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The Trump administration is warning California, Washington and New Mexico that they could lose millions of dollars in federal funding unless they begin enforcing English language proficiency rules for commercial truck drivers.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Tuesday that the three states have 30 days to comply with federal standards following a deadly Florida crash earlier this month that exposed significant gaps in enforcement.
“This is about keeping people safe on the road,” Duffy said. “Your families, your kids, your spouses, your loved ones, your friends. We all use the roadway, and we need to make sure that those who are driving big rigs — semis — can understand the road signs, that they’ve been well-trained.”
The Aug. 12 crash involved Harjinder Singh, a 28-year-old Indian national who officials say is in the country illegally. Authorities allege Singh attempted an illegal U-turn in a restricted area of Florida’s Turnpike, causing his truck to jackknife and collide with a minivan and killing three people.
After the accident, Singh failed an English-language commercial driver’s license test, Duffy said. Records show he previously obtained CDLs in both California and Washington, despite not meeting federal English proficiency requirements. He was also stopped for speeding in New Mexico in July, but was allowed to continue driving, despite not being able to speak English.
Duffy said the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration implemented new enforcement rules in June, requiring that non-English-speaking drivers be taken out of service. But California, Washington and New Mexico have “hardly enforced” the rule, he said.
According to Jesse Elison, FMCSA’s chief counsel, the three states will have 30 days to submit corrective plans or risk losing federal highway safety funding, Fox News reported. California faces losing up to $33 million, Washington $10.5 million, and New Mexico $7 million.
“We don’t want to take away money from states, but we will take money away and we’ll take additional steps that get progressively more difficult for these states,” Duffy said. “There’s a lot of great tools that we have here that we don’t want to use.”
The administration has prioritized trucking safety in recent months. In April, President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring strict enforcement of English-proficiency standards for commercial drivers, reversing 2016 guidance that allowed inspectors to overlook the issue if it was the driver’s only violation.
