By the TruckerNavi compliance team, led by Dmitry Borovoy, a New Jersey-licensed insurance producer and author of "Safety Manager: From Zero to Expert".
Short answer: if your truck stops for business anywhere in the 56 quarantined Pennsylvania counties (a pickup, a delivery, a yard, a shop), or brings cargo into Pennsylvania from an area that has spotted lanternfly (all of New Jersey, for example), your company needs a spotted lanternfly permit from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA). It costs nothing in fees: one owner, manager or supervisor takes a free online course of about 2 hours from Penn State Extension, prints the Certificate of Completion (it works as a temporary permit), and PDA emails the permit within 1-2 weeks. A copy goes in every truck, drivers check the tractor and trailer for lanternflies before each move inside the zone and log it, and the records are kept two years. Pure pass-through with no stops except fuel, load enclosed or tarped, needs no permit. Without a permit the first contact is usually a warning, but the Quarantine Order allows a criminal citation of up to $300 and a civil penalty of up to $20,000 per violation.
This is not an FMCSA rule and it is not on any CVSA inspection form. It is Pennsylvania agriculture law, enforced by PDA together with the State Police, and it covers almost every lane a New Jersey or New York carrier runs: Philadelphia, King of Prussia, Allentown, Reading, Harrisburg, Carlisle, Scranton, Hazleton, York, Lancaster, and all of I-78, I-81 and the Turnpike east of the Susquehanna are inside the zone.
The spotted lanternfly (SLF) is a planthopper from Asia first found in the United States in Berks County, Pennsylvania, in 2014, according to PDA's program page, which also cites a Penn State estimate of $324 million a year and more than 2,800 jobs at risk in Pennsylvania. The insect does not fly far on its own. It rides: adults hold onto a vehicle at 65 mph, and egg masses that look like smears of dried mud are laid on trailer sides, wheel wells, pallets and containers. That is why the state's Order of Quarantine and Treatment (51 Pa.B. 1346, March 13, 2021, issued under the Plant Pest Act, 3 P.S. § 258.21) lists conveyances of any type and any trailers, wagons or other equipment attached thereto among regulated articles. A tractor-trailer is a regulated article. So is a box truck and a dispatcher's pickup.
The permit confirms two things: that someone in your company has been trained to recognize every life stage of the insect, and that the company inspects its vehicles and loads before they move. PDA's FAQ requires it for businesses, agencies and organizations (agricultural and non-agricultural) working within the quarantine, which move regulated articles within or out of the quarantine, and for anyone moving regulated articles into any part of PA from areas in other states with established SLF populations. On vehicles the FAQ is one line: all business vehicles regardless of size travelling within or from the quarantine need permits.
Two things it is not. It is not federal: USDA APHIS describes SLF quarantines as something individual states maintain. And it is not a filing a service can do for you like a UCR or an IRP renewal: the course must be taken by a person inside your company with authority to bind it to the permit's terms. The registration layer for the state is covered in how to start a trucking company in Pennsylvania.
No, if you meet all of PDA's conditions at once. The FAQ: if you do not originate from an SLF infested area, the load is covered or contained and do not stop in the PA quarantine for business or for anything except quick stops (i.e. fueling), you are not required to get a permit. Article IV(1) of the Order states the same exemption in four parts: origin and destination outside the zone and shown on the waybill; from April through December the load in an enclosed body or fully covered; movement directly through the Quarantine Zone without stopping (except for refueling or for traffic conditions, such as traffic lights or stop signs); and no regulated articles from the zone added to the load.
