By Alan Wooten
The Center Square

Rising scrutiny of 194,000 state-issued nondomiciled CDLs to foreign workers with poor English language proficiency reveal two routes to safety.

Rule change is one, done by the U.S. Department of Transportation in September and idled by litigation. Congressional action – Rep. Dave Taylor, R-Ohio, filed a seventh related proposal Thursday – to create a statute is the other.

Safety is paramount in the discussion. Collateral damage, however, includes American truckers losing jobs and experiencing wage reductions from less expensive labor invading their home soil.

“Secretary Duffy and the Department of Transportation have taken important steps to immediately make America’s roads safer by cracking down on non-domiciled CDLs and ensuring that anyone operating an 80,000-pound commercial vehicle can read road signs,” said George O’Connor, speaking for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. “OOIDA members and professional truck drivers across the country are encouraged by these actions. These road safety reforms now need to be codified in federal law by Congress so they cannot be reversed by a future administration and can keep our roads safe for the long haul.”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said former President Joe Biden and his administration did no background checks and offered asylum and work authorizations to many people illegally coming into the country. The offer of work through a CDL came next.

“If you come legally, or you have a visa, or you’re coming from one state to another, you can get a nondomiciled CDL,” Duffy said in a network interview earlier this month. “These are the licenses that these foreigners are using. But to tighten up the rules means we’re going to have more safety on American roads.

“There were 200,000 nondomiciled CDLs issued to foreigners. We think 194,000 of them were issued illegally and would not comply with our new rule.”

A Sept. 26 rule change announced by Duffy came between the spotlights of triple-fatal crashes involving 18-wheelers in Florida on Aug. 12 and Oct. 21 in California. A federal appeals court in the District of Columbia this month temporarily halted the rule change for non-domiciled commercial learner’s permits and commercial driver’s licenses.

The rule would include mandatory in-person applications and stricter immigration status verification.

Enforcement of the rule is on hold while the merits of motions are being judged; in other words, the stay is not reflective of those merits. The trucking association likes the rule and has also spoken out in favor of four of the seven proposals tied to illegal immigration and CDLs.

Congressional action, O’Connor says for his organization, offers a more cemented path. A new administration, after all, could change rules of the Transportation Department.

The seven include one in the Senate and six in the House of Representatives, and two are from Taylor. Two are from North Carolina congressmen.

• Secure Commercial Driver Licensing Act (Senate Bill 3013), authored by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.

• SAFE Drivers Act (House Resolution 5800), authored by Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C.

• Non-Domiciled CDL Integrity Act (HR5688), authored by Rep. David Rouzer, R-N.C.

• No CDLs for Illegals Act (HR5863), authored by Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J.

• Protecting America’s Roads Act (HR5670), authored by Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas.

• Commercial Motor Vehicle English Proficiency Act (HR6233), authored by Taylor.

• Connor’s Law (HR3608), a proposal that codifies a presidential executive order, authored by Taylor.

None have passed their respective chambers of origination.

Litigation on the new rule involves its fast-track route. The public comment period is open, and so far the court doesn’t deem the threshold of emergency for procedural actions to be met.

For the policy in both the rule and the congressional proposals to be enforced and remain, a law better stands the test of time.

Todd Spencer, president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, said Taylor’s bill filed last week – Commercial Motor Vehicle English Proficiency Act – “aligns with OOIDA’s long-standing advocacy for stronger driver training standards and we appreciate his leadership in making our roads safer for our members and the motoring public.”

He also favors passage of Rouzer’s Non-Domiciled CDL Integrity Act.

“This legislation ensures only individuals with lawful immigration status and a legitimate reason to operate commercial vehicles in the U.S. are entrusted with CDLs,” Rouzer said. “We’re closing dangerous loopholes and restoring accountability. We must never, under any circumstance, jeopardize public safety by allowing those here illegally to get behind the wheel of a big rig.”

Spencer said, “Congress should act now to make it the permanent law of the land. OOIDA urges Congress to pass Representative Rouzer’s Non-Domiciled CDL Integrity Act, which would make these commonsense road safety reforms the law and protect the integrity of America’s licensing system.”

While the focus is rightly on safety, Duffy alluded to a secondary, albeit important, piece of collateral damage. And it is in line with second-term Republican President Donald Trump’s promotion of “America first.”

“When people can’t understand the English language, can’t read signs, and they don’t know the rules of our roads, that’s a problem,” Duffy said. “Americans aren’t safe. Also, we see that there are CDL mills, which are driver’s licenses mills where people are not being properly trained. They’re being pushed through, getting licenses, and then driving across the country.

“It’s driving American truckers out of business. And for American trucking companies, driving wages down. That’s not why we’re taking this action. But that’s real consequences of having all these foreigners come in.”