Sponsors (6)
The bill makes it substantially easier and faster for qualified service members to obtain civilian CDLs and expands the hiring pool for carriers, at the trade-off of added administrative costs for states and potential safety and liability risks if military training or a delayed testing window does not fully match civilian requirements.
Veterans and recent service members in qualifying military occupations can obtain civilian CDLs faster and have up to 24 months to use a waived CDL skills test, making it materially easier to transition into truck-driving and related jobs and reducing the risk of unemployment after service.
Carriers, employers, and small trucking businesses get access to a larger pool of qualified driver candidates and face shorter hiring timelines because eligible service members may be eligible for waived tests and faster credentialing.
States must follow uniform procedures and accept program applications for covered military operators, simplifying and standardizing the CDL application process across jurisdictions for eligible service members.
Transportation workers and the general public face increased safety risk if military training does not map precisely to civilian CDL requirements or if allowing up to a 24-month delay before taking a civilian skills test results in degraded competency, potentially raising crash risk.
State motor-vehicle agencies, employers, and taxpayers will incur administrative and implementation costs to create new forms, processes, and verification steps; expanding credentialing pathways without dedicated funding risks shifting costs onto states and taxpayers.
States and carriers may face legal exposure or liability questions if an operator with a waived test is involved in a disqualifying incident, increasing compliance and recordkeeping burdens.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Extends the military CDL skills-test waiver to 24 months and requires States to adopt an "even exchange" CDL test waiver for qualifying service members.
Extends and standardizes commercial driver’s license (CDL) test waivers for qualifying service members and recent veterans. The bill directs FMCSA to extend the existing military CDL skills-test waiver from 12 months to 24 months and requires States to implement an "even exchange" waiver program that lets qualified current or former service members substitute certain military driving and knowledge experience for State CDL tests when they meet specified service, employment, vehicle-operation, and driving-record conditions. The law keeps existing medical, background-check, and other statutory CDL qualification requirements in place, defines which military job codes are covered, sets the covered lookback period (generally 24 months), and makes State participation conditional on adopting the even-exchange program consistent with federal standards. FMCSA must issue implementing regulations within 180 days of enactment.
Official title: To direct the Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to issue certain regulations to extend the time period for the waiver of the commercial driver's license skills test for certain members of the military, and for other purposes.
Introduced August 13, 2026 by Brian Jeffrey Mast · Last progress August 13, 2026