New York loses $73M in federal funds tied to CDL failures

By Alan Wooten
The Center Square

Federal funds totaling $73 million will be withheld from New York by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the U.S. Department of Transportation said Thursday.

Secretary Sean Duffy said the state failed to revoke “illegally issued nondomiciled commercial learner’s permits and commercial driver’s licenses.” An audit of 200 sampled records found 107 – 53.5% – were issued in violation of federal law.

New York defaulted to eight-year licenses to foreign drivers for non-REAL ID licenses, regardless of when legal status for the individuals expired. In a Dec. 12 release, the state was ordered by the federal agency to begin revocations; on March 13, the motor carrier administration said again the state failed to complete required corrective actions.

Derek Barrs, administrator of the motor carrier administration, said, ““FMCSA’s mission is safety. That means ensuring that every commercial driver on the road is properly vetted and qualified. New York’s continued refusal to fix these failures undermines that mission, and we will not allow federal dollars to support a system that falls short of the law.”

Added Duffy, “I promised the American people I would hold any state leader accountable for failing to keep them safe from unvetted, unqualified foreign drivers. I’m delivering on that promise today by refusing to fund Governor Hochul’s dangerous, anti-American policies. My message to New York’s far left leadership is clear: families must be prioritized on American roads.”

Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration is losing 4% of its National Highway Performance Program and Surface Transportation Program Block Grant Funds with the loss of $73,502,543, says Thursday’s letter to Hochul and Commissioner J.F. Schroeder of the New York Department of Motor Vehicles.

Sean Butler, from Hochul’s office, told The New York Post on Thursday afternoon. “These charges are a baseless attempt to attack blue states, because as everyone knows New York simply follows federally-issued rules when issuing commercial drivers licenses, something that even the Trump administration has acknowledged.”

Litigation could be in the offing. For example, Hochul’s administration challenged the Trump administration over withheld funding for the Second Avenue Subway in East Harlem.

President Todd Spencer of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has applauded efforts to eliminate loopholes for unqualified drivers. The issue has been prevalent coast to coast, from Florida and California triple fatal crashes last year involving people driving big rigs illegally in America to February’s quadruple fatal in Indiana.

“The days of exploiting cheap labor on the basis of false ‘driver shortage’ claims are over,” Spencer said. “OOIDA and truckers across America applaud Secretary Duffy and FMCSA Administrator Barrs for responding to our concerns by taking substantial actions to crack down on the irresponsible issuance of nondomiciled CDLs, particularly in New York.”