Read the first condition twice. All 21 New Jersey counties have been quarantined since February 6, 2023, so a load that starts in Newark does not come from a clean area, and a 10-hour break at a truck stop in Carlisle is not the quick stop the FAQ describes. Three more FAQ answers close the usual loopholes: an out-of-state company doing business in the zone needs the permit; a company that only travels within one quarantined county needs it; a carrier whose shipper has a permit still needs its own.
| Situation | Permit needed? | Why | What to show if stopped |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transit Ohio to New Jersey on I-80, no stops except fuel, closed van | No, if the origin is not an SLF area | FAQ pass-through rule; Order Art. IV(1). Ohio is now quarantined statewide, so from most of Ohio the permit is the safer reading | BOL with origin and destination outside the zone |
| Transit with a fuel stop in Carlisle | No, same conditions | Fueling is a quick stop in the FAQ and a permitted stop in Art. IV(1) | Same |
| Transit with a 10-hour break inside the zone | Yes, in the safest reading | A 10-hour break is not a quick stop; a truck parked overnight near trees is how egg masses get on a trailer | Permit copy, inspection entry before rolling out |
| Pickup in Philadelphia, delivery in New York | Yes | Loading is business in the zone | Permit copy, that day's inspection record, shipper's certification line on the BOL |
| Newark, NJ to Allentown, PA, three times a week | Yes | The delivery in Lehigh County is business in the zone, and New Jersey is itself an SLF area | Permit copy (PA or NJ, reciprocal), inspection log |
| Local work only inside Lancaster County | Yes | FAQ: one quarantined county still needs a permit and inspections | Permit copy, pre-trip and post-trip entries |
| Erie, PA (not quarantined) to Buffalo, NY | No Pennsylvania permit for that lane | Erie County is outside the zone; check the PDA map before each new lane | Nothing, though New York checks goods from any quarantined area |
| Pickup in Harrisburg at a shipper with its own permit | Yes, your own | FAQ: the manufacturer's permit covers their facility and goods inspected prior to transport. The carrier needs to obtain their own permit | Your permit copy plus the shipper's certification line on the BOL |
Penn State Extension states that SLF is found in 56 counties in Pennsylvania, all of which are under a state-imposed quarantine: Adams, Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Berks, Blair, Bradford, Bucks, Butler, Cambria, Cameron, Carbon, Centre, Chester, Clearfield, Clinton, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Greene, Fayette, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Indiana, Juniata, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lawrence, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Lycoming, Mifflin, Mercer, Monroe, Montgomery, Montour, Northampton, Northumberland, Perry, Philadelphia, Pike, Schuylkill, Snyder, Somerset, Sullivan, Union, Venango, Washington, Wayne, Wyoming, Westmoreland and York.
The latest expansion is the addendum published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on April 5, 2025 (55 Pa.B. 2595), adding Bradford, Sullivan, Venango and Wyoming; PDA's press release notes that 2024 had added one county to reach 52 and that more than 33,300 businesses across the U.S. and Canada held permits by then. As of our check on September 5, 2026, PDA's quarantine page showed the 2025 map as current and no 2026 addendum had appeared in the Bulletin. Expansions come by press release and Bulletin notice with a grace period for new counties, and the same page links PDA's interactive map, which tells you whether a specific address is inside the zone.
The remaining 11 counties are mostly the northwest corner and the northern tier along the New York line: Erie, Crawford, Warren, McKean, Potter, Tioga, Susquehanna and a few neighbors. That is our subtraction from the Penn State list, not an official PDA list, so confirm on the map. For dispatching, what matters is where the hubs fall:
| Hub or corridor | County | In the quarantine (April 2025 addendum)? |
|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia, the port, Northeast Philly warehouses | Philadelphia | Yes |
| King of Prussia, Pottstown | Montgomery | Yes |
| Bristol, Bensalem, Quakertown (I-95, Turnpike) | Bucks | Yes |
| Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton (I-78, Route 33) | Lehigh, Northampton | Yes |
| Reading | Berks | Yes |
| Harrisburg, Carlisle, Mechanicsburg (I-81, I-83, Turnpike) | Dauphin, Cumberland | Yes |
| York, Lancaster | York, Lancaster | Yes |
| Chambersburg, Shippensburg (I-81 south) | Franklin, Cumberland | Yes |
| Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton (I-81, I-80, I-476) | Lackawanna, Luzerne | Yes |
| Williamsport (I-180, Route 15) | Lycoming | Yes |
| State College (I-99) | Centre | Yes |
| Breezewood (I-70, Turnpike) | Bedford | Yes |
| Pittsburgh, New Stanton (I-70, I-76, I-79) | Allegheny, Westmoreland | Yes |
| Washington, PA (I-70, I-79) | Washington | Yes |
| Erie (I-90, I-79) | Erie | No |
| Bradford (Route 219) | McKean | No |
| I-81 at the New York line (Great Bend) | Susquehanna | No |
| I-80 between Clarion and Brookville | Clarion, Jefferson | No |
Who takes it. Penn State calls it a train the trainer course for a designated employee, usually an owner, manager, or supervisor, and its permit guidance page says individual employees should not take the online course. In a two-truck company that is the owner; in a 15-truck company it is the safety manager or the dispatcher who talks to the drivers every morning, because that person then trains them and keeps the records. The registration asks the person to confirm that he or she has the authority to execute a permit and thereby be bound to its terms, so it should not be an outside consultant.
