The rules, they are a’changin’.
And they are changing quickly.
Two of the trucking industry’s biggest and most immediately urgent tasks is to comply with changes to rules pertaining to the issuance of commercial drivers’ licenses (CDLs).
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on April 28, 2025, requiring truck drivers to pass English literacy tests as a “non-negotiable safety requirement.”
The order directs U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy to rescind guidance that watered down the law requiring English proficiency for commercial drivers.
That particular rule elicited loud applause from many.
“We thank the Trump Administration for responding to our concerns on the uneven application of this existing regulation, and we look forward to working with FMCSA and the law enforcement community on an objective, consistent and effective enforcement standard,” said Dan Horvath, American Trucking Associations (ATA) senior vice president of regulatory and safety policy.
The family of Connor Dzion, an 18 year old college freshman who was tragically killed by a distracted truck driver in Florida in 2017 — a truck driver who could not read the police emergency warning signs in English that said “Slow Down … Accident Ahead” and slammed into Dzion’s car. That family, along with the Small Business in Transportation Coalition (SBTC), introduced CONNOR’S LAW into the U.S. House of Representatives back in May.
Also, in September 2025, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced an emergency action to drastically restrict who is eligible for non-domiciled commercial learner’s permits (CLPs) and CDLs.
“What our team has discovered should disturb and anger every American,” Duffy said. “Licenses to operate a massive, 80,000-pound truck are being issued to dangerous foreign drivers — often times illegally. This is a direct threat to the safety of every family on the road, and I won’t stand for it. Today’s actions will prevent unsafe foreign drivers from renewing their license and hold states accountable to immediately invalidate improperly issued licenses.”
The rule, which became effective immediately, comes in response to an ongoing nationwide audit by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and a recent series of horrific, fatal crashes caused by non-domiciled drivers.
What does that mean for institutions that provide CDL training and testing? An immediate pivot.
Martin Garsee, who serves as program director for transportation training at Houston City College (HCC) in Texas says there have been some challenges to adjusting to new rules. One of the immediate consequences was that four students who had enrolled in the school’s CDL training course had to drop out.
“They didn’t meet the qualifications of the new rule,” Garsee said. “Up until that was passed, they were eligible for a CDL. They had a CLP but didn’t have a CDL.”
“We are actually dropping students, and unable to admit students,” Garsee added.
One of the nuances of English Language Proficiency (ELP) that Garsee pointed out at his end is that, when students realize the course is delivered solely in English, they tend to back away from actually enrolling into the course. HCC, like many schools of its kind in the country have English as a Second Language (ESL) courses available, some of which are free of charge.
According to HCC’s website, its ESL program “is incredibly diverse demonstrated by the inclusion of students from over 80 countries who speak over 30 native languages. In addition to teaching students English in our award winning ELS Programs, our programs focus on integrating students into U.S. culture through the inclusion of local community field trips, campus celebrations of American holidays and a frequent offering of American culture guest speakers at various campus sites.”
As Garsee stated, there are students from many different backgrounds and continents, not just the Latino community.
When it is clear that ELP is needed, prospective students are redirected to that particular program.
“Whether we see them again after that, we don’t know,” Garsee said. He admits that it’s possible to integrate ESL into the truck driving course. “We have worked with our ESL department,” he said, “and we have looked at doing a little bit of it in the past.”
While funding is a hurdle that must be overcome, the integration is not unprecedented at HCC. “We did ESL in the morning and truck driving in the afternoon,” Garsee said. “They had to have 96 hours of ESL.”
That means the classes will be longer, possibly doubling the student commitment. Grant funding is being sought to help facilitate the best ways to implement the proper compliance processes. Until then, schools will simply be doing the best they can to comply with the ever-changing landscape that is education in trucking.
Bruce Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has lived in three states including Arkansas, Missouri and Georgia. During his nearly 20-year career, Bruce has served as managing editor and sports editor for numerous publications. He and his wife, Dana, who is also a journalist, are based in Carrollton, Georgia.
I think it’s a bunch of BULLSHIT, They don’t need to be here when they come in here and take our jobs for less money, And put our own companies out of business, And come in here and take advantage of our amenities at truck stops leaving the plastic bottles in the toilet stalls that they clean their butts with, can’t even talk to people that work in the trucks politely, They use the cat scale and you can’t understand them and same as at shippers and receivers and then there angry with all truck drivers, We don’t have a driver shortage, The truck drivers we have here just need to be paid better instead of all those people from 30 different countries coming here and taking our Jobs, And they don’t respect America!!