The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is calling for emergency action to keep "sham" CDL schools shut down by investigators out of the driver training game.
An Information Collection Request submitted to the White House in September shows the agency making an emergency request to tighten rules on the Training Provider Registry.
For years, since FMCSA was tasked with establishing Entry Level Driver Training requirements and maintaining the TPR, CDL schools have complained about a flood of "unscrupulous" actors and CDL mills.
FMCSA under the second Trump administration has launched unprecedented in-person audits and a widespread cleanup effort on the TPR, leading to nearly 10,000 schools removed, but industry insiders say bad actors remain and the removals have mostly proven to be inactive schools.
In August, the Department of Transportation, Department of Homeland Security, state prosecutors and the White House Anti Fraud Task Force launched the "Joint Task Force Crossroads of America" partnership targeting corrupt schools and DMV officials.
That effort included an immediate shutdown of 110 CDL schools DOT Secretary Sean Duffy called "sham" schools. Those schools had each graduated more than 10 students who went on to get English language proficiency violations, DOT said.
One CDL school that was removed, Soler & Soler CDL School in Miami, Florida, responded in shock, pointing out that it had just a month before passed an FMCSA audit. Additionally, there was no existing rule saying schools would be shut down if they graduated a certain number of students who went on to get violations.
[Related: CDL school fires back after 'emergency shutdown' from FMCSA, White House anti-fraud task force]
That school owner fought FMCSA and has since been reinstated onto the TPR. But, in raising arguments against the shutdown, the school owner pointed out that he could simply register a new CDL school and continue doing business due to the "self-certification" standards set by FMCSA itself.
Now, FMCSA hopes to close that loophole.
"FMCSA requests an emergency [information collection request] in order to require" additional documentation for the "the initial vetting of new providers and every time a provider adds a new location," FMCSA wrote in a memo when submitting the ICR to the Office of Management and Budget.
FMCSA wants to demand every new applicant for the TPR provides the following:
- The lesson plans for theory and behind-the-wheel (range and public road) training curricula, as applicable;
- Proof of compliant training vehicles (such as meeting the requirement that they be in the same group and type that driver-trainees intend to operate for their CDL skills test), as applicable;
- Instructor qualification documentation indicating driving and/or training experience, as applicable, for each instructor and copies of commercial driver's licenses and endorsements held by BTW instructors or theory instructors, as applicable;
- Proof that the provider is licensed, certified, registered, or otherwise authorized to provide training in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations of any state where in-person training is conducted; and
- Documentation detailing what facilities are being utilized for applicable in-person training to comply with 49 CFR 380.709.
"The documents collected will be reviewed for compliance prior to training providers being listed in the TPR," FMCSA added.
In justifying the rule, FMCSA said it was an emergency "because public harm is reasonably likely to result. ... In this case, the public harm is having noncompliant training providers certifying drivers as meeting the training standards for operating a CMV when those drivers have not done so. Allowing these drivers to operate a CMV presents a safety risk to the public."
FMCSA additionally admits that trainers who get removed "due to fraud, criminal behavior, or willful disregard of the regulations" could simply sign back up under a new name and address.
"Under the current rules covering the TPR, when a provider is issued a Notice of Emergency Removal, they are able to log on to the TPR, self-certify with new training provider information, and thus be listed again on the TPR and continue to perpetuate fraud," FMCSA said.
As long as the CDL school puts down new basic information, like a new email and address, "these bad actors return under a new name and begin reporting under the same fraudulent, criminal, or willful disregard as was discovered in their original business model until discovered through state non-compliance, operations, or complaints," FMCSA said. The only good way "to combat fraudulent behavior and rebuild trust in the TPR" is to increase vetting.
The problem with CDL schools and "self-certification" described here mirrors what happens with "chameleon" carriers and even "chameleon" ELDs.
[Related: FMCSA Administrator Barrs to make radical changes to driver training, ELDs, med cards]
FMCSA administrator Derek Barrs has vowed to end "everything to do with" self-certification at the agency during his tenure.
