Senate tightens driver-safety language, keeps expungement protections under dispute in CDL bill

Senators on Tuesday amended and then passed House Bill 28, a commercial driver licensing bill, after several targeted changes.

Senator Pearson moved a third-reading amendment to clarify the statute’s language about handheld devices for commercial drivers, seeking to protect drivers who use devices for navigation or music as long as the device is not being “used in hand.” The amendment was adopted. A separate committee-of-the-whole amendment was withdrawn. Later, Senator Kohl offered an amendment that removed language allowing agencies to treat previously expunged juvenile license suspensions as available for CDL disqualification review; that amendment also passed after floor debate.

Supporters of the expungement amendment argued the Department of Transportation should be able to consider serious prior conduct for public-safety decisions about granting a commercial driver’s license. Senator Kohl said the bill’s language was intended to ensure reasonable consideration of prior arrests or convictions for high-responsibility drivers. Opponents argued expungement exists to give young people a fresh start. “What you have to understand is that minors make mistakes, right? They learn from their mistakes,” Senator Pearson said in support of preserving expungement protections.

With the amendments adopted, the Senate passed the bill on third reading; the roll-call tally recorded 25 ayes and 6 no. Senators described the package as balancing safety for large-vehicle operations with fairness to individuals whose juvenile records have been expunged.

The bill as amended clarifies device use rules for interstate and intrastate commercial drivers and preserves discretionary authority for licensing authorities while excluding a forced look-back at juvenile expunged suspensions.