Senate Republicans are advancing legislation to crack down on so-called CDL mills by increasing the penalty for operating an unlicensed school tenfold.

Legislation approved by the Senate Education Committee would boost the fine for illegally operating a trucking school from $2,500 to $25,000.

At a hearing on the issue in December, 2025, officials with the state Department of Education noted that the fines for illegally operating a trucking school are currently less than the cost of the fees required to legally operate a school.

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.

One of those exemptions is for schools that are operated by trucking companies to train their own drivers, Rebecca Oyler, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association, told CapitolWire/State Affairs in an email.

“The Private Licensed Schools Act, which PDE enforces, only applies to schools that charge tuition fees and solicit the public for training,” she said.

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 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 of 2025, as well.

The Senate Education Committee approved SB 1294 by a 8-3 vote on April 20. It’s now awaiting a final vote by lawmakers in the full chamber.

Democrats on the committee said they have concerns that the language in the bill is too broad. While the $25,000 fine is aimed at illegal trucking schools, the bill would allow the fine to be levied against any trucking school operator who “violates any provision” of the Private Licensed Schools Act.

“I also don’t want unlicensed programs operating in Pennsylvania. Unlicensed schools are more likely to take advantage of students and may not operate with the same standards that a school must meet to be licensed by the state,” Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-Allegheny, said ahead of the Education Committee vote. “This bill doesn’t just raise the fine on unlicensed schools. It increases tenfold the penalty on licensed trade schools as well, including for minor things like filing a report late.”

The Senate Transportation Committee, chaired by Ward, approved two related bills on April 21.

Senate Bill 1295 would require that commercial driver’s license test examiners verify that applicants are proficient in English. Current law directs the Department of Transportation to offer the CDL test in Spanish or English.

The committee also approved Senate Bill 1296, which creates new penalties for commercial truck drivers who are not proficient in English and trucking companies that hire them.

Truck drivers found to be non-proficient in English would face a $500 penalty for the first offense and $1,000 for every subsequent offense. Drivers found to be nonproficient in English would also lose their CDL. A driver who is nonproficient in English and causes a crash involving a serious bodily injury or death could be charged with a third-degree misdemeanor.

Companies found to have employed commercial truck drivers who are not proficient in English could be fined $3,000 for each offense.

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.