English-proficiency crackdown: 26,000+ drivers put out of service

FMCSA has proposed permanently codifying out-of-service orders for drivers who fail English-language-proficiency tests. The underlying rule is decades old, but roadside OOS enforcement had lapsed around 2014 and only resumed in 2025 — since then, FMCSA says more than 26,000 drivers have been placed out of service.

States are moving in parallel on non-domiciled CDLs: Tennessee passed a bill making it a Class A misdemeanor for employers to knowingly let an unlawfully-present person operate a CMV; Arizona’s SB 1511 and Missouri’s HB 2741 advance similar scrutiny; Idaho already signed its program-ending HB 667 into law.