OOIDA pushes House for Dalilah’s Law after crash
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is pressing House Speaker Mike Johnson to schedule a vote on Dalilah’s Law, arguing that Congress must permanently lock in recent federal restrictions on non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses. In a letter sent Wednesday, OOIDA President and CEO Todd Spencer warned that without legislative action, dangerous gaps in the CDL system could return.
The legislation, known as H.R. 5688, would codify a U.S. Department of Transportation final rule that tightened eligibility for such licenses — licenses issued to certain non-U.S. citizens and non-permanent residents. The association argues the current system has allowed insufficiently vetted drivers to obtain credentials.
“As the nation’s largest association representing small-business truckers and professional drivers, OOIDA argues that Congress must codify the U.S. Department of Transportation’s recent Final Rule on non-domiciled CDLs so it cannot be weakened or reversed by a future administration,” the group said in the letter.
Push follows deadly Pennsylvania crash
The association tied its renewed call for action to the July 1 death of Pennsylvania State Trooper Michael Pahira Jr. He was struck and killed while conducting a commercial vehicle inspection along Interstate 81.
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According to the association, the truck driver involved had continued operating in the U.S. after his immigration parole status had been terminated. He still held a valid such license, issued by Massachusetts. The group contends the driver would not have qualified for a CDL if Dalilah’s Law had been in place.
“Trooper Pahira’s death is a devastating reminder that our current CDL system lacks the safeguards needed to keep unqualified and unvetted drivers off the road,” Spencer wrote.
The association had previously urged Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in August 2025 to suspend states’ authority to issue these credentials. It also backed the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s final rule, which took effect earlier this year and significantly restricts who can get such licenses.
But the CEO argued that administrative rules alone are fragile.
He wrote to Johnson that only Congress can make these protections permanent.
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Longstanding screening problems
The group said states have struggled to comply with existing federal requirements, particularly verifying up to 10 years of an applicant’s driving history when records sit outside the U.S. It describes non-domiciled CDLs as a system with significant safety and screening deficiencies that have persisted for years.
The bill cleared the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in March by a 35-26 vote. It has not yet received a vote from the full House. The group is asking Johnson to schedule floor consideration “without further delay,” framing stronger CDL standards as a public safety issue affecting truck drivers, law enforcement officers and the traveling public.
Federal rulemaking has long been a stopgap for problems that Congress eventually addresses — or doesn’t. In this case, the administrative fix is already in place, but its durability depends on whether lawmakers choose to lock it in before the political winds shift.
The CEO repeated in the letter that only Congress can make these protections permanent, emphasizing that the current window for action may not stay open.
