Bill Letting All Wyoming Law Officers Cite Non-English-Speaking Truckers Advances

A bill that would give all Wyoming law enforcement officers the authority to cite non-English-proficient commercial truck drivers is poised to enter the House of Representatives after a legislative committee advanced it Tuesday by a unanimous vote. 

If it becomes law, House Bill 32 would task Wyoming law enforcement officers with enforcing a federal English-proficiency test on commercial truck drivers. That test requires the drivers to be able to read and speak English well enough to converse with the general public, understand road signs and signals, respond to official inquiries and make log entries. 

First-time violators would face a $1,000 fine and be banned from commercial driving in the state until they could demonstrate English language proficiency. 

Anyone caught driving while under the ban would face a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail and $1,000 in fines. 

Rep. Lloyd Larsen, R-Lander, moved for the committee to advance the bill during its Tuesday meeting in the state Capitol, but he also voiced concerns that by punishing the drivers and not the companies that hire them, the bill could be missing the problem. 

“We don’t do anything to the supplier - the bad actors you’re pointing out in a highly-respected industry, really,” said Larsen, during an exchange with Wyoming Trucking Association President Kevin Hawley. “I still think that’s the gap overall.”

Writing It Into Law

Hawley noted that Congress last week passed a bill to elevate the federal English-language rule into federal law, which makes it a Congressional law that supersedes administrative directives like presidential executive orders.

That’s after President Barack Obama’s administration in 2012 had paused the federal English-proficiency rule, and directed federally-certified inspectors — which would include Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers — not to put drivers out of service for proficiency violations. 

Trump reversed Obama’s direction last summer. 

U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, then championed efforts to codify the rule. 

Since Trump’s reversal in June, the Wyoming Highway Patrol’s federally-certified inspectors have logged 775 violations of the English language proficiency rule. Nineteen of those were arrested due to repeat offenses, WHP Lt. Kyle McKay told the committee on Tuesday. 

Passing this state law could amplify that enforcement substantially, since it would let sheriff’s deputies and police officers enforce the requirement alongside federally-certified troopers. 

Larsen’s concern buoyed multiple times throughout the meeting. 

Brown said the callers he’s heard since the bill’s publication on the Wyoming Legislature’s website have lamented that the bill wouldn’t punish bad-actor companies.

Rep. Reuben Tarver, R-Gillette, asked whether CDL drivers are already required to show English proficiency as part of their licensure testing. 

Hawley said they are, but “A lot of states (have) been issuing CDLs improperly.”

He also warned of bad-actor style companies that will use their U.S. Department of Transportation authorizing number until they violate the rules, then get another one: “they drop it, they shift it.”

The federal government is now “taking this seriously” he said, but states are ensuring that they are, by applying political pressure, added Hawley. 

No one spoke to oppose the bill. 

The public will have another chance to comment on it publicly if it survives the House of Representatives and faces committee vetting in the state Senate. 

Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.