Illinois is the latest state to be called out by federal regulators for how it issues non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses.
Other states that have similarly criticized and threatened with the loss of federal funds include California, New York, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Minnesota, Washington, and Texas.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy Tuesday said the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s review of Illinois’ non-domiciled CDL program found nearly one in five licenses to have been issued illegally. Illinois has 30 days to come into compliance and revoke the illegally issued licenses, or risk losing $128 million in federal highway funding, according to a statement by the DOT.
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In a letter sent to Gov. JB Pritzker and Illinois Director of Driver Services Kevin Duesterhaus, the FMCSA outlined the audit’s findings of how the state illegally issued non-domiciled CDLs to:
- Drivers whose licenses were valid long after their lawful presence in the U.S. expired
- Drivers without Illinois first verifying the individual’s lawful presence in the U.S.
RELATED NEWS: Final rule tightens regulations on non-domiciled CDLs, learner permits
USDOT is now demanding Illinois take the following corrective measures to avoid funding being withheld:
- Immediately pause issuance of non-domiciled CDLs
- Identify all unexpired non-domiciled CDLs that fail to comply with FMCSA regulations
- Revoke and reissue all noncompliant non-domiciled CDLs if they comply with the federal requirements
- Conduct a comprehensive internal audit to identify all procedural and programming errors, training and quality assurance problems, insufficient policies and practices, and other issues that have resulted in the issuance of non-domiciled CDLs that did not meet Federal rules
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