Registration. On the course page you enter your name, email, the legal name of the company and the number of company vehicles requiring PDA permits. The price shown is $0.00. Count tractors and any straight trucks or service vehicles you run in the zone; trailers are inspected under the same permit. If the form is not accepting entries when you look, call Penn State Extension at 1-877-345-0691 (weekdays 8:30 to 5:00 ET) rather than assuming the program is closed; PDA also runs in-person sessions for businesses without reliable internet, listed on its business page.
The course. Three sections, about 2 hours, in English, self-paced, each ending in a quiz you pass with a score greater than 70%: life cycle, what each stage looks like, where the insect lays eggs, how to find and destroy it, how to work inside the zone. It includes downloadable slides and fact sheets in English and Spanish for training your own people. Access expires a year after registration.
Certificate, then permit. When you pass, print the Certificate of Completion from the course's Progress page. PDA's FAQ states that it serves as a temporary permit while it may take one to two weeks for a business to receive a permit. PDA issues an electronic permit to the course participant's email, distributed as a printed or electronic copy to the drivers or into the vehicles. The emailed copy is the permit. Replacement copies come from SLFPermit@pa.gov. If you own more than one company, you take the course once and email slfpermit@pa.gov the completion date and the other companies' names, addresses and vehicle counts.
Training your drivers. PDA requires employee training prior to distributing the permit to the drivers/vehicles, with priority for people involved in vehicle travel and the receipt or shipment of goods, and recommends quarterly briefs: late April to early May for the hatch, July for the fourth-stage nymphs and adults, September for egg laying. Thirty to sixty minutes with the Penn State slides and a sign-in sheet with names and the date.
| Step | Who | Where | Time | Fee | What you have at the end |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Confirm the lane needs it | Owner or dispatcher | PDA interactive map, the tables above | 10 min | $0 | List of pickup and delivery counties inside the zone |
| 2. Register for the course | Designated person (owner, manager, supervisor) | Penn State course page: legal company name, number of vehicles | 10 min | $0 | Activation email, course in the dashboard |
| 3. Take the three sections and quizzes | Same person | Online, self-paced, English; pass above 70% | About 2 hours | $0 | Certificate of Completion, valid as a temporary permit |
| 4. Wait for PDA | PDA, after Penn State forwards the registration | Email to the participant | 1-2 weeks | $0 | Electronic SLF permit for the company |
| 5. Train the drivers | Designated person | Penn State slides, English or Spanish | 30-60 min | $0 | Training record: names, date, trainer |
| 6. Put a copy in every truck | Designated person | Printed copy in the permit book, or a PDF on the phone | 15 min | $0 | Permit copy in each vehicle, one in the office file |
| 7. Add the SLF line to the pre-trip | Designated person, dispatcher | Existing pre-trip or DVIR routine | 2-5 min per inspection | $0 | Inspection records, kept two years |
Article II(2) of the Order requires that a copy of the permit issued by the Department shall be placed in each vehicle or conveyance when being operated, and a copy displayed at each business location. PDA's FAQ accepts a hard copy or an electronic copy on the driver's phone. Next to it the driver needs the day's inspection entry: no template, but documentation is required and must identify the person conducting the inspection. At a checkpoint drivers must show a permit, either hardcopy or electronic, and will be asked questions to evaluate their understanding and working knowledge of SLF. A driver with a copy who has never heard of the insect fails the second half; that is what the driver training is for.
