House panel hears bill to raise speed limit for modern cotton trailers

Representative Donnie Brown, sponsor of House Bill 169, told the Missouri House Special Committee on Rural Issues that the bill updates state law to reflect how cotton is transported today and would raise the statutory maximum speed for cotton trailers from 40 miles per hour to 65 (with members discussing a possible amendment to 70).

The bill matters because cotton in Missouri’s Bootheel now is typically collected into wrapped bales and moved on modern flatbed trailers and semitrailers rather than the older pickup-pulled loose-cotton trailers covered by the current 40-mph limit. "Most of them haul 8, some up to 10 [bales]," Brown said, and allowing higher speeds on highways would reduce travel time to gins and limit quality…