President Trump has published an executive order requiring long-distance truck drivers to be “proficient” in English. “They should be able to read and understand traffic signs, communicate with traffic safety, border patrol, agricultural checkpoints, and cargo weight-limit station officers,” the order explains. “Drivers need to provide feedback to their employers and customers and receive related directions in English.”
The announcement comes just after Governor Jenniffer Gonzalez Colon requested that Puerto Rico be able to issue national commercial driving licenses in Puerto Rico. “I also discussed my amendment, requested by the Puerto Rico Public and Transport Services Bureau, to add #PuertoRico to the Commercial Drivers License (CDL) program,” she wrote on Facebook.
At present, Puerto Rico truck driving licenses do not have reciprocal rights with commercial licenses in the states. So, while a long-haul driver from Oklahoma can drive through Kansas and Missouri to Illinois legally, a truck driver licensed in Puerto Rico cannot use that license in any state.
Is this a new law?
An executive order isn’t actually a law at all. They are intended to be interpretations of existing laws. Congress passes laws; the president can veto them but cannot create them.
The existing law in this case is a regulation from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. A qualified driver, it says, “can read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records.”
In order to get a commercial license, drivers must take a knowledge test. These tests are usually, but not always, administered in English, so passing the test is considered evidence of English proficiency. In Puerto Rico, where the official languages are Spanish and English, it certainly makes sense to administer the test in the native language of the driver. This is legal under federal law. And the law does not give any guidelines for testing English proficiency, nor does it require states or territories to do so.
Who will define or test English proficiency?
The executive order says that “the Secretary of Transportation, through the Administrator of the FMCSA, shall take all necessary and appropriate actions, consistent with applicable law, to ensure that the out-of-service criteria are revised such that a violation of the English language proficiency requirement results in the driver being placed out-of-service, including by working with the relevant entities responsible for establishing the out-of-service criteria.”
At present, English proficiency, when it comes up at all, is determined by roadside interactions at traffic stops, or by the drivers’ supervisors. There is no standardized test, no training for people in charge of judging English proficiency, and no agreed-upon definitions of what degree of proficiency is enough to converse with the general public. nor is there any clear procedure for taking action if the police officer feels that the driver’s English is not proficient.
Concerns for Puerto Rico
It is possible that this new executive order will interfere with the prospect of reciprocal licensing for Puerto Rico and the states. But the focus on English language proficiency may be a concern. However, it is not a new law. Instead, the order focuses on enforcement of an existing regulation.
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