Governor Schwarzenegger has signed Sen. Jeff Denham’s Senate
Bill 1229, which will allow farmers, ranchers and their employees
to use all-terrain vehicles for agricultural operations and they
may be driven incidentally up to a mile on public roads by simply
adding ATVs as implements of husbandry to Section 36000 of the
California Vehicle Code, according to a statement from Denham’s
office.
Governor Schwarzenegger has signed Sen. Jeff Denham’s Senate Bill 1229, which will allow farmers, ranchers and their employees to use all-terrain vehicles for agricultural operations and they may be driven incidentally up to a mile on public roads by simply adding ATVs as implements of husbandry to Section 36000 of the California Vehicle Code, according to a statement from Denham’s office.
His office noted how ATVs are “often used by farmers and ranchers to manage day-to-day operations over many tracts of land in a safe, effective manner. These vehicles are designed specifically for off-road travel and make the job much easier. ATVs can easily travel where highway vehicles cannot due to their size and off-road capabilities.
“ATVs have become a popular, efficient and economical tool for today’s farmers and ranchers often replacing the pick-up trucks, the horse, and the tractor,” Denham said in the statement.
Many tracts of land are separated by public roads. In the course of farm and ranch operations, it is often necessary to use these roads to access the next property, but ATVs are currently not always allowed to do so, according to his office.
Current law is making it difficult for farmers and ranchers to do their jobs. It allows farmers and ranchers to cross a public road only at a certain angle and greatly limits their ability to navigate road areas between properties. Often parcels of land don’t line up directly with the section of road being crossed. Access gates may not line up for geographic or safety reasons.
“I’m please that Governor Schwarzenegger has signed this important measure, SB 1229, into law, which removes the grey area in current law, and will greatly benefit agricultural workers in California and update California’s transportation code into the 21st century,” Denham wrote.
