- Federal audit found California issued 17,000 CDLs against regulations.
- FMCSA orders revocation and warns of $160 million funding loss.
- California disputes claims but is expected to follow federal direction.
Some 17,000 individuals in California are about to lose their commercial driver’s licenses (CDL) if the government has anything to say about it. It is a situation that has been building quietly in the background, and now it is spilling into a public dispute over who issued what, and whether the state followed the rules in the first place.
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Sean Duffy, US Secretary of Transportation, says that the state acknowledged that these license holders are actually ineligible. If the state doesn’t cancel the licenses, it’ll lose out on some $160 million in federal funding.
Eligibility Under Review
An audit by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) found that California’s CDL program allowed these licenses to go out despite issues.
The holders in question either have a legally questionable presence in the USA, their documentation didn’t meet federal standards, the license exceeded their legal time period of authorization in the U.S., or broke other rules. In some cases, the person is still legally here in the U.S., but their CDL expires after their legal authorization.
The FMCSA says that in sampled records, more than one in four non-domiciled CDL records in California failed to meet federal guidelines in one way or another.
Officials say that notices have been sent out to the 17,000 affected drivers informing them their license “no longer meets federal requirements,” and that it’ll expire in 60 days unless it’s reissued in compliance.
In addition, the federal government demanded that California officials produce a full audit of all of its non-domiciled CDL credentials so that the FMCSA can verify follow-up. In other words, it’s going to make sure that California revokes every license that doesn’t come into compliance in the next 60 days.
If California officials fail to produce this audit, the federal government could withhold up to $160 million in highway funding.
Political Crossfire
“After weeks of claiming they did nothing wrong, Gavin Newsom and California have been caught red-handed. Now that we’ve exposed their lies, 17,000 illegally issued trucking licenses are being revoked,” Duffy said, referring to the state’s governor.
“This is just the tip of iceberg. My team will continue to force California to prove they have removed every illegal immigrant from behind the wheel of semitrucks and school buses.”
Newsom’s office responded by asserting that every one of the license holders in question held a valid federal work authorization at the time of issuance. According to the NPR, it claims that California complied with guidance from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Newsom’s spokesperson, Brandon Richards, released a statement saying in part, “Once again, the Sean ‘Road Rules’ Duffy fails to share the truth — spreading easily disproven falsehoods in a sad and desperate attempt to please his dear leader.”
At this point, the affected drivers still have around two months to come back into compliance while they continue to drive.
Credit: USDOT
