I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4719 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to address delays in commercial 

driver’s license skills testing and retesting, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 21, 2017 

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee (for himself and Mr. COHEN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 

Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend title 49, United States Code, to address delays 

in commercial driver’s license skills testing and retesting, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. COMMERCIAL DRIVER’S LICENSE SKILLS TEST4 ING AND RETESTING. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 31305 of title 49, United 

6 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(e) CDL SKILLS TESTING AND RETESTING WAIT

9 TIMES.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning not later than 

2 February 7, 2020, the Secretary shall carry out a 

3 program to ensure that States conduct in a timely 

4 manner skills tests and retests for individuals apply5 ing for a CDL. 

6 ‘‘(2) COMPLIANCE WITH PROGRAM REQUIRE7 MENTS.—For purposes of section 31311(a), a State 

8 shall not be considered to be in compliance with the 

9 requirements of the program for a fiscal year if the 

10 Secretary determines as of the first day of the fiscal 

11 year that— 

12 ‘‘(A) in the case of a State that prohibits 

13 or currently does not authorize public and pri14 vate commercial driving schools, or independent 

15 CDL testing facilities, from offering a CDL 

16 skills test as a third-party tester, there was a 

17 skills test delay at 3 or more CDL skills test lo18 cations in the State during— 

19 ‘‘(i) 2 consecutive calendar quarters in 

20 the preceding 12-month period; or 

21 ‘‘(ii) 3 calendar quarters in the pre22 ceding 18-month period; 

23 ‘‘(B) in the case of a State that has 2 or 

24 fewer CDL skills test locations, there was a 

25 skills test delay at any skills test location; or 


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1 ‘‘(C) the State failed to submit reports in 

2 accordance with paragraph (4) in the preceding 

3 12-month period. 

4 ‘‘(3) INFORMATION SYSTEMS.—In carrying out 

5 the program, the Secretary shall add, or require to 

6 be added, to an information system described in sec7 tion 31106 or 31309 (or other provision of law as 

8 applicable) appropriate fields to enter information 

9 concerning a CDL skills test location for the purpose 

10 of permitting the Administration and States to eas11 ily track and tabulate the number of days between 

12 certification and skills tests and retests conducted at 

13 a CDL skills testing location. 

14 ‘‘(4) STATE REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Be15 ginning on February 7, 2020, the Secretary shall re16 quire each State to submit to the Secretary, on a 

17 quarterly basis, a report that describes the status of 

18 skills testing for individuals applying for a CDL at 

19 a CDL skills test location in the State, including— 

20 ‘‘(A) the average wait time beginning on 

21 the date an individual is certified by a training 

22 provider to sit for the CDL skills test and end23 ing on the date the individual completes the 

24 test; 


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1 ‘‘(B) the average wait time beginning on 

2 the date an individual fails a CDL skills test 

3 and ending on the date the individual retakes 

4 the test; 

5 ‘‘(C) the actual number of qualified CDL 

6 examiners available to test applicants; and 

7 ‘‘(D) the number of testing sites available 

8 through the State agency responsible for admin9 istering the CDL skills test and whether this 

10 number has increased or decreased from the 

11 previous year. 

12 ‘‘(5) ANNUAL REPORT TO STATES.—Not later 

13 than October 1, 2020, and annually thereafter, the 

14 Secretary shall submit to each State a report that 

15 compiles the average wait times of such State, as de16 scribed in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph 

17 (4). 

18 ‘‘(6) ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not 

19 later than February 1, 2021, and annually there20 after, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee 

21 on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House 

22 of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

23 Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report 

24 that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) contains a summary of the informa2 tion received from States in the preceding year 

3 under paragraph (4); and 

4 ‘‘(B) describes specific steps that the Sec5 retary is taking to address skills test delays in 

6 States that have such delays. 

7 ‘‘(7) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the fol8 lowing definitions apply: 

9 ‘‘(A) CALENDAR QUARTER.—The term 

10 ‘calendar quarter’ means a 3-month period be11 ginning on the first day of January, April, July, 

12 or October. 

13 ‘‘(B) CDL.—The term ‘CDL’ means a 

14 commercial driver’s license, as that term is de15 fined in section 31301. 

16 ‘‘(C) CDL SKILLS TEST LOCATION.—The 

17 term ‘CDL skills test location’ means a CDL 

18 skills test location that is exclusively operated 

19 by a State and that employs State employees 

20 who are responsible for administering CDL 

21 skills testing. 

