California, Washington, and New Mexico are at risk of losing substantial federal funding if they don’t uphold English language requirements for truck drivers, as announced by Transport Secretary Sean Duffy on Tuesday. These states have been following federal English Proficiency (ELP) regulations for a month now, following a deadly crash in Florida earlier this month.
Duffy emphasized the importance of road safety, stating, “This is about keeping people safe on the roads. Your family, your children, your spouse, your loved ones, your friends. We all use the roads, and we need to ensure that those driving large trucks can understand road signs.”
The crash in question occurred on August 12. Haljinder Singh, a 28-year-old from India, was involved and is reportedly in the country illegally.
According to Duffy, Singh attempted an unauthorized U-turn while driving a semi-truck on Florida’s Turnpike, leading to a jackknife incident that resulted in the deaths of three passengers in a minivan. After the crash, Singh took some commercial driver’s license (CDL) tests but failed.
Duffy noted that Singh was pulled over for speeding in New Mexico after obtaining CDL licenses in both California and Washington, despite his inability to communicate in English.
The ELP regulations were introduced in June, mandating that truck drivers lacking English skills should not be allowed to operate. However, Duffy acknowledged that California, Washington, and New Mexico have yet to enforce these measures.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Director Jesse Ellison mentioned that the three states have a 30-day period to respond and present a plan to comply; otherwise, they risk losing federal funding.
For California, the loss could amount to $33 million, while Washington may lose $10.5 million, and New Mexico could face a $7 million cut, according to Duffy and Ellison.
While Duffy stated he prefers not to penalize the states, he indicated that further actions could follow if compliance isn’t achieved, noting, “We don’t want to take money from the states, but we’re taking additional steps that will gradually become difficult for these states. There are so many great tools here that you don’t want to use.”
