The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has extended its temporary waiver allowing CDL holders to carry paper medical examiner certificates yet again. The new extension runs from Jan. 11 through April 10, 2026. Eight states still haven’t implemented a system that was supposed to be live by June 2018. This isn’t a technology problem. This is a failure of will. It explains everything about why states like California, Washington and Minnesota feel emboldened to run their own show when it comes to CDL issuance. A Brief History of NRII The Medical Examiner’s Certification Integration final rule was published on April 23, 2015. That’s nearly a decade ago. The concept was simple: eliminate paper medical certificates that are easily forged, create an electronic transmission system in which certified medical examiners submit exam results to FMCSA by midnight of the next calendar day, and have FMCSA push that data to state driver licensing agencies to update the driver’s motor vehicle record. The original compliance date was June 22, 2018. It got pushed to June 22, 2021. Then to June 23, 2025. The rule finally “went live” on June 23, 2025, but immediately required a 15-day waiver in July. That became a 60-day waiver in August. Extended again in October. And now again through April 2026. State licensing agencies had a decade to implement what is functionally a paper upload feature for CDL self-certifications. A data feed. An API connection. The kind of thing a competent IT contractor could build in weeks. The…
