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The California Department of Motor Vehicles extended the cancellation dates of thousands of commercial driver’s licenses a week after a class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of immigrants.
In November, an audit by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration found that more than 17,000 commercial licenses issued to immigrants in California had expiration dates that extended beyond the duration of their legal presence in the country, which actually ran contrary to California DMV’s own law.
On Dec. 24, the Sikh Coalition, a national group that advocates for the Sikh community, the civil rights organization Asian Law Caucus, and the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP filed a class action suit on behalf of five commercial driver’s license holders and the Sikh cultural organization Jakara Movement, seeking a stay on the cancellations.
The lawsuit alleged that, as the issuing authority, the California DMV is responsible for this discrepancy and that if the cancellations go forward, the impacted drivers will lose their livelihoods even though they are not at fault.
Now, the California DMV has granted a 60-day extension to approximately 17,000 drivers whose licenses were set to expire on Jan. 5. It is unclear if the lawsuit had any weight on the state’s decision.
Munmeeth Kaur Soni, legal director at the Sikh Coalition, said her organization’s lawsuit may have helped.
“This is the result of that pressure that I think has been mounting on the DMV,” she said.
“Commercial drivers are an important part of our economy – our supply chains don’t move, and our communities don’t stay connected without them,” California DMV Director Steve Gordon said in the news release about the decision. “We are hopeful that our collaboration with the federal government will give FMCSA confidence in our updated processes to allow California to promptly resume issuance of nondomiciled commercial driver’s licenses.”
In October, the U.S. Department of Transportation threatened to withhold $160 million in federal funding to the state unless it revoked these licenses.
The California DMV sent cancellation notices to around 20,000 drivers whose licenses had this discrepancy. Until the new decision, 17,000 drivers were set to lose their licenses after Jan. 5, and an additional 2,700 after Feb. 13.
It remains unclear if the new extension also applies to the approximately 2,700 licenses set to expire on Feb. 13. The California DMV did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Soni said she welcomed the California DMV’s extension announcement.
“Over 17,000 drivers are feeling temporary relief that come Monday, their licenses are not going to disappear, and neither are their livelihoods and professions,” she said.
On Tuesday, U.S. Dept. of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy took to the social media platform X in opposition to the extension.
“California does NOT have an ‘extension’ to keep breaking the law and putting Americans at risk on the roads,” he tweeted.
He also said that the federal deadline to revoke the licenses is still Jan. 5, and that if California doesn’t comply, his department will pull the $160 million in federal funding.
Gov. Gavin Newsom responded to Duffy on X as well, stating that the decision to issue an extension was made in agreement with the FMSCA.
“FMCSA agreed an extension made logistical sense and was reasonable (in a meeting on Dec. 18)! DMV relied on that guidance and acted accordingly,” Newsom wrote. “Only after the plan became public did your agency suddenly object.”
Soni confirmed that the lawsuit remains active, but said there is no need to seek emergency relief anymore, since the Jan. 5 deadline has been extended.
“The long-term solution I want to see is that the California DMV complies with state law, and reissues corrected licenses to these individuals whose commercial driver’s licenses are valid otherwise, and who have valid work authorization documents,” she said.
– Tanay Gokhale, Bay City News Service
