FMCSA Proposes More Flexible CDL Testing Rules
A February 2024 proposal would let applicants test in other states, drop the 14-day permit wait, and let permit holders who passed the skills test drive with a CDL holder aboard.
In February 2024, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) proposed several changes intended to let commercial driver's license (CDL) applicants get licensed and working sooner. The notice of proposed rulemaking, published on February 2, 2024, responded to petitions from the American Trucking Associations and the New Hampshire Department of Transportation. Comments were due by April 2, 2024.
Testing outside your home state
Under 49 CFR 383.79, a state could give the CDL skills test to an applicant from another state only if the applicant had trained in the testing state. FMCSA proposed dropping that training condition. The agency said that since the entry-level driver training (ELDT) rules took effect in February 2022, every state could be confident an out-of-state applicant had completed the required minimum training. The change would let applicants book a test in a state with shorter waits, with results sent electronically to their home state.
After passing the skills test
Commercial learner's permit (CLP) holders could drive a commercial motor vehicle on public roads only for behind-the-wheel training, with a CDL holder in the front seat. FMCSA proposed allowing a CLP holder who had passed the skills test to drive for any purpose, as long as a CDL holder was physically present in the vehicle and the driver carried proof from the testing state that they had passed. The agency said such drivers had already met all CDL requirements and were simply waiting to pick up the license from their home state.
No more 14-day wait
The rules barred CLP holders from taking the skills test in the first 14 days after their permit was issued. FMCSA proposed removing that waiting period. It said the rule had been meant to ensure applicants got some behind-the-wheel practice first, but ELDT now required theory and behind-the-wheel training before the skills test for a Class A or B CDL or the passenger or school bus endorsement.
Third-party knowledge testing
States had been allowed under 2022 guidance to use third-party examiners for the CDL knowledge test. The proposal would require those examiners to meet the same training, certification and record check standards as state knowledge examiners. Third-party knowledge testers and examiners would also fall under the auditing and monitoring rules that already applied to third-party skills testers, and knowledge tests given by third parties would have to be electronic.
FMCSA estimated the 10-year cost of training and certifying third-party knowledge examiners at about $92 million, undiscounted. It said it could not quantify the savings from the other changes because it could not predict how many states would adopt them.
Empty buses
The proposal would also let CDL holders move passenger vehicles, including school buses, without a passenger endorsement when the vehicle was empty and being delivered from the manufacturer to a distributor or in a driveaway-towaway operation. FMCSA noted that its rules already did not require a school bus endorsement to drive an empty school bus.
A proposal only
The notice was a proposal. None of the changes applied unless FMCSA issued a final rule, and several provisions would be optional for states.
Archive: this article describes rules and events as of February 2024. Regulations may have changed since, so check the current rule before relying on it.