HR7793-119

What This Bill Does

The Dalilah Law requires states to limit commercial driver's licenses and other state authorizations to operate commercial motor vehicles. Ordinary state-domiciled eligibility is restricted to U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. The amended non-domiciled and related provisions also allow specified E-2, H-2A, or H-2B nonimmigrants who hold valid unexpired visas.

The Transportation Secretary must disqualify for life a person who operates a commercial vehicle without citizenship, permanent residence, or the specified work-visa status. The lifetime rule has exceptions for a qualifying B nonimmigrant with a valid visa and a person holding valid Visa Waiver Program travel authorization plus a valid admission record. Those disqualification exceptions do not themselves expand the state issuance criteria.

Within 180 days, every current holder of any covered commercial license or authorization must recertify. The state must verify immigration status, English proficiency under the referenced federal rule, and passage in English of every covered knowledge, skills, renewal, maintenance, or upgrade examination. It must revoke the credential of anyone who misses the deadline or fails any status, proficiency, or English-exam condition.

The Secretary must withhold all covered funding from a state that misses the recertification or revocation deadlines. Beginning with the first fiscal year after enactment, all covered funding is also withheld if a state issues a credential to an ineligible person, licenses someone lacking English proficiency, or administers a covered examination in a language other than English. Covered funding includes any funding the Secretary is authorized to provide to the state or to a project or activity in the state under any federal law.

The bill applies beyond standard CDLs to any state license or authorization to operate a commercial motor vehicle. It does not merely reduce highway formula funds; its definition makes the withholding reach broadly across covered Transportation Department funding.

Who Benefits and How

Citizen and lawful-permanent-resident commercial drivers may face less labor competition. Eligible E-2, H-2A, and H-2B visa holders retain a licensing pathway when their visas are valid. English-proficient drivers and carriers gain a uniform testing rule. Road users may benefit if recertification detects invalid credentials or communication deficiencies. Federal safety officials gain strong leverage over state licensing systems.

Who Bears the Burden and How

All current commercial credential holders must recertify within 180 days, including citizens and permanent residents. Drivers outside the named statuses lose eligibility, and drivers who miss the deadline, fail English proficiency, or previously tested in another language face revocation. States must verify every holder, retest or document examinations, revoke credentials, change systems, and risk loss of all covered federal funding. Trucking firms, farms, seasonal employers, and supply chains may face driver shortages. Language-minority drivers and communities lose translated testing access.

Key Provisions

• Restricts state commercial licenses to listed immigration statuses.
• Requires valid visas for specified nonimmigrant workers.
• Creates lifetime disqualification for unauthorized commercial operation.
• Provides narrow travel-status exceptions to lifetime disqualification.
• Requires recertification of every current holder within 180 days.
• Requires English proficiency and English-language examinations.
• Requires revocation for missed or failed recertification.
• Withholds all covered funding from noncompliant states.
• Expands covered credentials beyond standard commercial licenses.