[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7496 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7496

    To amend title 23, United States Code, to improve responses to 
                  emergencies, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 29, 2024

Mr. Johnson of South Dakota (for himself and Mr. Costa) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation 
                           and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend title 23, United States Code, to improve responses to 
                  emergencies, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Modernizing Operations for Vehicles 
in Emergencies Act'' or the ``MOVE Act''.

SEC. 2. MODERNIZING AUTHORITY FOR CERTAIN VEHICLE PERMITS DURING 
              EMERGENCIES AND CERTAIN OTHER CONDITIONS.

    Section 127(i) of title 23, United States Code, is amended to read 
as follows:
    ``(i) Special Permits During Emergencies and Certain Other 
Conditions.--
            ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        this section, a State may issue special permits to overweight 
        vehicles and loads that can easily be dismantled or divided if 
        the conditions of either paragraph (2) or paragraph (3) are 
        met.
            ``(2) Presidential declaration.--The conditions of this 
        paragraph are--
                    ``(A) the President has declared an emergency or a 
                major disaster pursuant to section 401 or 501 of the 
                Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
                Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170; 5191);
                    ``(B) the permits described in paragraph (1) are 
                issued in accordance with State law;
                    ``(C) the permits are issued exclusively to 
                vehicles and loads that are delivering relief supplies 
                or supplies that facilitate recovery or return to 
                normalcy; and
                    ``(D) a permit shall expire not later than 120 days 
                after the date of the declaration described in 
                subparagraph (A), unless the permit expiration date is 
                extended by the Governor of the State issuing such 
                permit.
            ``(3) Governor declaration.--The conditions of this 
        paragraph are the following:
                    ``(A) A Governor of a State has declared that--
                            ``(i) emergency or other unusual 
                        conditions, including weather, fire, 
                        earthquake, disease, or natural emergencies and 
                        including financial or other non-natural 
                        emergencies, are having a negative impact on 
                        commerce in the State; or
                            ``(ii) supply chain function is 
                        substantially impaired in the State, either in 
                        terms of slow overall movement, freight traffic 
                        congestion, or otherwise.
                    ``(B) The permits described in paragraph (1) are 
                issued in accordance with State law.
                    ``(C) The authority to issue a permit described in 
                paragraph (1) shall expire 270 days after a Governor 
                makes a declaration pursuant to subparagraph (A), 
                unless the expiration date is extended by the Governor, 
                which may be for a period of not more than 90 days.
                    ``(D) A permit issued pursuant to this paragraph 
                shall expire on the date on which the period of 
                authority to issue a permit under subparagraph (C) 
                ends, including any extension of such period of 
                authority.''.
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