The Trump Administration plans to withhold more than $40 million in grant funding originally earmarked for California after it claimed the state refused to enforce English proficiency standards for commercial truckers.
On Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration would withhold $40.68 million from the state, which would likely have been used to help pay for law enforcement training, roadside inspections, traffic enforcement and safety audits of trucking companies.
The decision, according to Duffy, was made after an investigation found that California has “failed to comply” with the DOT’s recently enacted English proficiency standards.
“I put states on notice this summer: enforce the Trump Administration’s English language requirements or the checks stop coming,” Duffy said in a news release, adding that California is the only state that has not complied with the edict.
In April, President Trump signed an executive order that directed authorities to strictly enforce English proficiency standards among truckers to ensure they are able to “read and understand traffic signs, communicate with traffic safety, border patrol, agricultural checkpoints, and cargo weight-limit station officers.”
Weeks later, Duffy’s DOT added a new wrinkle to those federal regulations, requiring any commercial vehicle driver who fails to meet the English proficiency standards to be placed “out of service,” which takes a driver and their truck off the roadway until any violations or defects can be remedied.
According to the online trucker publication Overdrive, while English proficiency has long been a federal requirement for truckers, a violation has not automatically led to a driver being placed out of service for a decade.
Weeks after Duffy instituted those changes, a California Highway Patrol spokesperson told Overdrive that it would not be enforcing those out of service requirements because it is not the law in California to remove a driver from the road if they violate English proficiency standards.
“This is valuable money that should be going to the great men and women in California law enforcement, who we support,” Duffy said. “[California Gov. Gavin] Newsom’s insistence on obstructing federal law has tied my hands.”
Duffy said the grant funding would remain withheld until the state decides to “adopt and actively enforce” the English proficiency standards set by the federal government.
After Duffy’s announcement, Newsom’s office fired back, stating that California’s existing rules and requirements have proven to be more effective than comparable states.
“Sounds like the federal Secretary of Transportation needs a lesson on his own road rules,” said the Governor’s Deputy Director of Communications Diana Crofts-Pelayo. “The facts are plain and simple: California commercial driver’s license holders had a fatal crash rate nearly 40% LOWER than the national average. Texas—the only state with more commercial holders—has a rate almost 50% higher than California.”
In a September letter to the DOT addressed from the California State Transportation Agency, state officials denied that the state had not complied with the English proficiency requirement, citing the rigorous process to become a licensed commercial vehicle driver in the state, which it said was more than sufficient.
The state’s entire testing process is conducted exclusively in English with help from an interpreter prohibited, specific language in the Department of Motor Vehicle’s licensing requirement specifies drivers must understand English used in traffic signs, and officials said the state has adopted the most recent out-of-service criteria set by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance.
“Facts don’t lie, but the Trump administration sure does,” Crofts-Pelayo concluded.
To read the full release from the Department of Transportation, click here.
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