New Trucking Bill Restricts CDLs to Citizens, Requires Annual State Reporting on English Proficiency

The newly proposed Safer Truckers Act of 2025 is looking to fundamentally change who can legally drive commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in the U.S. The core of this legislation is simple but far-reaching: it amends federal law to restrict the issuance of a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) to only three groups: U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, or individuals specifically authorized by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to work in a job involving driving a CMV. This moves beyond the current system, which generally requires only valid work authorization, and adds a new layer of scrutiny tied directly to immigration status (SEC. 2).

The New Gatekeepers for the Open Road

For anyone who relies on the supply chain—which is everyone, everywhere—this is a big deal. Currently, if you have legal work authorization in the U.S. (like an Employment Authorization Document or EAD), you can often get a CDL and drive a truck. This bill changes that by requiring non-citizens to have a specific USCIS authorization for this job type. Think of it like this: your current work permit might let you be a chef or a software engineer, but under this new rule, if you’re not a citizen or green card holder, you’d need the government to specifically sign off on you being a truck driver. This significantly limits the pool of legally authorized workers available to an industry already facing chronic labor shortages.

Impact on the Supply Chain and Your Wallet

The trucking industry is the circulatory system of the American economy, and it runs on drivers. When you restrict who can get a CDL, you restrict the labor supply. If fewer people are eligible to drive trucks, shipping capacity drops, and the cost of moving goods goes up. For the average person aged 25-45, this translates directly to higher prices at the grocery store, higher costs for construction materials, and longer wait times for everything ordered online. Essentially, the bill’s new residency requirements (SEC. 2 & SEC. 3) could inadvertently act as an inflation multiplier by increasing the cost of labor and logistics.

The English Proficiency Check-Up

Beyond the residency change, the bill also imposes a new administrative burden on states. Section 3 mandates that every state must send an annual report to the Secretary (presumably of Transportation) detailing their specific policies and actions taken to enforce the existing federal English-language proficiency requirements for CMV drivers. While federal rules already require drivers to be able to read and speak English well enough to converse with the public and understand traffic signs (49 CFR 391.11(b)(2)), this new reporting requirement puts states under the microscope. If states feel pressure to demonstrate “strict enforcement,” they might adopt more rigorous or challenging testing standards, potentially creating another hurdle for drivers who are otherwise qualified and legally authorized to work.