DOT’s latest dart hits North Carolina
A day after the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that it was pulling $160 million in funding from California, another state was placed on notice.
This time, the DOT called out North Carolina, threatening to hold nearly $50 million in federal funding unless the state fixes its “serious failures” regarding the issuance of non-domiciled CDLs.
According to the DOT, 54% of North Carolina’s non-domiciled CDLs that were reviewed were found to have been issued illegally.
“North Carolina’s failure to follow the rules isn’t just shameful – it’s dangerous,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said. “I’m calling on state leadership to immediately remove these dangerous drivers from our roads and clean up their system.”
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration told North Carolina to revoke all of the licenses it deems to be illegal or risk losing about $50 million in federal funding.
“The level of noncompliance in North Carolina is egregious,” FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs said. “Under Secretary Duffy, we will not hesitate to hold states accountable and protect the American people.”
In a letter from FMCSA to North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, the state was given instructions on how to avoid losing its funding.
- Immediately pause issuance of non-domiciled CDLs.
- Identify all unexpired non-domiciled CDLs that fail to comply with FMCSA regulations.
- Revoke and re-issue all non-compliant non-domiciled CDLs if they comply with the federal requirements.
- Conduct a comprehensive internal audit to identify all procedural and programming errors, training and quality assurance problems, insufficient policies and practices and other issues that have resulted in the issuance of non-domiciled CDLs that did not meet federal rules.
On Jan. 7, the DOT announced it was pulling about $160 million in funding for not revoking 17,000 CDLs.
“It’s reckoning day for Gavin Newsom and California,” Duffy said. “Our demands were simple: follow the rules, revoke the unlawfully-issued licenses to dangerous foreign drivers, and fix the system so this never happens again. Gavin Newsom has failed to do so – putting the needs of illegal immigrants over the safety of the American people. While Gavin may not care about protecting you and your family on our roads, the Trump Administration does. We’re pulling this funding to ensure federal tax dollars don’t fund this charade.” LL