Sacramento, California – California has agreed to delay the revocation of roughly 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses until March, a move state officials say is intended to protect legally qualified truck and bus drivers while the state works through compliance issues with federal regulators. The decision comes just one week after immigrant advocacy groups filed a lawsuit challenging the mass invalidation of licenses.
The delay, announced Tuesday, immediately drew pushback from the Trump administration. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that California could still lose up to $160 million in federal transportation funding if it does not meet a Jan. 5 deadline to revoke licenses issued to drivers who do not meet federal requirements.
Duffy has already withheld $40 million in funding, arguing that California failed to enforce English proficiency standards for commercial drivers. He has accused the state of allowing immigrants without legal authorization to hold commercial driver’s licenses, a claim backed by a federal audit that found significant lapses in oversight…