The state Senate approved legislation Wednesday stiffening the penalties for illegal trucking schools but only after clarifying the tougher penalties don’t apply for minor rule violations.

Senate Bill 1294 would increase the penalty for operating an illegal trucking school from $2,500 to $25,000. Democrats had expressed concern that the language in the bill was too broad and that the $25,000 penalty could be levied against trucking schools for any violation.

Before voting on the bill Wednesday, the Senate amended the legislation to make clear that the $25,000 penalty only applies to unlicensed trucking schools.

The amendment may have solved one problem while creating a new one, said Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-Allegheny. Williams said data from the Department of Education shows the State Board of Private Licensed Schools took action against 71 schools since January 2023. However, only 37 of those schools were trucking schools. Other schools frequently busted by state officials for operating illegally included phlebotomy, nursing and bartending schools, she said.

“I believe this list demonstrates that the issue of unlicensed activity is not limited to CDL training and warrants a broader view of enforcement and penalties,” she said.

However, state officials had noted that the tougher penalties were needed because the existing fine structure was so low that it cost less to pay the fines for running a school illegally than it does to pay all the fees required to operate legally.

Trucking schools must be registered with both the federal and state governments. There are only 42 trucking schools on the Department of Education’s list of approved schools.

Meanwhile, the approved trucking school list, maintained by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, has 1,100 trucking schools listed. A complicating factor is that there are exemptions that allow many trucking companies to operate without being placed on the state-approved list.

Trucking industry officials told CapitolWire/State Affairs that many of those exemptions for schools run by trucking companies to train new hires.

State officials say, though, there’s no obvious way for the public to know if the companies on the federal list comply with the state law.

“(State) investigations into complaints of unlicensed activity have revealed that many of the unlicensed providers on the (federal) registry falsely claim exemption from licensure requirements, resulting in widespread noncompliance,” Lynette Kuhn, deputy secretary and commissioner for postsecondary and higher education in the Department of Education, said in testimony at the December hearing.

Kuhn said federal officials do not require that trucking schools demonstrate they are licensed to operate by the state or provide evidence that they have an exemption that would allow them to operate without registering with the state education department.

Concerns about trucking schools emerged as part of the broader examination of highway safety in light of concerns that trucking companies were hiring unqualified drivers to fill their drivers’ seats after a flood of retirements hit the industry during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sen. Judy Ward, R-Blair, introduced Senate Bill 1294, the CDL mill bill, as part of a package of bills, aimed at addressing concerns about undomiciled commercial truck drivers.

“CDL mills have spread across the nation with unqualified teachers and improper training,” Ward said in a memo seeking support for her legislation.

In February, a truck driver from Kyrgyzstan was unable to stop his truck when he encountered slowed traffic. The truck swerved into oncoming traffic and hit a van, killing four people. Officials with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the driver, Bekzhan Beishekeev, was issued his CDL by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in July 2025.

In November, ICE detained Akhror Bozorov, a migrant from Uzbekistan living in the United States illegally, wanted in his country of origin for belonging to a terrorist organization. Federal officials said Bozorov had been issued a CDL by PennDOT in July 2025, as well.

Only California, Texas and Georgia had more heavy truck crashes than Pennsylvania in 2025.

California, Texas, Georgia, Ohio and Florida had more fatal truck crashes than Pennsylvania last year.

Texas had by the far the most crashes and fatal crashes involving heavy trucks.

There were 525 fatal crashes involving heavy trucks and more than 18,000 heavy truck crashes, in total, in Texas in 2025, federal data shows.