Attorney General Bonta: Trump Administration’s Plan Threatens to Upend Trucking Industry, Increase Shipping Costs

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a multistate coalition in opposing an interim final rule issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) that would dramatically restrict commercial driver’s license eligibility for non-U.S. citizens. According to DOT, there are roughly 3.8 million commercial driver’s license holders in the United States. Of those, approximately 200,000, or slightly over five percent, hold what are known as non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses, which are available to individuals who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents but who are lawfully present in the United States and have satisfied robust training, skills tests, knowledge tests, and other requirements. Many of these individuals have held these licenses for years, if not decades. DOT claims that the interim final rule’s new restrictions are necessary for public safety but admits that it lacks evidence that these restrictions provide any additional safety benefits at all. In today's comment letter, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition argue that the rule, which was recently put on hold by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, exceeds statutory authority, is arbitrary and capricious, and should be rescinded.  

“The Trump Administration has politicized a handful of deeply tragic accidents in an attempt to advance the President’s anti-immigrant agenda,” said Attorney General Bonta. “It is doing so even though its own agency has admitted that there is no evidence to support the idea that revoking these licenses will have any benefit to public safety — in fact, just the opposite. This rule strips hardworking, lawfully residing immigrants of their means to make a living — seasoned drivers who transport people to work, bring children to school, transport food and goods to businesses, operate the construction vehicles that maintain and repair public roads, and provide many other indispensable services. I urge the Department of Transportation to course correct and rescind this rule.”

Few — if any — of the 65,000 persons holding non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses in California will qualify to renew their licenses under DOT’s interim final rule. Tens of thousands of drivers face losing their licenses and their livelihoods. For many, this disruption will come without time for them, their families, or their employers to prepare, due to DOT’s violation of the advance consultation and notice-and-comment requirements that Congress mandated to prevent exactly this sort of rule by agency fiat. Additionally, states, localities, and businesses will suffer economic harms as the interim final rule leaves these employers with little time to find, hire, and train replacements, creating critical shortages of freight truck drivers, school and municipal bus drivers, private transportation drivers, and other commercial drivers.  

In the comment letter, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition argue that the interim final rule:

• Exceeds DOT’s statutory authority, as DOT has no authority over immigration functions.
• Is arbitrary and capricious and not justified by its claimed safety rationale.
• Fails to take into account commercial truck drivers’ and their employers’ reliance on DOT’s policy as required by law. 
• Violates the Administrative Procedure Act’s statutory requirement to provide notice and allow for public comment.
• Violates the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act’s statutory requirement for DOT to consult with the states.

Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington in submitting the letter.