Missouri drivers no longer need a tractor or a farm plate to fill up with tax-free dyed diesel. Gov. Mike Kehoe signed Executive Order 26-20 on Friday, October 9, 2026, opening up highway use of the red-marked, untaxed fuel to all motor vehicles operating for any purpose, a sweeping expansion of a rule that just over a week earlier applied only to agriculture.
From Farm Fields to Every Highway
The order took effect immediately and is set to expire December 31, 2026, according to kfvs12.com. Dyed diesel is off-road fuel marked red for use in agriculture and construction machinery, and it's normally sold without the motor-fuels tax that applies at the pump for regular on-road diesel. Under ordinary Missouri rules, that tax-free fuel is not allowed on public roads at all.
Kehoe framed the move as relief for household and business budgets alike. “Haulers in Missouri will now be able to utilize tax-free diesel fuel on any road in Missouri for any purpose,” he said, according to the station's report. He added that “lowering transportation costs across the entire supply chain means savings that trickle down to reduce everyday expenses for every Missouri family, business, and consumer.”
A Quick Follow-Up to an Earlier Order
Executive Order 26-20 builds directly on Executive Order 26-19, which Kehoe signed to allow farmers and haulers driving commercial vehicles licensed for farm use to run dyed fuel on state highways strictly for agricultural purposes. That earlier order applied only to vehicles operating for agricultural work, per the same account from kfvs12.com. The new order widens that exemption to cover any motor vehicle for any purpose.
Alongside the fuel change, Missouri is also extending higher agricultural hauling weight limits through December 31, as reported by Brownfield Ag News. That outlet also notes the order temporarily suspends penalties for qualifying vehicles using dyed diesel on Missouri highways, and that the move followed federal action aimed at lowering transportation costs.
Part of a Wider Response to Diesel Prices
The federal action referenced by Brownfield Ag News traces back to an emergency order tied to diesel-fuel costs. According to thefederalregister.org, restricted global diesel supply has led to rising prices, and the federal order directs the IRS not to impose certain penalties when dyed diesel is sold for use or used on highways between October 5 and December 31, 2026.
Missouri is not alone in loosening its rules. Texas, Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Arkansas and Alabama have all made some sort of concession to promote red-dye diesel use, according to FreightWaves. Texas, for its part, issued a statewide disaster proclamation allowing expanded dyed diesel use on its roads and raising allowable weights for certain fuel, agricultural and timber loads, per gov.texas.gov.
Missouri's statute on the books is blunt about the normal rule: no person may operate or maintain a motor vehicle on a Missouri public highway when its fuel tank contains motor fuel with the specified dye, according to revisor.mo.gov. Executive Order 26-20 expands Executive Order 26-19, allowing highway use of dyed diesel fuel for all motor vehicles operating for any purpose.
