Some Drivers Lost CDL Eligibility This Year Due To Old Offenses
NOV. 19, 2024…..The Healey administration is working to prevent hundreds of Massachusetts drivers from losing their commercial licenses due to offenses that are two decades or more old, and the governor wants lawmakers to take quick action to assist.
Gov. Maura Healey quietly submitted legislation Thursday that would effectively prevent passenger vehicle offenses committed before Sept. 30, 2005 from counting toward commercial license ineligibility, and her administration is also pursuing regulatory changes that would let drivers who have served a sufficient disqualification period regain commercial licenses.
The proposed action represents a shift several months after the Registry of Motor Vehicles notified some bus and truck drivers they were ineligible for commercial licenses due to at least two past major offenses, reportedly blindsiding many motorists who for years thought their infractions were behind them.
WCVB reported in August that nearly 500 Bay Staters received notice from the RMV that their licenses would be downgraded from commercial to passenger, the result of a state law that links eligibility to any infractions regardless of age.
But that section of Massachusetts law does not align with a similar restriction at the federal level, which exempts offenses that occurred before Sept. 30, 2005.
Healey’s bill (H 5109) would effectively mirror that cutoff date at the state level and exclude infractions preceding Sept. 30, 2005 from counting against commercial driving eligibility here.
In a letter accompanying her bill, Healey wrote that a commercial driver “who meets the safety requirement of federal law should not be disqualified from driving due solely to passenger vehicle offenses that occurred 19 or more years ago.”
“By removing consideration of most passenger vehicle offenses from this older timeframe, we can better align Massachusetts with federal law and uphold our commitment to a safety-centered disqualification system that accurately reflects both the nature and age of a driver’s offenses,” Healey said. “Commercial drivers with more recent offenses will, as before, continue to be subject to all federally mandated disqualification periods.”
There are about six weeks remaining before the 2023-2024 legislative term ends. If lawmakers do not act by the end of business on Dec. 31, the governor will need to file a new measure for consideration during the 2025-2026 session, which begins Jan. 1.
The House on Monday referred the legislation to the Transportation Committee for review.
An RMV official estimated the legislation could help about two-thirds of the commercial drivers who received notice over the summer that they would lose their eligibility based on old offenses.
Under existing law, CDL holders facing disqualification have until Jan. 2, 2025 to request an RMV hearing over their case. They would then get until March 3, 2025 to dispute the hearing result before the Division of Insurance’s Board of Appeals.
“The Registry’s top priority is safety on our roads. We recognize that thousands of Massachusetts workers rely on their CDL credential as a crucial element of their livelihoods,” Registrar Colleen Ogilvie said in a statement. “The RMV will update our regulations, and the administration is requesting a legislative change that will bring state law closer in line with federal law regarding CDL disqualifications and give some drivers who have had clean records for significant periods of time the opportunity to keep their licenses.”
On a parallel track to the bill, Healey also instructed the RMV to craft a “federally compliant reinstatement process and rehabilitation program” for Massachusetts drivers who lose CDLs due to infractions.
“Federal law will limit this program to commercial drivers who have served ten years of disqualification, and who have committed no more than two offenses in total,” Healey wrote. “For those drivers, this program will be an important step towards allowing individuals who have demonstrated their rehabilitation to regain an important credential and contribute to needed and essential work in our economy.”
Regulations for the new reinstatement and rehabilitation program should be issued for public comment by the end of February, according to Healey.
