Senate committee approves bill excluding mobile offices and classrooms from manufactured-home hauling rules

Senator Hill introduced Senate Bill 253 to the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee and the panel approved the measure after brief testimony from Arkansas Department of Transportation staff.

The bill changes the statutory definition of "manufactured home units" to exclude small mobile offices and mobile classrooms used for construction or educational sites, removing the requirement that such units be moved only by licensed mobile-home transporters who must have insurance and interstate authority on file.

The change, as explained by Jared Wiley, director of the Arkansas Department of Transportation, is aimed at streamlining transport of small site offices and classrooms. "This bill would allow us to move mobile classrooms, offices for construction projects, and not have them registered as mobile home haulers," Wiley said. He added that the agency sees the change as "an efficiency improvement."

Jeff Holmes, chief of the highway police division at the Arkansas Department of Transportation, told the committee the measure "simply allows ... mobile office[s] or mobile classroom[s]" to be treated differently than dwellings for transporter requirements. Holmes said that the definition change would not eliminate ordinary safety permitting when loads exceed width/weight limits: "If they get so wide, they still have to have escorts and different things."

Committee members pressed witnesses on safety and insurance. Senator Love asked about how liability would be handled if a unit being moved caused damage; Holmes and Wiley said that permit, insurance and oversized-load rules still apply when applicable. Senator Bryant raised concerns about whether a dealer could market a dwelling as a classroom to avoid hauling requirements; Holmes said the bill applies to units classified as mobile offices or classrooms and does not eliminate all permitting or safety requirements.

After discussion, Senator Hill moved approval of the bill and the committee recorded a voice vote. "If not, all in favor, say aye," the chair said; members responded and the chair declared, "Bill passes." Senator Hill returned to the chair to sign the measure.

The statute text changed by the bill was described in committee as narrowly targeted to allow construction firms and schools to move small, single-structure offices and classrooms with fewer transport-formalities while preserving permitting and oversized-load safeguards.

Votes at a glance: committee approved SB 253 by voice vote; no roll-call tally was taken in committee.

The bill will next proceed to the full Senate (or the next legislative step) for further consideration.