USDOT and FMCSA Tighten CDL Training and Exam Oversight, Targeting 'CDL Mills'

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has made combating fraud in the commercial driver training and licensing system a priority, linking 'barriers to entry' with training quality, exam corruption, and oversight of providers working through the federal registry. The article Secretary Duffy prioritizes barriers to entry in trucking describes how USDOT and FMCSA plan to tighten their approach to 'CDL mills'—schools that, according to the regulator, formally meet Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT) requirements but in practice produce unprepared candidates or engage in data and test result falsification schemes.

According to the publication, FMCSA has already reviewed about 16,000 training providers by December 2025 and excluded nearly 3,000 from the Training Provider Registry (TPR) due to curriculum violations or questionable reporting. A separate five-day nationwide operation, whose results Duffy announced on February 18, 2026, involved over 300 inspectors and investigators across all states, 1,426 field audits, more than 550 notices of proposed exclusion of 'bogus schools' from the registry, and 109 providers who reportedly voluntarily deregistered upon learning of an impending visit. These figures are presented as the toughest crackdown in the program's history; however, at the time of publication, the main details remain in media summaries rather than a separate FMCSA press release.

One central theme is the vulnerabilities of the ELDT structure itself, in effect since February 7, 2022. The rules require covering over 30 theoretical topics and practicing driving skills 'until competence is achieved,' but do not set a minimum number of hours. As a result, 'accelerated' courses have become entrenched in the market, which formally meet checklists but do not guarantee sufficient practice, especially for newcomers without a strong background in light vehicles. The publication directly links this to the emergence of 'license mills' and the need for federal oversight to focus not only on drivers and companies but also on the admission infrastructure—schools, examiners, registration addresses, and 'principal place of business.'

An example of testing corruption is the case of Skyline CDL School (Washington and Oregon) and independent examiner Jason Hodson. It is alleged that between April 2023 and September 2024, he entered 877 exam records into the system, 822 of which were associated with Skyline students, and some 'passed' tests may have been recorded even without the candidate's presence. According to the article, upon re-examination, about 80% of such drivers failed the test. Simultaneously, an investigation in Massachusetts is mentioned, where current and former state police officers were allegedly accused of taking bribes for 'helping' with CDL exams, as well as separate criminal cases involving bribery and witness tampering, which, according to the authors, demonstrate the systemic nature of the problem.

Duffy's rhetoric in the publication is tough: 'dubious schools must go,' and federal authorities 'will stop looking the other way.' These statements align with the minister's public declarations in short video clips, where he directly links safety with the need to 'be qualified to drive a truck' and speaks about cleaning up fraud in training and testing (You Gotta Be Qualified to Drive a Truck). In another video, he emphasizes that changes require time and coordination with other agencies, including the Department of Justice (timeline for trucking reforms involving DOJ).

The FreightWaves text draws a connection to high-profile incidents, which the authors use as an argument for tightening control. Among them is the accident on the Florida Turnpike in September 2024: a truck, reportedly, made an illegal U-turn, leading to a fatal 'underride' collision and the death of three people. Another episode is a potentially tragic case of a truck driving in the wrong lane in Missouri in late February 2026; it is claimed that the driver had issues with English proficiency and could not identify road signs. The article presents this as an example of why English Language Proficiency (ELP) checks should be more than a formality but a real element of road work eligibility.

ELP is also linked to other statements made in public speeches at the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS) in March 2026: there, Duffy and FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs spoke about 'fixing a broken system' and the need to close loopholes that allow for obtaining permits without meeting basic requirements (Duffy and Barrs' speech at MATS). The publication also claims that regulations were discussed to prevent non-English speakers from obtaining a CDL, as well as measures against 'ghost offices' and manipulations with legal addresses and 'principal place of business.'

The article highlights a conflict between two approaches regarding 'barriers to entry.' On one hand, industry associations have long insisted on not inflating entry costs and not 'blocking' the influx of personnel; the text mentions the American Trucking Associations' position that ELDT does not introduce minimum hours or add significant mandatory costs—in the logic that this maintains the profession's accessibility. On the other hand, OOIDA, represented by President Todd Spencer, as reported by the publication, criticizes 'CDL mills' and the rhetoric of 'driver shortages,' linking it to high turnover and lowering training standards. The article presents this contradiction as a debate over where the line is between real workforce inflow and the release of unprepared drivers through formal procedures.

A separate section of the material is dedicated to 'Dalilah’s Law'—an initiative named in memory of five-year-old Dalilah Coleman, who died in a traffic accident in San Bernardino County, California, in June 2024. FreightWaves writes that the bill, aimed at tightening the handling of non-domiciled CDL and strengthening state requirements, passed the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on March 18, 2026, with a vote of 35–26. The publication cites harsh parameters for incentivizing states: allegedly possible withholdings of up to 12% of federal highway funding for non-compliance. It also mentions FMCSA's assessment that long-term changes could push about 200,000 drivers out of the system, although the methodology for such an estimate is not disclosed in the article.

Simultaneously, in a broader FreightWaves stream on CDL topics, the issue of the scale of non-domiciled license reviews at the state level is raised. In the category dedicated to CDL issues, the publication mentioned, in particular, the revocation of 17,000 non-domiciled CDL in California in the context of tightening control (CDL issues material collection). Collectively, this illustrates that Duffy's federal agenda overlaps with state actions and can lead to mass reviews of already issued documents, not just 'tightening the screws' for new candidates.

Another detail highlighted by FreightWaves is the technological simplification of the driver's job. According to the publication, the share of 'automatics' among new Class 8 vehicles produced by OEMs exceeded 95%, whereas less than ten years ago, only about 10% were automatic. The authors use this shift as an argument that the real complexity of driving in some modes has decreased, and therefore the quality of training and discipline in terms of traffic rules, sign reading, maneuvering, and traffic work become even more critical: mistakes are more often related to 'basic skills and compliance with regulations' rather than 'gear-shifting technique.'

Within FMCSA, as described in the material, the focus is on two lines: cleaning the provider registry and targeted work on identifying falsifications (including data substitution in TPR), as well as actions against intermediary schemes where documents, addresses, and exams are 'packaged' under formal requirements. FreightWaves interprets this as an attempt to regain control over who and how gets into the cab: through auditing schools, checking third-party examiners, and pressuring states to be stricter about test quality and rule exceptions.

The logic of 'barriers to entry' in the publication's presentation shifts from the cost of training and speed of obtaining a CDL to the question of where the system should deliberately 'slow down' a candidate to a level that can be confirmed with verifiable data. In this context, the authors return to the idea of minimum training hours and limiting self-declaration by providers—as elements missing in the current model, which, according to FreightWaves, created space for 'quick' licenses, corruption, and subsequent accident risks.