Duffy announces he will withhold $40 million from California over trucking rules

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Wednesday announced he is withholding $40 million in federal funding for California because the state has not adhered to his rules requiring truck drivers to be proficient in the English language.

The announcement comes after Duffy warned California last month that it had 30 days to comply with new regulations, or his department would withhold federal highway funds starting at nearly $160 million in the first year.

"I’m withholding 40 MILLION DOLLARS in funding for California because they can’t get their priorities straight," Duffy wrote on X. "The Golden State thinks it’s OK to ignore [Transportation Department] English language requirements for truckers. You can play all the games you want, but not at the expense of American lives."

Duffy's post comes after a truck driver, who is in the U.S. illegally and has a commercial driver's license from California, accidentally killed three people when he attempted to make a U-turn in an unauthorized area with a commercial semi-truck with a trailer on the Florida Turnpike. The trailer jackknifed and a minivan ran into it, killing all three minivan passengers.

The secretary said California is the "only state" that fails to ensure truck and big-rig drivers can meet basic English proficiency requirements, per Fox News.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom's spokesperson, Diana Crofts-Pelayo, told the outlet that commercial truck drivers from the Golden State have a lower crash rate than the national average.

"It seems the Secretary of Transportation needs a lesson about the laws of his own roads," she said. "The reality is simple: Commercial driver's license holders in California had a fatal accident rate nearly 40% LOWER than the national average. Texas, the only state with more commercial driver's license holders, has a rate nearly 50% higher than California's." 

The Transportation Department said in order for California to have its funding reinstated, then it must enforce the proficiency standards and ensure that state inspectors test truck drivers’ English skills during roadside inspections.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.