Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) joined U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Jim Justice (R-W.Va.), and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) to introduce the Roll-Over Prevention and Safety (ROPS) Act, legislation to help protect farmers from fatal tractor rollovers through a U.S. Department of Agriculture cost-share grant program that helps farmers retrofit older tractors with rollbars and other protections. U.S. Representatives Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa), Josh Riley (D-N.Y.), Brad Finstad (R-Minn.), and Don Davis (D-N.C.) introduced companion legislation in the House.
“Farming is dangerous work, and efforts that help Colorado farmers do their jobs safely and get home at the end of the day matter,” said Bennet. “I’m glad to join my colleagues in the Senate and House to introduce this bipartisan legislation, which will help our farmers purchase, transport, and install rollover protection structures on their tractors. Legislation like this saves lives and protects our farming communities across the country.”
“We need to extend this small, but important program that can save lives in rural America. Farming and ranching can be dangerous work, which is made even more perilous because receiving help after an accident in rural areas can take a considerable amount of time. Making retrofitting tractors affordable is worthwhile and I hope this lifesaving legislation finds broad support in the Senate and House,” said Hyde-Smith.
Specifically, the ROPS Act would continue operation of the National ROPS Rebate program, which could expire without congressional action. Under the ROPS Act, grants for retrofitting tractors with rollbars and other protective improvements would cover up to 70 percent of the cost of purchasing, transporting, and installing ROPS or rollbars, with a $500 out-of-pocket cap for farmers or eligible schools. The legislation would also create a program administrator, as well as a website and hotline to facilitate the application process.
This legislation is supported by numerous agricultural organizations, including the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, American Farm Bureau Federation, Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation, Delta Council, National Farmers Union, John Deere, Kubota, CoBank, Farm Credit, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, National Milk Producers Federation, American Soybean Association, National Corn Growers Association, USA Rice, National Cotton Council, National Association of Wheat Growers, and others.
“Having spent an entire career working to ensure farmers safety and wellbeing at work, it has been difficult to hear their stories about the traumatic deaths and injuries caused by tractor overturns. This is particularly true, because these events could have been easily avoided with the installation of something as simple as a rollbar. Given the leadership of Representatives Feenstra, Riley, Finstad, Davis and Senators Hyde-Smith, Bennet, Justice, Warnock it is wonderful to see legislation that has the potential to eliminate one of the most frequent causes of death on farms by providing support vs. issuing penalties. This is an amazing milestone,” said Julie Sorensen, Chair, National ROPS Rebate Program.
The text of the bill is available HERE.
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