Who checks and where. PDA conducts the inspections in cooperation with the Pennsylvania State Police, at your business and at weigh and other inspection stations; they are random and periodic, timed partly to the insect's life cycle. The SLF check is not a Level I, II or III inspection, but the trooper at the same scale may open one: PSP may also check for violations under their authority. Drivers who know how to handle a roadside inspection should treat the SLF stop the same way: permit and log ready, short answers.
If the inspector finds a lanternfly. The insect is destroyed and the entire shipment re-inspected; if nothing else is found the load may continue. The company is notified, PDA asks to review its SLF protocols and will enter a notation in the company's file and monitor for repeated finds. A hitchhiker that landed after you did your inspection is not a violation: destroy it and re-inspect the entire shipment ... Note the find and re-inspection in your records. No penalties will be assessed.
When. PDA's FAQ: inspections should be completed before moving within the quarantine zone, leaving the quarantine zone and entering PA from another area that has an SLF population. A driver working all day in one municipality does a pre-trip and a post-trip inspection and stays alert in between. A truck that did not move that day needs no inspection. The one-county rule applies: SLF populations are not equally distributed, so a local run inside Lancaster County still gets inspected.
Where. USDA's truck driver checklist (English and Spanish on one sheet) lists doors and sides, grille, bumpers, wheel wells, roof and cargo, plus propane tanks, outdoor machinery, wooden pallets and shipping containers. Penn State adds windshield wipers, roof racks and truck beds, and two habits: park away from trees and keep the windows closed. The walk-around takes two extra minutes when the driver also looks into the wheel wells and along the trailer's lower rail for gray putty-like smears about an inch long: an egg mass holds 30 to 50 eggs and turns dull brown as it ages. Nymphs are black with white spots early in the season and red later; adults are about an inch long with gray spotted forewings and red hindwings.
What to do with a find. Scrape an egg mass into a bag or container with rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer; squash nymphs and adults. Re-inspect the whole load and write down what you found and what you did. Article V of the Order describes the record: date of each inspection, the person inspecting, whether living stages or egg masses were found, and the measure taken.
How to log it. PDA recommends folding the SLF check into existing activities, such as daily inspections or safety checks. The easiest place is the pre-trip routine you already run under the DVIR rules: one line, SLF inspected, name, date, none found, or egg mass on trailer rear door, scraped and destroyed, load re-inspected. Keep it in the same app or binder as the DVIR. Electronic records are fine if you can produce them at a checkpoint or an audit.
Winter. After the adults die off, do one last inspection, remove and destroy any egg masses, document it, and then SLF inspections may be suspended December 1 through March 31. From April 1 they resume. The final documented inspection is the condition of the pause: without it, December to March is four months of missing records.
| Month | Life stage (USDA) | What the driver looks for | Inspection required? | Dispatcher reminder |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | Egg masses | Mud-like smears on trailer sides, lower rails, wheel wells, pallets | May be suspended (Dec 1 to Mar 31) after a documented final inspection | Keep last year's final inspection record |
| February | Egg masses | Same | May be suspended | Check every truck has a permit copy |
| March | Egg masses | Same | May be suspended until March 31 | Plan the April 1 restart |
| April | Egg masses; early nymphs hatch | Tiny black nymphs with white spots | Yes, from April 1 | Late April to early May brief: the hatch |
| May | Early nymphs | Black nymphs on wipers, mirrors, trailer edges | Yes | Brief if not done in April |
| June | Early nymphs | Same | Yes | Confirm the SLF line is in every pre-trip |
| July | Late nymphs (red), first adults | Red nymphs, winged adults | Yes | July brief: fourth-stage nymphs and adults |
| August | Late nymphs, adults | Adults on grilles, roofs, trailer sides | Yes | Park away from trees, windows closed |
| September | Adults; egg laying begins | Adults, fresh gray egg masses | Yes | September brief: egg laying |
| October | Adults, egg masses | Same | Yes | Peak adult season; permits in every cab |
| November | Adults die off; egg masses | Egg masses on sheltered surfaces | Yes; final documented inspection | Remove and destroy egg masses, record it |
| December | Egg masses | Same | May be suspended from December 1 after the final inspection | File the records |
PDA's FAQ sets one retention period: recordkeeping of training, shipping records, and inspection of vehicles with control measures taken if SLF is found (such as vehicle washes, destruction of living lanternfly, etc.) must be maintained for a minimum of two years. Electronic records are acceptable if you can produce them at a checkpoint or an audit. They are kept by the person who registered for and completed the permit training, another reason that person should be inside the company. Article VI of the Order lets PDA inspectors enter the premises during business hours, review records and protocols, and interview employees.
