Dive Brief:
- A group of commercial drivers in California, possibly 13,000 or more, cannot obtain new non-domiciled CDLs because the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is blocking the state from moving forward, California’s Department of Motor Vehicles said in a news release.
- The drivers received a legal victory on March 2 in Alameda Superior Court. In that order, Judge Karin Schwartz said under state law, the affected drivers whose licenses were canceled are allowed to immediately apply for a new license.
- “Although the court ruling means the DMV must accept non-domiciled CDL applications, the department is prevented from issuing non-domiciled CDLs until FMCSA lifts its mandated ‘pause,’” the state DMV said, highlighting portions in bold font. “All applications will remain pending for a maximum of one year until the DMV determines it can act on them.”
Dive Insight:
FMCSA audits have been creating tension with states, with the federal government declaring that funding could be withheld due to problems with states' issuances and renewals of non-domiciled CDLs.
That comes as the federal government has also sought to make stricter requirements for issuing non-domiciled CDLs. Individuals with certain visas, refugees and asylum seekers are classified as non-domiciled, the California DMV noted.
In California, the judge in the superior court case downplayed the FMCSA’s role in the legal dispute, which centers on what obligations California has in renewing or reissuing non-domiciled CDLs.
Joining the class-action lawsuit was the Jakara Movement, a group advocating for working-class Punjabi Sikh. The group previously said the state deprived drivers of their livelihoods without the chance to provide proper relief.
“They are mass terminations of livelihood rooted in the state’s own errors, carried out without hearings, without appeals, and without any lawful path for drivers to correct the record,” the group said.
The state DMV said the FMCSA required California to pause the issuing of non-domiciled CDLs and commercial learners' permits following a federal audit finding lapses in compliance. The FMCSA threatened to withhold $158 million in federal funding for the upcoming federal budget year, which starts in October, but California could resolve issues and preserve the money.
The issue arose last year when the FMCSA found problems with California non-domiciled CDLs that had expiration dates past the date that legal presence documents expired, Schwartz noted.
For trucking firms, the result has been putting pressure on the supply of drivers and carriers. Federal officials say the matter relates to safety amid trucking crashes involving a subgroup of drivers.
