White House Announces Trucking Action Plan on CDLs and Apprenticeships

In December 2021, the Biden administration announced a Trucking Action Plan aimed at recruiting and keeping truck drivers. A White House fact sheet released December 16, 2021 set out steps by the Departments of Transportation (DOT) and Labor (DOL), including help for states with commercial driver's license (CDL) delays, a push to expand Registered Apprenticeships, and timelines for programs created by the infrastructure law signed the month before.

The administration's case

The fact sheet said 72% of goods in the United States move by truck. It described long-running workforce problems that the pandemic had made worse, including high turnover, an aging workforce, long stretches away from home and time spent waiting, often unpaid, to load and unload. It cited one estimate that long-haul full-truckload drivers averaged only 6.5 hours of driving per working day, even though they were allowed up to 11.

CDL issuance

DOT and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) said they would:

• provide more than $30 million to help states speed up CDL issuance;
• send all 50 states a toolkit of specific actions to speed up licensing;
• track delays, identify states having trouble issuing CDLs, and contact governors about ways to reduce delays.

The fact sheet said states had issued an average of more than 50,000 CDLs and learner's permits a month in 2021. That was 20% above the 2019 monthly average and 72% above the 2020 average. By the end of October 2021, states had already issued more licenses and permits than in all of 2019. The fact sheet pointed to state examples, including New York cutting testing delays by 37% over the summer.

90-day apprenticeship challenge

DOL launched a 90-day challenge to get more trucking employers to start or expand Registered Apprenticeship programs. According to the fact sheet:

• the trucking industry already had more than 10,000 registered apprentices;
• FASTPORT, a DOL-funded apprenticeship intermediary focused on transportation, committed to helping employers, unions and associations set up programs in as little as 48 hours;
• DOL was investing $8 million in more national apprenticeship intermediaries;
• EVO Trucking, D.M. Bowman, Yellow Corporation, Florida Rock and Tank, Total Transportation, CRST and Albertsons committed to launching or expanding apprenticeships with the administration.

Veterans and job quality

The plan included outreach to roughly 70,000 veterans believed likely to have certified trucking experience from the previous five years. DOT and DOL also launched a joint "Driving Good Jobs" initiative, with listening sessions for drivers, unions, industry and advocates.

Timelines tied to the infrastructure law

The fact sheet set deadlines for several items linked to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law:

• Within 30 days: FMCSA funding opportunities for states to streamline CDL processing, and the start of a study of driver pay, including unpaid waiting time.
• Within 60 days: FMCSA would launch the pilot program for drivers under 21 required by the law, built around Registered Apprenticeships and pairing each young driver with an experienced mentor.
• Within 90 days: DOT and DOL would launch a task force on women in trucking and a task force to look into predatory truck leasing arrangements, both created by the law, and deliver an action plan on further steps to support trucking jobs.

The plan was part of the administration's Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force, launched in June 2021.

Archive: this article describes rules and events as of December 2021. Regulations may have changed since, so check the current rule before relying on it.