Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Wednesday he will withhold $40 million from California because it is the only state that does not enforce English language requirements for truckers.
An investigation launched after a deadly crash in Florida involving a foreign truck driver who made an illegal U-turn on Aug. 12 found what Duffy called significant flaws in the way California is enforcing rules that went into effect in June after one of President Donald Trump’s executive orders. California had issued the driver a commercial license, but these English rules predate the accident.
Truck drivers are supposed to be disqualified if they can’t demonstrate English proficiency, and Duffy said the driver involved in the accident should not have been given a commercial license because of his immigration status. The crisis has become increasingly political, with the governors of California and Florida criticizing each other and Duffy highlighting the administration’s concerns about immigration in interviews.
“California is the only state in the nation that refuses to ensure that drivers of large trucks can read our traffic signs and communicate with authorities. This is a critical safety issue that affects you and your family on America’s roads,” Duffy said.
California defended its practices in a formal response to the Department of Transportation last month, but federal officials were not satisfied.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office quickly rejected Wednesday’s announcement. Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a spokeswoman for the governor, said statistics show California commercial truck drivers have a lower accident rate than the national average.
But Duffy said when he announced his concern in August that California had conducted approximately 34,000 inspections that found at least one violation since the new language standards went into effect. But only one inspection involved a violation of English language rules that resulted in a driver being removed from service. And 23 drivers with violations in other states were allowed to continue driving after inspections in California.
The Department of Transportation said that to restore this funding, California must adopt regulations to enforce English rules and ensure that state inspectors test truckers’ English skills during roadside inspections and remove anyone from service who does not meet their requirements.
In addition to this English language issue, Duffy has threatened to withdraw another $160 million from California because of the way the state issues commercial driver’s licenses. Duffy significantly restricted who can qualify for those licenses last month.
Three people were killed when truck driver Harjinder Singh made an illegal U-turn on a highway about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of West Palm Beach and a minivan crashed into his trailer, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Singh and his passenger were not injured.
He is being held without bail after being charged with three state counts of vehicular manslaughter and immigration violations. His lawyer previously declined to comment on the case.
The crash received intense scrutiny because of questions about Singh’s immigration status and because investigators said he subsequently failed an English proficiency test. Duffy and Florida officials blamed California and Washington state for issuing him a commercial driver’s license.
But California officials said he had a valid work permit at the time. And New Mexico released video from a traffic stop that showed Singh communicating effectively with an officer after he was stopped there in July.
Duffy, President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have been trading barbs with Newsom over the crash and whether Singh should have been driving a truck.
Newsom’s office said California followed all the rules when it issued a license to Singh in July 2024, while the federal government confirmed at the time that he was in the country legally.
Duffy and Florida authorities have said Singh, who is from India, entered the country illegally from Mexico in 2018.