Duffy pulls $160 Million from California over truck licenses

The US Department of Transportation is withholding about $160 million from California after the state delayed canceling thousands of commercial driver’s licenses that regulators say were issued illegally.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Wednesday that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will pull funding after the state missed a Jan. 5 deadline to revoke 17,000 licenses issued to foreign-born truckers. California’s Department of Motor Vehicles has agreed to cancel the licenses, but last week extended its planned revocation date by two months.

Duffy’s agency says that California’s licensing program for foreign-born drivers has “collapsed,” allowing the state to grant licenses to people who are ineligible and that extend beyond a driver’s lawful presence in the US. The move is part of wider crackdown on immigrant truck drivers by the Transportation Department.

“Our demands were simple: follow the rules, revoke the unlawfully-issued licenses to dangerous foreign drivers, and fix the system so this never happens again,” Duffy said in a statement Wednesday. “Gavin Newsom has failed to do so — putting the needs of illegal immigrants over the safety of the American people,” he said, referring to the state’s governor.

California’s DMV said in a statement that it is compliant with federal and state regulations and that it had held “positive conversations” with the FMCSA about allowing for additional time to review the licensing program.

“We strongly disagree with the federal government’s decision to withhold vital transportation funding from California – their action jeopardizes public safety because these funds are critical for maintaining and improving the roadways we all rely on every day,” the agency said.

This is the second time in three months that the government has pulled funding from California over trucking industry standards. In October, the FMCSA said it would withhold $40 million for motor carrier enforcement after an investigation by the agency found that the state wasn’t enforcing English language proficiency requirements.

– By Cailley LaPara (Bloomberg)