In practice the file is four things: the permit PDF and the course certificate; a training sheet with driver names, dates and the trainer; the pre-trip entries with the SLF line; and a separate note for every find. TruckerNavi's Safety Compliance clients keep it in the same company file as the DQ and DVIR records, so a PDA check and a DOT audit pull from one place.
What happens first is a warning. PDA's FAQ: any business found to be out of compliance will receive a warning, along with compliance assistance to get permitted. These instances will be tracked, and repeat violators may be fined. PDA has run compliance verification since May 1, 2019, so the grace period for the original counties is long over; new counties get one when they are added.
What the law allows is larger. The Order's penalty article, summarized on the FAQ, provides for a summary criminal citation with a fine of up to $300 per violation (the Order adds up to 90 days imprisonment under the Plant Pest Act), a civil penalty of up to $20,000 per violation, and revocation of the permit or compliance agreement. The wording is per violation, and the Order requires a copy in each vehicle, so a fleet cannot assume one citation covers five trucks. Unauthorized duplication of a permit is a separate violation.
Not fined: an insect that landed after a documented inspection, and a find at delivery when both shipper and carrier inspected and recorded it; in both cases the FAQ says no penalties will be assessed. And one thing we will not claim either way: whether an SLF citation touches your CSA scores. It is a state agriculture citation under the Plant Pest Act, not a violation of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, and we found no source tying it to the Safety Measurement System. The exposure at the same stop comes from the trooper's separate authority.
Shipper or manufacturer inside the zone: its own permit, trained dock staff, goods inspected before loading. PDA's FAQ gives the line for the shipping documents: The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture certifies these regulated articles have been approved for movement out of the SLF quarantine area. Business Name: (Your Business Name) Permit #: (...). A receiver inside the zone that only takes in goods from SLF areas also needs a permit and inspects at receipt.
Carrier: its own permit, always, even with the shipper's line on the BOL. Subcontractor, lease-on owner-operator, partner carrier: its own permit, and the permit holder who hired it is responsible for confirming it. Broker: a broker does not move regulated articles, so the question falls on the carrier it hires; a broker whose office is inside the zone and runs company vehicles falls under the general rule. If a broker asks for the permit in the rate confirmation for a Pennsylvania pickup, the right response is a PDF of your permit, not a photo of the shipper's.
Packaging: Article II(2)(f) of the Order requires regulated articles other than the vehicle itself to be packaged and safeguarded sufficiently, such as within a closed container, shrink wrap, tight tarp or similar covering. On a flatbed the tarp is part of quarantine compliance as well as of cargo securement; an open load of pallets, stone or lumber leaving Berks County without a cover is a regulated article moving unprotected.
