Proposed bill heaping fines on non ELP compliant drivers & companies that hire them in Iowa clears initial review

A proposed bill that would impose fines on non ELP compliant drivers and the companies that hire them has cleared initial review in the Senate. 

The bill cleared the initial review on Wednesday, February 11th and is scheduled to be deviated by the Senate Transportation Committee next week. 

According to Radio Iowa, the proposed bill, currently listed under Senate File 2173, requires truck drivers to pass an English Language Proficiency test before obtaining a CDL. The bill would also implement $1,000 fines on truck drivers found driving without sufficient ELP, and the companies that hire those drivers found to be in violation would face an initial fine of $3,000. 

The proposed bill is backed by the Iowa Motor Truck Association. 

“We’ve very unfortunately seen many recent and very public examples of crashes involving commercial motor vehicles driven by individuals who could not speak, read or understand the English language,” Blake Grolmus, a senior vice president at the Iowa Motor Truck Association, said at a subcommittee hearing Wednesday. 

“Roadway safety and protecting the integrity of our workforce is a top priority of the Iowa Motor Truck Association,” Grolmus said, “and over the last three to five years we’ve unfortunately seen significant degradation of the professionalism and quality of the drivers that are on our roadways as well as the unvetted carriers who are employing these individuals.”

Iowa has had 500 truck drivers placed OOS since the ELP rules were put in place by the Trump Administration, making it the state with the ninth highest number of OOS ELP violations.