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Three states recently ramped up enforcement in response to renewed U.S. Department of Transportation attention to English-language proficiency issues.

The U.S. Senate on Oct. 3 advanced for a floor vote the nomination of Barrs to manage the nation’s trucking regulator even as the federal government remained locked in a partial shutdown.

Trucking regulators and officials who manage the country’s surface transportation network are operating under mostly normal conditions as the partial government shutdown continues.

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.

President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is among the nominees expected to be considered by the Senate soon.

The move arrives at a moment when the Department of Transportation is scrutinizing English-language proficiency among commercial drivers.

On a combined federal and state level, year-to-date English-language proficiency violations had reached 3,724 drivers through the end of August. 

Advancing a program that stretches back more than 20 years, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has announced plans for a sweeping study of fatal heavy truck crashes.

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.