Truck driver training schools in Pennsylvania must obtain a state license, unless they qualify for an exemption. These exemptions generally apply only to school bus drivers and employer-based training for employees at no cost. 

Once licensed by the state, the approved schools can register with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s self-certification registry. According to Dr. Lynette Kuhn, a Pennsylvania education official, the ease with which schools can register has created a noncompliance crisis. 

“Complaints of unlicensed activity have revealed that many licensed providers on the registry falsely claim exemption from licensure requirements, resulting in widespread noncompliance,” said Kuhn, who serves as deputy secretary for postsecondary and higher education at the Pennsylvania Department of Education. “The issues persist because FMCSA does not require evidence of licensure or exemption.”

She said of the 1,273 Pennsylvania entities listed on the federal registry, only 40 were licensed through the state’s Board of Private Licensed Schools. All others are listed as exempt or are unlicensed, Kuhn told the Pennsylvania Senate Transportation Committee.

Kuhn was invited to testify at a recent hearing on commercial driver’s licensing procedures and concerns regarding truck driving training schools. FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs has said on several occasions that he wants to end the self-certification process. Kuhn’s testimony outlined the shortcomings of the FMCSA’s registry and the state’s regulations. 

Kuhn said as a result of FMCSA’s self-certification process, “unlicensed training providers can appear legitimate to consumers, employers, and state regulatory agencies.”

She told lawmakers the FMCSA system has allowed schools to simply check a box attesting that they have met all applicable state standards. There are no requirements for a physical or mailing address, a phone number, an email address, or an individual’s personal information. All of this has made it difficult for Pennsylvania officials to locate these providers.

At the state level, she said the current cost to obtain licensure as a CDL training provider is $8,250, and the maximum fine for a violation is only $2,500. That amount is “not a sufficient deterrent,” she said. 

Kuhn also voiced frustration with the laborious process states have had to go through to get FMCSA to remove listings from the registry. FMCSA alone has the authority to remove providers from the registry, and states’ ability to proactively prevent unlicensed providers from appearing in the federal registry is limited.

Individual cases can take up to 18 months to resolve, and Kuhn has found FMCSA “reticent to remove unlicensed providers.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced in December that it removed nearly 3,000 CDL training providers from the registry for noncompliance, and that 4,500 others were under review for potential noncompliance. Kuhn suggested it was a step in the right direction, but that Pennsylvania needed more. 

“These providers were either inactive or not abiding by federal regulations,” she said. “These removals did not take into account any state noncompliance issues.”