A North Carolina lawmaker introduced a bill that would push federal agencies to create a uniform English language proficiency test to be administered to first-time commercial driver’s license (CDL) applicants and CDL renewal applicants nationwide.
On October 22, 2025, Rep. Pat Harrigan introduced the Standardized Assessment for Fluency in English for Drivers Act (SAFE Drivers Act) alongside co-sponsors Rep. Troy Nehls and Rep. Bob Onder.
The bill seeks to strengthen current regulations that require English Language Proficiency (ELP) for commercial truck drivers by requiring the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to create a standardized test to be administered during CDL issuance and renewal in every state.
The test would assess a driver’s ability to read road signs, understand spoken instructions, and complete written reports.
Currently, no standardized federal English language assessment for CDL applicants exists, though FMCSA has provided guidance for motor carriers and for law enforcement on how to assess a driver’s language skills.
Harrigan said that the standardized English test for truck drivers is necessary because “states apply the rule unevenly, creating dangerous enforcement gaps.”
The bill includes an enforcement mechanism allowing the U.S. Department of Transportation to withhold funding from states that do not comply with the administration of the test.
“If you can’t read ‘Bridge Out Ahead’ or communicate with a state trooper at a crash scene, you have no business driving an 80,000-pound truck on American highways,” said Congressman Harrigan. “We have federal rules that require English proficiency, but no standardized test to enforce them, so states like California hand out commercial licenses to drivers who can’t understand basic safety instructions. The SAFE Drivers Act fixes that by requiring one uniform English test nationwide before any CDL is issued. No more guesswork, no more state-by-state loopholes, just one standard that keeps Americans safe.”
“Representative Harrigan’s SAFE Drivers Act is a long-overdue, commonsense solution that strengthens safety and consistency across our nation’s highways. English language proficiency has been a federal requirement for commercial drivers since 1937, yet enforcement has varied widely across states and over time. By directing FMCSA to implement a standardized English proficiency test at the point of CDL issuance and renewal, not during roadside inspections, this bill ensures that every driver entering the workforce can read road signs, communicate with law enforcement, and respond effectively in emergencies. It eliminates the patchwork of state-level standards and enforcement discrepancies and prevents unqualified drivers from ever getting behind the wheel. The North Carolina Trucking Association strongly supports this bill and urges Congress to act swiftly,” said the North Carolina Trucking Association.
The American Trucking Associations endorses the bill. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has spoken out against the bill because of the burden it would create for drivers who are renewing their CDL.
A similar bill introduced in the House and Senate this month forbids the administration of CDL testing in any language other than English.