I 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Modernizing Oper5 ations for Vehicles in Emergencies Act’’ or the ‘‘MOVE 

6 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MODERNIZING AUTHORITY FOR CERTAIN VEHICLE 

2 PERMITS DURING EMERGENCIES AND CER3 TAIN OTHER CONDITIONS. 

4 Section 127(i) of title 23, United States Code, is 

5 amended to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘(i) SPECIAL PERMITS DURING EMERGENCIES AND

7 CERTAIN OTHER CONDITIONS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

9 provision of this section, a State may issue special 

10 permits to overweight vehicles and loads that can 

11 easily be dismantled or divided if the conditions of 

12 either paragraph (2) or paragraph (3) are met. 

13 ‘‘(2) PRESIDENTIAL DECLARATION.—The con14 ditions of this paragraph are— 

15 ‘‘(A) the President has declared an emer16 gency or a major disaster pursuant to section 

17 401 or 501 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 

18 Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 

19 U.S.C. 5170; 5191); 

20 ‘‘(B) the permits described in paragraph 

21 (1) are issued in accordance with State law; 

22 ‘‘(C) the permits are issued exclusively to 

23 vehicles and loads that are delivering relief sup24 plies or supplies that facilitate recovery or re25 turn to normalcy; and 


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1 ‘‘(D) a permit shall expire not later than 

2 120 days after the date of the declaration de3 scribed in subparagraph (A), unless the permit 

4 expiration date is extended by the Governor of 

5 the State issuing such permit. 

6 ‘‘(3) GOVERNOR DECLARATION.—The condi7 tions of this paragraph are the following: 

8 ‘‘(A) A Governor of a State has declared 

9 that— 

10 ‘‘(i) emergency or other unusual con11 ditions, including weather, fire, earth12 quake, disease, or natural emergencies and 

13 including financial or other non-natural 

14 emergencies, are having a negative impact 

15 on commerce in the State; or 

16 ‘‘(ii) supply chain function is substan17 tially impaired in the State, either in terms 

18 of slow overall movement, freight traffic 

19 congestion, or otherwise. 

20 ‘‘(B) The permits described in paragraph 

21 (1) are issued in accordance with State law. 

22 ‘‘(C) The authority to issue a permit de23 scribed in paragraph (1) shall expire 270 days 

24 after a Governor makes a declaration pursuant 

25 to subparagraph (A), unless the expiration date 


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1 is extended by the Governor, which may be for 

2 a period of not more than 90 days. 

3 ‘‘(D) A permit issued pursuant to this 

4 paragraph shall expire on the date on which the 

5 period of authority to issue a permit under sub6 paragraph (C) ends, including any extension of 

7 such period of authority.’’. 

Æ 


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