One course, one permit. Penn State's rule for its multi-state courses is that a permit is required from only one of the available states, and reciprocity between states is honored, and PDA's FAQ confirms that state officials have collaborated to create reciprocal permit agreements, so businesses do not need to take multiple permit courses. Take the course for the state where you are headquartered; if your state has no course (New York, for example), take the one for the state where you do the most business.
| State | Quarantine zone | Permit for a truck that stops for business | Accepts the PA permit? | Where to get it | Contact |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | 56 of 67 counties (April 2025 addendum) | Yes | Its own | Penn State course, Pennsylvania version | SLFPermit@pa.gov, 717-787-5674 |
| New Jersey | Entire state since February 6, 2023 | Yes: NJDA requires that both the business and transport company must have a spotted lanternfly permit; one permit per business, a copy travels with the goods | Yes; email a copy to slf-plantindustry@ag.nj.gov | Penn State course, New Jersey version ($0, 2 hours, 70%) | 609-406-6939 |
| New York | No internal quarantine; an exterior quarantine since October 2, 2018 under 1 NYCRR Part 142 on regulated articles from other states' quarantine areas | No New York permit exists. Under 142.4 a regulated article from a quarantine area enters with a certificate of inspection and a waybill; transit through a quarantine area must be without stops except fuel and traffic | Yes: New York's prevention guidance recognizes the Pennsylvania permit for items from any SLF-regulated area | Pennsylvania course | spottedlanternfly@agriculture.ny.gov |
| Delaware | Entire state | Yes; DDA runs its own free online training and exam (70% to pass), permit valid one year, copy in the vehicle, records two years; no-stop transit exempt | Yes: entry from an SLF area requires a Delaware permit or one issued by the state of origin | Delaware course, or the Pennsylvania permit | Delaware Department of Agriculture, Plant Industries |
| Maryland | Entire state under Amended Quarantine Order 19-02-D of March 6, 2026 | Yes; copy in each vehicle, records two years; the Penn State course for Maryland issues one permit and the business makes copies | Yes: a valid permit issued by any State issuing such permits for Spotted Lanternfly will be accepted | Penn State course, Maryland version, or the Pennsylvania permit | (410) 841-5920, dontbug.md@maryland.gov |
| Virginia | Quarantine repealed March 27, 2025 | No permit inside Virginia; existing Virginia permits are no longer valid | Not applicable; VDACS points businesses to the Pennsylvania course | Pennsylvania course | spottedlanternfly@vdacs.virginia.gov |
| Ohio | Entire state since February 17, 2026 (18 counties before, under OAC 901:5-56) | No carrier permit course. Means of conveyance are regulated articles, so inspect; plants and nursery stock leave Ohio only with an ODA compliance agreement, permit or certificate | Not applicable | Pennsylvania course for Pennsylvania lanes | Ohio Department of Agriculture, Plant Health |
Three conclusions. A New Jersey carrier with a Pennsylvania or New Jersey permit is covered in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware and Maryland with that one document. A carrier based in Virginia or Ohio, where there is no state permit to get, still needs the Pennsylvania permit the moment it stops for business inside the Pennsylvania zone. And New York's county list in Part 142 lags the state maps (it still names Virginia), so for New York a Pennsylvania permit plus an inspection before leaving and at arrival is the whole answer. Delivering into New York also brings the highway use tax and its decal, explained in IRP vs IFTA vs NY HUT vs 2290.
The Order describes a one-year permit renewable on notice. PDA's practice, stated in the FAQ, controls for now: permits are not being renewed at this time. Permits do not have an expiration date and are valid until the permit holder receives a renewal notification. This timeframe may exceed one year. There is no re-training requirement at this time. A permit from 2020 with the original holder still in the company is valid in 2026; watch your email for a renewal notice, not a date on the document.
Three events require action. The permit holder leaves. Permits may not be transferred; the person taking over compliance must complete an SLF permit course, ideally before the old holder leaves, because the two-year records live with that person. Business details change (name, address, vehicle count, a permit that never arrived): email slfpermit@pa.gov or call 717-787-5674 and PDA updates the registration and issues a new permit. A second company: no second course, one email with the completion date and the new company's details. A lost copy is the simplest case: the permit is electronic, so print another from the email or ask SLFPermit@pa.gov for a replacement. What you may not do is photocopy someone else's permit or alter your own.
