The GigReporter

On April 28 the President issued an executive order1 requiring the enforcement of English-language proficiency standards in federal trucking regulations. While the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations has long required commercial motor vehicle operators to be able to “read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records”2 the federal government has avoided seriously trying to enforce this requirement itself for years. The new executive order directs the Secretary of Transportation and the Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to issue new guidance and inspection procedures to enforce this requirement.

Various trucking business groups publicly praised this move for increasing driver safety, but it’s not unreasonable to think some might be worrying privately. Immigrants are disproportionately represented in trucking and other delivery work, so businesses that have been accustomed to the lax regulatory environment here may be scrambling for compliance. Furthermore, the text of the regulatory requirement is somewhat vague; hopefully the new guidance will provide more concrete details for measuring proficiency, but in the meantime, there will be a wide zone of uncertainty for businesses trying to judge whether a driver’s English skills are sufficient.

1 “Enforcing Commonsense Rules of he Road for America’s Truck Drivers”, https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/enforcing-commonsense-rules-of-the-road-for-americas-truck-drivers/.
2 49 CFR § 391.11(b)(2).

In the last-mile space most vehicles are below the size limits for commercial motor vehicles subject to federal regulations, although carrying hazardous material renders a motor vehicle “commercial” regardless of size. Logistics brokers working with such cargo should know that SCI’s DocDetection technology makes onboarding owner/operator documentation simple and streamlined, so they can add English proficiency tests to their onboarding packets with minimal disruption.