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States are detailing their responses to a U.S. Department of Transportation edict to restrict access to commercial driver licenses and permits for non-domiciled drivers.

An FMCSA audit recently found compliance issues in California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas and Washington. South Dakota was first to acknowledge them.

The Senate on Oct. 7 confirmed Barrs to manage the nation’s trucking regulatory agency even as the federal government remained locked in a partial shutdown.

The department’s plan, released Sept. 30, shows that highway and trucking agencies are among the least affected in a lapse of annual appropriations.

Under the latest plan, air traffic controller hiring and field training would also continue — a key difference from the March plan, which would have paused those activities. 

At least eight cabinet departments comprising more than two-thirds of the federal workforce had detailed their shutdown plans by the afternoon of Sept. 29.

“The process for issuing these licenses is absolutely 100% broken," Sean Duffy said. "It has become a threat to public safety and it is a national emergency that requires action right now.”

If the rule is finalized, DOT would amend its federal drug-testing program regulation (49 CFR Part 40) to include both substances. Public comments on the proposal are due Oct. 17.

American Trucking Associations is renewing its call for stricter enforcement of federal safety laws in the wake of a fatal truck-involved crash in August.

The crash sparked a clash between DHS and California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom over Harjinder Singh, a native of India, obtaining a work permit and driver’s license in the state.