Kansas Intrastate ELD Rules and Hours of Service

The Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) runs the federal logbook rule for intrastate carriers, electronic logging device rule included, and edits it line by line in K.A.R. 82-4-3a. Most of those edits swap federal cross-references for Kansas ones. A handful change what an intrastate driver actually does, and a state statute takes whole classes of Kansas hauling out of the rules before the regulation is ever reached.

Here is the short version. A Kansas intrastate carrier under Part 395 runs an ELD on federal terms. The compliance date on the Kansas text is January 3, 2018. Farm hauls get a planting and harvesting season that lasts all year. And K.S.A. 66-1,129(c) exempts farm producers hauling their own products, short grain hauls, and small Kansas private carriers from the adopted safety rules entirely.

What K.A.R. 82-4-3a adopts

The regulation adopts 49 CFR Part 395 as it stood on October 1, 2015, as amended by the ELD final rule published at 80 Fed. Reg. 78383 in December 2015 and by a 2016 amendment at 81 Fed. Reg. 47721. It then lists its exceptions, part by part, from 395.1 through 395.13. Source: K.A.R. 82-4-3a, Hours of service, in the KCC's Motor Carrier Regulations compilation revised June 3, 2022 (Kansas Corporation Commission, https://www.kcc.ks.gov/images/PDFs/transportation/mc_regs.pdf).

That compilation is the current text as far as the public record shows. The KCC amendment packages published in the Kansas Register in 2023 and 2024 did not include 82-4-3a.

The authority behind it sits in statute. K.S.A. 66-1,129(a)(4) says hours of service for operators of all motor carriers the act applies to shall be fixed by the commission. So in Kansas the KCC owns the intrastate hours rule.

The ELD date moved by 16 days

K.A.R. 82-4-3a(a)(1)(D) says all references to "December 18, 2017" in 49 CFR 395.8 shall be replaced with "January 3, 2018." Paragraph (a)(1)(E) does the same in 395.11(a). Those are the record-of-duty-status section and the supporting documents section, the two places the federal rule dates the device requirement.

Nothing else about the device changes. The adoption carries the 2015 ELD rule, so the device specifications, the paper-log cases in 49 CFR 395.8, and the duty-status recording rules apply to a Kansas intrastate driver the way they apply to an interstate one. The date matters today mainly when you read an old inspection or audit record from the last two weeks of 2017, because the Kansas text had not started the device requirement yet.

If you are picking a device, the registered list is on the FMCSA ELD list page, and the federal rules for who runs one are on the ELD mandate page.

The farm season runs January 1 to December 31

This is the Kansas edit with the most daily effect. 49 CFR 395.1(k) says Part 395 does not apply during planting and harvesting periods, as determined by each State, to drivers hauling agricultural commodities from the source to a point within 150 air miles, or farm supplies for agricultural purposes within 150 air miles of the distribution point. Source: 49 CFR 395.1, Scope of rules in this part (eCFR, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-III/subchapter-B/part-395/subpart-A/section-395.1).

K.A.R. 82-4-3a(a)(1)(A)(xi) replaces "each State" with "the state of Kansas" and adds its own definition: planting and harvesting seasons means the time periods for planting, growing, and harvesting that occur between January 1 and December 31.

Read the two together. Part 395 is the whole hours-of-service part, and the ELD requirement lives inside it at 395.8. A Kansas intrastate driver on a qualifying farm haul inside 150 air miles is outside the hours limits and the logbook rule on every day of the year, wheat harvest or not. Once the haul goes past 150 air miles, the exemption is gone for that trip.

One wrinkle to confirm before relying on it for cattle. The current federal 395.1(k) has a fourth category, livestock within 150 air miles of the final destination. K.A.R. 82-4-3a adds its season definition "after subparagraph (3)" and numbers it (4), which fits the 2015 text it adopts. Ask the KCC Transportation Division whether it reads the livestock category into the Kansas exemption before a livestock hauler drops the log.

The 34-hour restart, and what it means today

K.A.R. 82-4-3a(a)(1)(C) rewrites 49 CFR 395.3(c)(1) and (c)(2) so that any period of 7 or 8 consecutive days may end with the beginning of any off-duty period of 34 or more consecutive hours, and it deletes 395.3(d).

Kansas replaced the 2015 federal wording of those paragraphs with that one plain restart sentence. The current federal text of 395.3(c) now reads almost word for word like the Kansas version and has no paragraph (d). Source: 49 CFR 395.3, Maximum driving time for property-carrying vehicles (eCFR, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-III/subchapter-B/part-395/subpart-A/section-395.3). So the restart rule is the same on both sides of a Kansas state line. The 60 and 70 hour weekly limits, the 11 hours of driving, and the 14-hour window are covered on the federal hours of service page.

