The Texas House Transportation Committee is scheduled to hear testimony on “Foreign Holders of Commercial Driver Licenses” in an interim hearing on August 17th, 2026. Republicans Against TLR submitted the following Public Comment:
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Republicans Against Texans for Lawsuit Reform (RATLR), a new 501c(4) non-profit, appreciates the House Transportation Committee examining the growing presence of nondomiciled commercial driver license holders who can not speak or read English operating on Texas roads.
Texas families expect that every commercial driver operating an 80,000-pound commercial vehicle in our state is properly licensed, adequately trained, legally authorized to operate the vehicle, and capable of understanding our road signs and communicating in English as required by state and federal law. Unfortunately, these expectations are frequently, and increasingly, not being met.
Failure to enforce current law has already led to actions by President Trump, Governor Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton, Texas DPS, and lawsuits brought to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Strict enforcement of our laws before a crash is only half of the equation. There must also be accountability and transparency after a crash occurs.
When a commercial vehicle crash injures or kills a Texan, our courts should not artificially shield relevant information about the driver or the company that put that driver behind the wheel. If a driver lacked required English proficiency, possessed a nondomiciled or foreign commercial license, was improperly trained or licensed, or otherwise failed to meet state or federal safety requirements, Texas law should allow those facts to be considered.
Current Texas law allows a jury to consider this information. Recent legislation tried to change the rules governing what evidence juries could hear in commercial vehicle cases. Among the information at issue was whether a commercial driver complied with English proficiency requirements. The Legislature should continue to ensure Texas juries receive this information, and resist efforts to withhold information from a jury.
The Legislature should also examine whether trucking companies have sufficient incentives to verify the qualifications of the drivers they hire. Companies that put inadequately qualified drivers behind the wheel of massive commercial vehicles should not receive special protections from accountability when Texans are harmed.
We encourage the Committee to recommend policies that:
• Strengthen verification of nondomiciled CDL holders operating in Texas;
• Strictly enforce federal and state English proficiency requirements;
• Hold motor carriers accountable for properly vetting, training, and supervising their drivers; and
• Protect the ability of Texas juries to hear relevant evidence concerning violations of these safety requirements.
Public safety requires more than regulations written on paper. Those regulations must be enforced, companies must be accountable for the drivers they put on Texas highways, and Texans must be able to learn the truth when something goes wrong.
Texas should protect its citizens—not hide the facts from them.
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