TruckerNavi runs safety compliance for Russian-speaking carriers in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The SLF course has to be taken by a person inside your company; that is the rule. What we do around it: walk your owner or manager through the Penn State registration, file the certificate and the PDA permit in your company file and in every truck, add the SLF line to your pre-trip checklist, keep the two-year inspection and training archive, and get you ready for a PDA check and a DOT audit in the same pass. Safety Compliance: from $99/mo, it depends on how many trucks you run. Want to see what an inspector would pull from your files before he does? Mock DOT Audit, $399. Russian and English.
See Safety Compliance plans →Or just call: (315) 871-0833 · WhatsApp
The company does, and the driver carries a copy. PDA's FAQ requires a permit for any business, agricultural or not, that works inside the 56 quarantined counties and moves regulated articles, which include vehicles and trailers, within or out of the zone, and for anyone bringing regulated articles into Pennsylvania from an SLF area. It covers all business vehicles regardless of size, out-of-state companies doing business in the zone, and a truck that never leaves one quarantined county. The driver does not take the course; the owner or manager does, then trains the driver.
Yes, in the sense that nobody charges a fee at any step. Penn State Extension lists the online course at $0.00: three sections, about two hours, quizzes passed above 70%. PDA issues the permit after Penn State forwards your registration, and none of PDA's permit pages list a charge for it. The certificate you print at the end of the course serves as a temporary permit during the one to two weeks before PDA's email. The only real cost is the designated person's afternoon and the half hour spent briefing the drivers.
Not if you meet every condition of the pass-through exemption: the trip did not start in an area with spotted lanternfly, the load is enclosed or fully tarped, origin and destination outside the zone are on the waybill, and you make no stops in the quarantine except fuel and traffic. PDA's FAQ and Article IV(1) of the Quarantine Order both say so. The catch is the first condition: all of New Jersey is a quarantine area, so a load from Newark does not qualify. A pickup, a delivery or a 10-hour break inside the zone ends the exemption as well.
About two hours for the course and one to two weeks for the permit. The Penn State course is self-paced, so an owner can register in the evening and finish the three sections the same night. When you pass, you print the Certificate of Completion from the Progress page, and PDA's FAQ states that it serves as a temporary permit. PDA then emails the electronic permit after receiving the registration from Penn State, which may take one to two weeks. You can run Pennsylvania lanes legally from the day you pass, with the certificate in the truck.
Not at present. The Quarantine Order describes a one-year permit renewable on notice, but PDA's FAQ states that permits are not being renewed at this time, have no expiration date, and stay valid until the holder receives a renewal notification, which may take longer than a year. There is no re-training requirement. Two events force a new course: the permit holder leaves the company (permits are not transferable), or you never received the permit and need PDA to fix the registration at slfpermit@pa.gov or 717-787-5674.
The first time, usually none: PDA's FAQ says a non-compliant business will receive a warning, along with compliance assistance to get permitted, that instances are tracked, and that repeat violators may be fined. The ceiling under the Quarantine Order is a criminal citation of up to $300 per violation and a civil penalty of up to $20,000 per violation, plus revocation of the permit. The amounts are per violation, and the Order requires a permit copy in each vehicle. A lanternfly that lands on a truck after a documented inspection is not fined, provided you destroy it, re-inspect and note it in your records.
Yes. New Jersey's quarantine document states that the permit obtained through the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture is recognized for use by the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, and other states, and Penn State's rule for its multi-state courses is that one state's permit is enough and reciprocity is honored. NJDA asks Pennsylvania permit holders to email a copy to slf-plantindustry@ag.nj.gov and answers questions at 609-406-6939. The reverse also holds. In New Jersey both the shipper and the carrier need a permit, and all 21 counties have been quarantined since February 6, 2023.
No. Penn State describes the course as train the trainer for a designated employee, usually an owner, manager or supervisor, and its guidance page says individual employees should not take the online course. The designated person then trains the drivers with the slides provided in English and Spanish and records who was trained and when. PDA's FAQ makes that training mandatory prior to distributing the permit to the drivers/vehicles and recommends quarterly refreshers timed to the hatch (late April), the adults (July) and egg laying (September). An owner-operator takes the course himself and is both trainer and driver.
