Following President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday in which he urged Congress to quickly move on a trucking-related bill he called the Dalilah Law -- named after young Dalilah Coleman, injured in a June 2024 crash involving a tractor-trailer driven by a citizen of India -- the bill has now been introduced in the Senate.
Sen. Jim Banks (R-Indiana) introduced the legislation Wednesday, providing details on just exactly how it will impact commercial driver’s license holders:
- Prohibits issuance of CDLs to individuals who are not citizens or lawful permanent residents of the U.S., or holders of certain work visas. This provision would essentially codify the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s final rule limiting non-domiciled CDL issuance to non-citizen holders of H-2A, H-2B and E-2 visa holders.
- A lifetime ban from operating a commercial vehicle would apply to anyone who does not fit the above criteria and operates a CMV, unless they possess specific travel authorizations or admission records.
- The bill would requires that states recertify “all current CDL holders” within 180 days of the law’s enactment. Recertification would include verification that an individual is a citizen or lawful permanent resident, or holds an H-2A, H-2B and E-2 visa. States would also verify the CDL holder is proficient in English and has passed the CDL knowledge and skills tests. Failure to recertify within the given time frame, or failing any part of the recertification, would result in a CDL revocation.
- It would also require both CDL knowledge and skills tests to be administered in English only.
State compliance with the provisions of the law would be tied to Department of Transportation funding. The Transportation Secretary would be given authority to withhold funding from states that do not recertify and revoke licenses as necessary, as well as those that issue licenses to individuals who do not meet the necessary criteria.
“Too many people have been hurt. Too many have been killed,” Banks said. “Americans are paying the price because illegal drivers are being handed commercial driver’s licenses like candy and put behind the wheel of 80,000-pound trucks. That stops now. The Dalilah Law makes it clear: if you are here illegally, you do not get a CDL. We need to act and we need to act now.”
The Dalilah Law legislation has been referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
[Related: Trump calls for further CDL reforms in State of the Union]
Dalilah Coleman’s father, Marcus, had posted on X that the Dalilah Law would include provisions targeting “chameleon carriers,” but the text of the bill does not include any of the requirements he mentioned.
Sen. Banks earlier this week did send a letter to FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs requesting action on chameleon carriers due his home state of Indiana being what he called “a hotspot for so-called chameleon carriers.”
In Dalilah’s case, she sustained life-altering injuries when an 18-wheeler driven by an Indian national, Partap Singh, hit the vehicle she was in at a high rate of speed. According to her father, the crash resulted in her inability to walk, talk, eat orally, or attend kindergarten as planned. Marcus and Dalilah Coleman were in attendance for the State of the Union this week.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem came out in support of Banks’ legislation with this statement:
“Under President Trump's leadership, we have worked to deliver justice for the families impacted by illegal alien crime and have ensured that the tragedies they endured will no longer continue. What happened to Dalilah Coleman is a tragedy that could have been PREVENTED if California did not grant commercial driver’s licenses to illegal aliens who should have never been here in the first place. DHS is working every single day to remove dangerous criminal illegal aliens who are unlawfully in the U.S.”
