WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced Friday that the U.S. Department of Transportation will move forward with rulemaking to require all commercial driver’s license testing to be conducted exclusively in English.

During a February 20 news conference, Duffy outlined ongoing efforts to strengthen highway safety and remove what he described as bad actors from the trucking industry. The announcement follows recent enforcement actions that led to the proposed removal of more than 550 CDL training schools from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s National Training Provider Registry for failing to meet federal standards.

English-Only CDL Testing

Duffy said the new rule would require that all written knowledge tests, skills tests and proficiency exams for CDLs be administered only in English.

“In the state of California, you can take the driver’s test, the skills test and the proficiency test, in twenty different languages. Twenty different languages,” Duffy said. “What we’re doing is implementing a rule so there’s one language in which you can take your test. It’s English only. You take the test in English. You can’t speak English, you can’t read English, you’re not going to do well on the test because every test is going to be required to be in English.”

Duffy also stated he would ask states to disqualify commercial drivers who lack English proficiency. He acknowledged that USDOT does not have the authority to revoke CDLs directly at the federal level but can pressure states to enforce compliance.

Earlier this year, Florida announced that all driver’s license testing in the state would be conducted in English only.

Crackdown on “Chameleon Carriers”

In addition to the language requirement, Duffy pledged increased enforcement against so-called “chameleon carriers” — trucking companies that shut down after violations and reopen under new names or U.S. Department of Transportation numbers to avoid penalties.

“We want to know that who you say you are, you actually are, because right now, it’s a very loose set of requirements. One individual can get a hundred DOT numbers,” Duffy said.

He added that USDOT would begin verifying physical business locations of motor carriers and would not allow multiple DOT numbers to be linked to post office boxes.

Duffy also promised increased enforcement against electronic logging device tampering, calling it a safety and compliance issue.

Industry Response

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association praised the move, saying stronger standards would improve public safety and professional accountability in trucking.

“OOIDA and the truckers across America that we represent applaud Secretary Duffy and Administrator Barrs for taking decisive action to make our roads safer and our industry more professional,” said OOIDA President Todd Spencer.

Spencer said that weak English-language proficiency enforcement, fraudulent CDL training operations and chameleon carriers have allowed unqualified drivers into the industry. He added that strengthening training, licensing and qualification standards would benefit both public safety and professional drivers.

USDOT said additional rulemaking details will be released as the proposal moves forward.

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