State eases path for truckers hauling goods, defers businesses’ workers comp payments

COLUMBUS – In an effort to speed up the delivery of essential foods to store shelves, the state transportation department is giving trucking companies permission to bypass a requirement usually demanded of them when they carry heavy loads.

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Ohio’s Bureau of Workers’ Compensation system is also deferring three month’s worth of insurance premium installment payments, saving the state’s business owners approximately $200 million, Lt. Governor Jon Husted announced Saturday during Gov. Mike DeWine’s daily Statehouse briefing.

Ohio requires haulers with loads classified as “oversized” to seek advanced permission from the Ohio Department of Transportation before they are legally allowed to travel in the state.

To speed the delivery of food, non-alcoholic beverages, medical supplies, cleaning products, and other household goods, ODOT will modify the process for truckers carrying heavy or oversized loads of these products, which have been scarce in recent weeks as a result of panic-buying by Ohioans afraid of shortages.

The Bureau of Workers Compensation is deferring premium payments owed by some 249,000 public and private employers for March, April, and May until June 1, when Husted says the matter will be reconsidered.