Montana Intrastate ELD Rules and Hours of Service

The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) runs the federal hours-of-service rule for intrastate carriers, electronic logging device rule included, through one administrative rule: ARM 18.8.1502. Unlike states that froze an old federal edition, Montana adopts the federal text as updated through March 10, 2026. So the device rule, the 11 and 14 hour limits, and the federal exceptions reach a Montana intrastate driver in their current form.

Here is the short version. Montana changes two things in Part 395. Farm hauls get a planting and harvesting season that lasts all year. And a driver who uses that farm exemption keeps a daily record of hours worked in place of a logbook or ELD. Everyone else on an intrastate run follows the federal rules as written.

What ARM 18.8.1502 adopts

Paragraph (1) of the rule says any commercial motor vehicle or motor carrier subject to regulation by MDT under Mont. Code Ann. 61-10-154 shall comply with the adopted federal rules. The list covers 49 CFR parts 382, 383, 385 and 387, parts 390 through 399, and a few others, "as updated through March 10, 2026." Part 395 sits inside that range. Paragraph (2) then lists the Montana modifications, lettered (a) through (h). Source: ARM 18.8.1502, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Rules and State Modifications, amended effective May 9, 2026 (Montana Secretary of State, Administrative Rules of Montana, accessed September 28, 2026, https://rules.mt.gov/browse/collections/aec52c46-128e-4279-9068-8af5d5432d74/policies/3cabf4fe-9a99-47f3-8326-7142fcc6806a).

Only (f) and (g) touch Part 395. Nothing in the rule moves the ELD compliance date, edits the device specifications, or rewrites the 395.3 limits. An intrastate carrier under Part 395 records duty status on a registered device on federal terms, and a driver who meets one of the federal paper-log cases still uses paper. The federal rules for who runs a device are on the ELD mandate page, and registered devices are on the FMCSA ELD list page.

The farm season runs January 1 to December 31

This is the Montana edit with the most daily effect. The current federal 49 CFR 395.1(k) says the provisions of Part 395 shall not apply during planting and harvesting periods, as determined by each State, to drivers hauling four kinds of loads:

1. Agricultural commodities from the source to a location within 150 air miles of the source.
2. Farm supplies for agricultural purposes from a wholesale or retail distribution point to a farm or other place of use within 150 air miles.
3. Farm supplies from a wholesale distribution point to a retail distribution point within 150 air miles.
4. Livestock within 150 air miles of the livestock's final destination.

Source: 49 CFR 395.1, Scope of rules in this part (eCFR, accessed September 28, 2026, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-III/subchapter-B/part-395/subpart-A/section-395.1).

ARM 18.8.1502(2)(f) fills in the state's half: for the purpose of 395.1(k), the planting and harvesting seasons "shall be deemed to run from January 1 through December 31 of each year." Read the two together. A Montana intrastate driver on a qualifying farm haul inside 150 air miles is outside the federal hours limits and the logbook rule on every day of the year. Once a haul goes past 150 air miles, the exemption is gone for that trip.

Because Montana adopts the federal text as updated through March 10, 2026, the livestock category in (4) is part of what it adopts. That is a real difference from a state whose adoption stops at an older federal edition.

The daily hours record replaces the log

Here is the part no federal rule asks for. ARM 18.8.1502(2)(g) says that for the purpose of 49 CFR 395.8, a person exempted from 49 CFR 395.3 under the 395.1(k) exclusion "must keep a daily record of the number of hours worked." The rule sets four conditions:

• Format. The record keeper chooses the format, as long as it has a place to enter hours worked by calendar day.
• Retention. The daily record is kept six months from the initial entry date.
• Payroll counts. Payroll records or time sheets may be used, if they are updated daily.
• Who keeps it. Anyone exempted from 395.3 by the farm exclusion, which under Montana's season is any qualifying farm haul inside 150 air miles, any day of the year.

So a Montana farm hauler still keeps a record. The driver drops the record of duty status and the ELD, and picks up a simple daily hours sheet in their place. A payroll system that already logs daily hours can carry the record, as long as it is updated each day.

Compare that with the federal 150 air-mile short-haul exception in 49 CFR 395.1(e)(1), which applies in Montana unchanged. There the motor carrier keeps six months of time records showing when the driver reports for duty, the total hours on duty each day, the release time, and the 7-day total for first-time or intermittent drivers. The driver also has to return and be released within 14 consecutive hours. The Montana farm record asks only for hours worked by calendar day, with no return-to-base condition, because the 395.1(k) exemption has none.

The hours limits still apply to everyone else

The farm season and the daily record are the only Part 395 variances in ARM 18.8.1502. A Montana intrastate driver who is not on a qualifying farm haul runs the federal 11 hours of driving, the 14-hour window, the 30-minute break, and the 60 or 70 hour weekly limits in 49 CFR 395.3, and logs under 395.8. 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). The full federal rule is on the federal hours of service page.

Montana has no separate intrastate hours limit and no intrastate device exemption for small carriers in this rule. If a schedule depends on a federal exception, the exception has to fit on its federal terms.

The type 2 CDL and the driver file

One more ARM 18.8.1502 change reaches the driver rather than the clock. Paragraph (2)(e) says Part 391 is subject to the age and physical qualification provisions of ARM 23.3.505 and 23.3.506 for drivers operating under a type 2 commercial driver's license and not engaged in interstate commerce, as 49 CFR part 391 defines it. That is Montana's intrastate CDL. The license, its fee and its minimum age are on the Montana CDL page.

The hours rules do not bend for a type 2 license. A type 2 driver on a non-farm intrastate run is still under Part 395 as adopted.

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 Montana 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 year-round season and the daily hours record sit in a Montana rule for the carriers MDT regulates. Before relying on either for an interstate farm load, ask MDT Motor Carrier Services how it applies them there. A mixed fleet has to know which kind of load each driver has on each day.

Montana issues no state operating authority for general freight, but MDT assigns intrastate carriers a USDOT number marked with an MT suffix. That setup is on the Montana intrastate authority page and the Montana DOT number page. The rest of the state's filings are on the Montana trucking permits page, and the state-by-state intrastate authority comparison shows how other states split the same line.

FAQ

Do Montana intrastate drivers have to use an ELD?

Yes, when the run falls under Part 395 and no federal exception covers it. ARM 18.8.1502 has the Montana Department of Transportation adopt 49 CFR parts 390 through 399 for the carriers it regulates under Mont. Code Ann. 61-10-154, as updated through March 10, 2026. Part 395 and its electronic logging device rule come in on current federal terms, with no Montana change to the device rule or its dates. The paper-log and short-haul cases in 49 CFR 395.1 and 395.8 apply the same way they do for an interstate driver.

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

All year. 49 CFR 395.1(k) lifts Part 395 off drivers hauling agricultural commodities, farm supplies, and livestock within 150 air miles during planting and harvesting periods, as determined by each State. ARM 18.8.1502(2)(f) says those seasons are deemed to run from January 1 through December 31 of each year.

What record does a Montana farm hauler keep instead of a logbook?

A daily record of hours worked. ARM 18.8.1502(2)(g) says a person exempted from 49 CFR 395.3 under the 395.1(k) agricultural exclusion must keep a daily record of the number of hours worked. The record keeper picks the format, as long as it has an entry for hours worked by calendar day. The record is kept six months from the initial entry date, and payroll records or time sheets count if they are updated daily.