A federal judge has rejected an effort by a group representing Chinese truck drivers to compel California to process legally qualified non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses.

The Chinese American Truckers Association (CATA) filed its lawsuit against the California Department of Motor Vehicles and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration earlier in January.  

The lawsuit argued that FMCSA’s recent enforcement actions required California to pause the processing of all non-domiciled CDLs. As a result, even drivers with valid work authorizations and documentation are unable to work as truck drivers or enter training programs.

Judge Jesus Bernal said that the right of individuals impacted by the non-domiciled CDL pause does not “outweigh the state’s and public’s interest in continued issuance capacity for all CDLs in the state.”

In November, under pressure from the Department of Transportation, California announced plans to revoke 17,000 non-domiciled CDLs, effective Jan. 5. In late December, a class action lawsuit was filed against California over these plans. Several days later, California announced it was extending the cancellation date to March 6. 

However, on Jan. 7, the FMCSA said it was withholding nearly $160 million from California for failing to cancel the non-domiciled CDLs by the Jan. 5 deadline. CATA filed its lawsuit that same day.