When Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Thursday that 54% of North Carolina’s non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses failed federal review, the number landed like a gut punch to an industry already reeling from systemic failures in state licensing programs. Of the 50 CDLs FMCSA auditors examined, 27 were issued in direct violation of federal regulations. Nearly $50 million in federal highway funding now hangs in the balance. None of this should surprise anyone who’s been paying attention. The non-domiciled CDL program has been a ticking time bomb for years, and we in the compliance world have watched it with growing alarm as state after state treated federal requirements like suggestions rather than law. According to the FMCSA’s audit findings, North Carolina’s Division of Motor Vehicles committed violations in three categories that should concern every fleet operator and safety-conscious driver. Nineteen of the 27 problematic licenses were issued with expiration dates that extended beyond the driver’s lawful presence documentation, meaning drivers could legally operate 80,000-pound rigs on American highways long after their authorization to be in the country had expired. Another eight licenses were issued without documentation verifying the state’s verification of lawful presence. No Employment Authorization Document on file. No passport with I-94. A CDL was handed over without the basic verification steps required by federal law. Two additional licenses went to Mexican citizens who weren’t covered under DACA, which is the only pathway for Canadian or Mexican nationals to obtain a non-domiciled CDL, since reciprocity agreements allow drivers from those…
