A proposed bill known as Dalilah's Law is heading to the House of Representatives following a string of horrific crashes, including a triple fatal crash involving an undocumented semi-truck driver on the Florida Turnpike last August.
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The legislation aims to hold commercial truck drivers, their employers, and commercial driver's license schools more accountable. It has cleared the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Dalilah's Law is named for 7-year-old Dalilah Coleman, who was permanently injured in a truck crash. President Donald Trump threw his support behind the proposed bill at his State of the Union.
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"I’m calling on Congress to pass the Dalilah's Law," Trump said.
The new bill would revoke CDLs from undocumented people and make English testing the only option. It also targets unsafe companies and fraudulent driving schools, with states risking federal funding if they do not comply.
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Transportation safety expert James Lewis has worked with the Department of Transportation and Federal Motor Carriers for 36 years. He has seen plenty of fatal crashes caused by irresponsible drivers.
"These are big crashes with fatalities," Lewis said.
Lewis is now seeing crashes involving drivers who he believes never should have gotten commercial licenses.
"These things didn’t exist 10, 20, 30 years ago and American citizens are paying the price," Lewis said.
Last year, I reported on Harjinder Singh, an undocumented driver accused of making an illegal U-turn that killed three people on Florida's Turnpike.
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Lewis said Singh’s employer, White Hawk, had multiple violations.
"Including 10 false driver log reports," Lewis said.
Lewis told me if the bill had been in place last August, that deadly crash might never have happened.
"We’re finding all kinds of fraud in these CDL schools. Many have been shut down for not meeting safety standards," Lewis said.
U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., said the bill sets consistent standards, something Lt. Gov. Jay Collins said is overdue.
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"I’m a dad, it scares me to have my kids on the road. I hope this passes to protect our people," Collins said.
However, critics like Washington Representative Rick Larsen, warn the legislation could strip licenses from up to 200,000 drivers who passed the same tests as citizens.
"If they don’t qualify, they shouldn’t be doing this job, that’s what this bill proves," Lewis said.
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