22 ‘‘(D) INDEPENDENT CDL TESTING FACIL23 ITY.—The term ‘independent CDL testing facil24 ity’ means a CDL testing facility that is not— 


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1 ‘‘(i) a CDL skills test location (as de2 fined in this paragraph); 

3 ‘‘(ii) a public or private commercial 

4 driving school; or 

5 ‘‘(iii) a trucking company. 

6 ‘‘(E) PHYSICALLY ABSENT.—The term 

7 ‘physically absent’, with respect to a scheduled 

8 skills test, means that the individual scheduled 

9 to take the test was not physically present— 

10 ‘‘(i) at least 10 minutes before the 

11 test; or 

12 ‘‘(ii) for a longer period of time before 

13 the test, as determined by the State but 

14 not to exceed 1 hour. 

15 ‘‘(F) SKILLS TEST DELAY.— 

16 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘skills 

17 test delay’ means, with respect to a cal18 endar quarter, an average period in excess 

19 of 7 days— 

20 ‘‘(I) in the case of an initial CDL 

21 skills exam, beginning on the date an 

22 individual is certified by a training 

23 provider to sit for the CDL skills test 

24 and ending on the date the individual 

25 completes the test (after subtracting 


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1 from that period any day that is part 

2 of a mandatory notification or waiting 

3 period under Federal or State law); 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(II) in the case of a CDL skills 

6 retest, beginning on the date an indi7 vidual fails a CDL skills test and end8 ing on the date the individual retakes 

9 the test (after subtracting from that 

10 period any day that is part of a man11 datory notification or waiting period 

12 under Federal or State law). 

13 ‘‘(ii) SPECIAL RULE.—For purposes of 

14 clause (i), any individual scheduled to take 

15 a skills exam who is physically absent from 

16 the skills exam on the date scheduled shall 

17 be recorded as a ‘no show’. Any State 

18 CDL test location that has a ‘no show’ 

19 percentage above 25 percent of total ap20 pointments scheduled at that location shall 

21 not be counted toward the State’s average 

22 skill test delays.’’. 

23 (b) WITHHOLDING OF APPORTIONMENTS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 31311(a) of title 49, 

2 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

3 end the following: 

4 ‘‘(26) Beginning in fiscal year 2021, the State 

5 shall be in compliance with the program require6 ments established under section 31305(e), relating 

7 to commercial driver’s license skills testing and re8 testing wait times, as determined by the Secretary 

9 under section 31305(e)(2).’’. 

10 (2) AVAILABILITY OF WITHHELD AMOUNTS.— 

11 Section 31314(d) of title 49, United States Code, is 

12 amended to read as follows: 

13 ‘‘(d) AVAILABILITY FOR APPORTIONMENT.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as described in 

15 paragraph (2), amounts withheld under this section 

16 from apportionment to a State after September 30, 

17 1995, are not available for apportionment to the 

18 State. 

19 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR CDL TESTING COMPLI20 ANCE.—If the Secretary determines that a State 

21 that did not comply substantially with paragraph 

22 (26) of section 31311(a) begins to comply substan23 tially with such paragraph, amounts withheld under 

24 this section from apportionment to the State as a re25 sult of the prior noncompliance shall be provided to 


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1 the State in the same manner as such amounts 

2 would have been provided if not withheld.’’. 

3 (c) NOTICE TO STATES.—If the Secretary of Trans4 portation makes a determination that a State does not 

5 comply substantially with section 31311(a)(26) of title 49, 

6 United States Code, the Secretary shall issue a notice to 

7 such State that identifies any reason for such determina8 tion. 

9 (d) COMPLIANCE PLANS.—A State having amounts 

10 withheld from apportionment under section 31314 of title 

11 49, United States Code, as a result of noncompliance with 

12 the requirements of section 31311(a)(26) of such title, 

13 shall submit to the Secretary of Transportation, not later 

14 than 270 days after the date on which the State is notified 

15 of the noncompliance, a plan to satisfy such requirements. 

16 (e) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.—Section 

17 31313(a)(3) of title 49, United States Code, is amended— 

18 (1) in subparagraph (D) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 

19 end; 

20 (2) in subparagraph (E) by striking the period 

21 at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

22 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(F) address delays in commercial driver’s 

24 license skills testing and retesting.’’. 


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1 (f) REPEAL.—Effective February 7, 2020, section 

2 5506 of the FAST Act (Public Law 119–94; 129 Stat. 

3 1553), and the item relating to that section in the table 

4 of contents in section 1(b) of that Act, are repealed. 

Æ 


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