Dive Brief:
- Non-U.S. citizens will be ineligible in obtaining CDLs under an emergency rule unless they meet a stricter set of regulations, Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Friday while unveiling a sweeping interim final rule.
- The new regulation, effective immediately, means an employment authorization document, or work permit, will no longer be sufficient to obtain a non-domiciled commercial driver’s license, according to the rule, which is set to be officially published Sept. 29
- Some of the stricter rules require non-citizen applicants to provide an unexpired foreign passport and an unexpired Form I-94/I-94A to prove their lawful presence in the country. Acceptable documents include H2-B, H2-A and E-2 visas, the department said.
Dive Insight:
The Trump administration continues to ramp up enforcement standards on commercial driving standards, citing safety concerns.
Last month, the U.S. State Department paused the processing of work visas for applicants seeking to operate commercial trucks in the United States. In the latest action from the Department of Transportation, non-domiciled CDL requirements are getting stricter as a result of an ongoing nationwide audit.
“Our audit revealed a systemic breakdown among states to follow the law and issue licenses properly. States are failing to follow even the most basic procedures,” Duffy. Procedural errors, computer programming flaws and lack of oversight were also uncovered, he added.
This year, at least five fatal crashes have occurred involving non-domiciled CDL holders, the department said in its new rule. "At least two of these drivers were improperly issued a CDL" and others who obtained their CDL don't meet revised standards currently in place, the rule said.
The emergency rulemaking means states that issue non-domiciled CDLs must pause the issuance of those licenses until they can ensure compliance with updated regulations, according to the rule.
“My message is very simple, get into compliance now, or we'll pull funding and we'll force you into compliance,” Duffy said.
The department also announced an additional enforcement action against California, which will face the withholding of federal highway funds if it fails to comply over the next 30 days in how it issues CDL licenses. That's due to the state issuing CDLs even though drivers allegedly had expired or insufficient work authorizations more than 25% of the time, Duffy said.
Only California is being issued a letter to comply today. Letters will be filed shortly for other states, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Chief Counsel Jesse Elison said at the press conference.
The recourse is progressive, Elison said. Officials said the potential highway funding that could be withheld is 4% in the first year and doubles in the second year. If the DOT does not get compliance, it can decertify a licensing program in the state.
“This is just the beginning,” Duffy said, suggesting more states could also have funding withheld. "Our team identified non-domiciled CDLs that were issued improperly in Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas and in Washington.”
