Another group of truckers is taking the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the California Department of Motor Vehicles to court over the agency’s actions regarding non-domiciled CDLs.
This time, the Chinese American Truckers Association filed a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
“This action challenges the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s use of its state CDL oversight authority to demand and enforce an expansive, coercive pause in non-domiciled CDL and commercial learner’s permit processing and the California Department of Motor Vehicles’ implementation of that pause through a categorical, statewide non-processing policy that deprives affected drivers of meaningful individualized process,” the Chinese American Truckers Association wrote in the complaint filed on Jan. 7.
In late September, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued an emergency interim final rule that would pull non-domiciled CDLs from nearly 200,000 individuals. The agency said the “broken” system allowed thousands of unqualified people to receive CDLs. However, a federal lawsuit has put the rule’s effective date on hold, and FMCSA is now reviewing thousands of comments before it unveils a final rule.
Responding to FMCSA’s declaration and the agency’s call to remove “unlawful” CDLs, California paused issuing non-domiciled CDLs and announced the cancellation of some licenses in early 2026.
“Critically, the DMV’s cancellation notices do not provide affected drivers with any meaningful opportunity to immediately reapply for a corrected or compliant CDL, nor do they identify any available administrative process by which a driver may contest the cancellation, submit updated lawful presence documentation or obtain individualized adjudication before the cancellation date,” the Chinese American Truckers Association wrote.
Often, the problem with the licenses is that the CDL was set to expire after the time the driver’s work authorization in the U.S. had ended.
The Chinese American Truckers Association called the discrepancy an “administrative error” and claimed that the mistakes were “attributable to the DMV, not misconduct or ineligibility by individual drivers.”
The group said it seeks narrow relief, asking for California to be permitted to accept and adjudicate individualized renewal, replacement and/or extension requests for otherwise-qualified expiring non-domiciled CDLs. Additionally, the truckers group asks the court to allow California to amend CDLs
The relief “would not permit any driver to operate beyond the validity of verified lawful presence documentation and would not alter any training, testing, or safety qualification requirements,” the Chinese American Truckers Association wrote.
In late December, the Sikh Coalition also filed a lawsuit over the CDL removals.
The Sikh Coalition called the cancellation “unlawful” and claimed that CDLs were being canceled over “minor paperwork discrepancies.” LL
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