Senate Republicans target Obama-era trucking rule with new English proficiency bill

FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican wants to add stricter English proficiency requirements for truck drivers after an Obama-era rule change loosened standards.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., plans to introduce legislation that would add more stringent English proficiency rules for commercial truck drivers and an enforcement mechanism that would deem them “out of service” should they not meet the proposed standards.

The bill would add several standards, including ensuring that truck drivers can converse with the public, understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, respond to official inquiries and make entries on reports and records.

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“Wyoming families and travelers deserve safe highways,” Lummis said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “I’m introducing this commonsense legislation to ensure commercial truck drivers operating heavy vehicles can simply read signs, understand traffic laws and communicate effectively with law enforcement and emergency responders.”

The bill also comes on the heels of President Donald Trump’s executive order from earlier this year, which similarly added stricter English language requirements.

Trump’s order and Lummis’ bill would also require that a person driving a commercial motor vehicle who does not meet those standards will be deemed out of service, a move meant to add enforcement following a change made in 2016 under then-President Barack Obama.

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“This legislation will correct the major mistake the Obama administration made in undermining these rules and will codify President Trump’s Executive Order to make our highways safer for all Americans,” Lummis said.

While English proficiency requirements have existed for truck drivers for decades, a 2016 memo from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration instructed inspectors to give warnings and citations to commercial vehicle drivers who did not meet the English proficiency requirements, rather than place them out of service.

Lummis’ bill, which she and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., plan to introduce, also has a companion version in the House, introduced by Rep. Harriet Haggeman, R-Wyo.

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Both are named Connor’s Law, after 18-year-old Connor Dzion was killed in standstill traffic in Florida in 2017 when a Canadian truck driver, Yadwinder Sangha, slammed into the gridlocked vehicles.

There was a similar incident earlier this year when Harjinder Singh, an illegal immigrant from India, allegedly struck and killed three people in a tractor-trailer while making an illegal U-turn on a Florida highway on Aug. 12. The trailer jackknifed and collided with a minivan, killing all three of its passengers.

Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., introduced legislation that would crack down on commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) going to illegal immigrants and bolster English proficiency requirements to get a commercial license.