The edition date still matters for anything else. The same eCFR section lists federal amendments to 395.3 in 2019 and on June 1, 2020, after the October 1, 2015 text Kansas adopted, and K.A.R. 82-4-3a does not name them. If a later federal change to the 30-minute break or the short-haul exception is the reason your schedule works, ask the KCC which text its officers enforce on intrastate runs.

Who K.S.A. 66-1,129(c) takes out entirely

The statute works before the regulation does. K.S.A. 66-1,129(c) says the provisions of 49 CFR parts 390 to 399 adopted by reference in the rules and regulations of the commission shall not apply to listed operations while engaged in intrastate commerce. Part 395 is inside that range, so these operations are outside the Kansas hours rules and the ELD rule at once. Source: K.S.A. 66-1,129 (Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes, https://ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch66/066_001_0129.html).

The three trucking operations run into most:

1. Farm producers and livestock owners hauling their own livestock or farm products to market, or supplies for their own use, in their own vehicle or a neighbor's on the basis of barter or exchange for service.
2. Grain hauls within 50 miles. A Kansas-registered vehicle used only to haul grain from the producer to an elevator or other place for storage or sale, for no more than 50 miles.
3. Small Kansas private carriers. A private carrier domiciled in Kansas running a vehicle of 10,001 to 26,000 pounds registered in Kansas. The statute keeps it under load securement, coupling devices, and the annual inspection, and nothing else in parts 390 to 399.

The third one has hard edges. It never covers for-hire hauling of property or passengers, a vehicle designed or used to carry 16 or more passengers, or a load of hazardous materials that has to be placarded. The Kansas Highway Patrol applies the same list to the USDOT number question and says the most common case is a private carrier running only in Kansas between 10,001 and 26,000 pounds with Kansas registration on the power unit. Source: Are there any exceptions to obtaining a USDOT number for intrastate commerce (wholly within Kansas)? (Kansas Highway Patrol, https://kansashighwaypatrol.gov/faq-items/are-there-any-exceptions-to-obtaining-a-usdot-number-for-intrastate-commerce-wholly-within-kansas/). The registration side is on the Kansas DOT number page.

Which clock a run is on

Everything above covers intrastate commerce only. The line between intrastate and interstate comes from the federal definitions in 49 CFR 390.5, and a load that started or ends outside Kansas can make a trip interstate even when the truck never leaves the state. Source: 49 CFR 390.5, Definitions (eCFR, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-III/subchapter-B/part-390/subpart-A/section-390.5).

The two exemptions that change the most do not cross over. The year-round farm season is a Kansas definition, and K.S.A. 66-1,129(c) applies only while the operation is engaged in intrastate commerce. A mixed fleet has to know which kind of load each driver has on each day. What a Kansas carrier holds to run intrastate for hire, including the KCC authority and the annual per-truck registration, is on the Kansas intrastate authority page, and the rest of the state's filings are on the Kansas trucking permits page. The state-by-state intrastate authority comparison shows how other states split the same line.

FAQ

Do Kansas intrastate drivers have to use an ELD?

Yes, unless a written exception covers the run. K.A.R. 82-4-3a has the Kansas Corporation Commission adopt 49 CFR Part 395 for intrastate carriers, including the December 2015 electronic logging device rule at 80 Fed. Reg. 78383. The one change to the device rule itself is the date: every reference to December 18, 2017 in 49 CFR 395.8 and 395.11 reads January 3, 2018 in Kansas. An intrastate carrier that falls under Part 395 records duty status on a device on federal terms, and a driver who meets one of the federal paper-log cases in 49 CFR 395.8 still uses paper.

Who in Kansas is exempt from the intrastate ELD and hours rules?

K.S.A. 66-1,129(c) says the adopted 49 CFR parts 390 to 399 do not apply to certain intrastate operations. The ones most trucking operations hit are a livestock owner or farm producer hauling their own livestock or farm products to market in their own vehicle, a Kansas-registered truck hauling grain from the producer to an elevator or other storage or sale point within 50 miles, and a Kansas-domiciled private carrier running 10,001 to 26,000 pounds with Kansas registration. The private-carrier exception never covers for-hire hauling, vehicles for 16 or more passengers, or placarded hazardous materials.

When is planting and harvesting season in Kansas for hours of service?

All year. 49 CFR 395.1(k) lifts Part 395 off drivers hauling agricultural commodities and farm supplies within 150 air miles during planting and harvesting periods, as determined by each State. K.A.R. 82-4-3a replaces "each State" with the state of Kansas and defines planting and harvesting seasons as the time periods for planting, growing, and harvesting that occur between January 1 and December 31. For a qualifying intrastate farm haul, the season never closes.