under certain conditions;
   97         amending s. 316.640, F.S.; expanding the