At your place of business and at weigh and inspection stations. PDA's FAQ says PDA conducts the checks in cooperation with the Pennsylvania State Police, that they are random and periodic with timing tied to the insect's life cycle, and that vehicle inspections may also take place at weigh and other inspection stations. The driver is asked to show the permit, on paper or on a phone, and to answer questions about what the insect looks like and how it spreads. PDA does not publish which scales or how often. The trooper at the same scale can also check for violations under his own authority.
Once, and then you may pause. PDA's FAQ: after the adults have died off, remove and destroy any egg masses and adults, document that inspection and the action taken, and after that SLF inspections may be suspended December 1 through March 31. Inspections resume April 1, when the eggs begin to hatch. The final documented inspection is the condition of the pause, so put a dated record with the inspector's name in the file before December 1. The permit itself does not pause: the copy stays in the truck all winter, and a checkpoint can still ask for it.
A document from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) confirming that a designated person in your company completed the spotted lanternfly training and that the company inspects its vehicles and cargo before moving them. PDA requires it for any business, agricultural or not, that works inside the quarantine and moves regulated articles, which include vehicles and trailers, within or out of the 56 quarantined counties, and for anyone bringing regulated articles into Pennsylvania from an area with spotted lanternfly.
Nothing in fees. The Penn State Extension course is listed at $0, and PDA's permit pages list no charge for the permit it issues after the course. The only cost is time: about 2 hours for the course, 30 to 60 minutes to brief the drivers, and a few minutes a day for the inspection entry.
One designated person, usually an owner, manager or supervisor. Penn State calls it a train-the-trainer course and says individual employees should not take it. That person trains the drivers and hands them permit copies; PDA requires the training before the permit is distributed to drivers and vehicles. An owner-operator takes the course himself.
To the company, sized by the number of vehicles entered at registration. PDA emails an electronic permit to the course participant, and the company distributes printed or electronic copies to each driver or vehicle. The Quarantine Order requires a copy in each vehicle while it is operated, and a trailer or any attached equipment is a regulated article inspected the same way as the tractor.
No, if the trip did not start in an area with spotted lanternfly, the load is covered or contained, and fuel is the only stop you make inside the quarantine. PDA's FAQ calls fueling a quick stop and exempts it. A pickup, a delivery, a yard or a shop visit inside the zone is business, and business inside the zone requires the permit.
56 of 67 as of the April 2025 addendum, including Philadelphia, Delaware, Montgomery, Bucks, Chester, Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Lancaster, York, Dauphin, Cumberland, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lycoming, Centre, Bedford, Westmoreland, Allegheny, Washington and Beaver. Erie County and most of the northwest and northern tier are outside. PDA publishes an interactive map; expansions appear in the Pennsylvania Bulletin with a grace period for new counties.
Yes. Penn State states that a permit is required from only one of the states offering the course and that reciprocity between states is honored, and PDA's FAQ says the states created reciprocal permit agreements so businesses do not take multiple courses. New Jersey recognizes the Pennsylvania permit and asks for a copy at slf-plantindustry@ag.nj.gov.
Not at this time. PDA's FAQ states that permits are not being renewed, have no expiration date, and stay valid until the holder receives a renewal notification, which may take more than a year. There is no re-training requirement. The permit is not transferable: if a new person takes over compliance, that person must complete the course.
The permit holder trains the new driver before handing over a permit copy, because PDA requires training prior to distributing the permit to drivers and vehicles. Use the Penn State slides in English or Spanish, record the name and date on the training sheet, put a permit copy in the truck, and show the driver the SLF line in the pre-trip checklist. The new driver does not take the online course.
The insect is destroyed, the whole shipment is re-inspected, and if nothing else is found the load continues. PDA notifies the company, reviews its SLF protocols and enters a notation in the company file. If you had done your inspection and the lanternfly landed during travel, PDA's FAQ says no penalties will be assessed once you destroy it, re-inspect and note the find in your records.