An Act To Exempt All Vehicles Delivering Home Heating Fuel, Including Wood Pellets, from Weight Limits
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 29-A MRSA §2395, sub-§4, as amended by PL 1999, c. 600, §1, is further amended to read:
4. Designation by counties and municipalities. County commissioners and municipal officers may designate public ways other than those in subsection 3 and impose restrictions within their respective jurisdictions similar to those made by the Department of Transportation under subsection 3. Any vehicle delivering home heating fuel and operating in accordance with a permit issued by the Department of Transportation pursuant to this section may travel over any county or town way without a specific municipal or county permit. A municipality may impose additional restrictions for home heating fuel delivery trucks to operate on public ways within that municipality but may not require a permit to operate according to those restrictions. For the purposes of this section, "home heating fuel" includes a product or substance that can be used to produce energy, including but not limited to propane, firewood, wood pellets and fuel oil.
Summary
This bill clarifies that the provision of law stating that vehicles delivering home heating fuel are exempt from weight limits includes vehicles delivering firewood, wood pellets, propane and fuel oil, thus allowing such vehicles to use posted roads.