House Transportation Committee advances "Delila's Law," adopting amendment package and reporting HR5688 to the House

The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on an unspecified date voted to report HR5688, known in the markup as "Delila's/Delilah's Law," after adopting an amendment-in-the-nature-of-a-substitute and a package of changes that supporters said will tighten standards for commercial driver's licenses (CDLs).

The committee, chaired in the hearing by Chairman Graves, adopted the acted-upon measure and ordered it favorably reported to the House by a recorded committee vote of 35 yays to 26 nays. Sponsor Representative Rouseer of North Carolina introduced the amendment in the nature of a substitute and framed the legislation as a codification of recent Department of Transportation enforcement actions that reinstate English-language proficiency criteria and restrict issuance of non-domiciled CDLs to certain visa categories and limited validity periods.

Rouseer told colleagues that the measure would require states to verify immigration status for CDL applicants, limit non-domiciled CDLs to the holder's authorized stay period, require clean driving records, and re-certify CDL training providers to stop so-called "CDL mills." He cited recent DOT actions and offered figures for enforcement outcomes and alleged fatalities involving non-domicile drivers, saying the bill would "make permanent the policy and enforcement actions needed to end the abuse of our system and protect American lives." Representative Rouseer also introduced members of the Coleman family, whose daughter Delila was badly injured in a crash the sponsor described as caused by an unqualified driver; the family attended the markup.

Ranking Member Larson and other Democrats raised objections to the bill's scope. Larson said Democrats had limited input in drafting and criticized provisions that he said would bar DACA recipients, refugees and other people lawfully present from obtaining or maintaining CDLs, potentially affecting as many as 200,000 drivers. He and other Democrats argued that some penalties in the bill would amount to employment disqualification without sufficient evidence the changes would produce commensurate safety benefits, and they highlighted data cited in the hearing indicating a small proportion of fatalities involve non-domicile CDL holders.

Other members proposed and debated amendments intended to narrow English-language requirements or add due-process protections. Representative Taylor successfully secured a designation in honor of a crash victim, renaming the English-proficiency section "Connor's law"; that amendment was agreed to by voice vote. Representative Garcia and others offered targeted amendments to limit the English-only written-exam mandate to safety-critical tasks such as recognizing highway traffic signs; those amendments were debated and led to recorded roll-call requests. Representative Johnson proposed an amendment to require notice and an opportunity to contest any one-year disqualification imposed after an out-of-service English-proficiency finding.

The committee repeatedly postponed recorded votes to allow members to return to the room; when rolls were taken, several amendment attempts failed on recorded votes (recorded tallies cited during the proceedings included votes such as 24-35 and 27-34 on specific amendments that were not adopted). After completing its amendment process, the committee voted to report HR5688 as amended by a recorded vote of 35 yays to 26 nays. The committee directed staff to make technical conforming changes and authorized the chairman to offer motions necessary to schedule conferences or revise provisions to avoid sequential referrals.

The markup featured sharply divided rhetoric: supporters framed the bill as a public-safety measure to prevent unqualified drivers from operating 80,000-pound commercial vehicles; opponents described the measure as punitive, potentially xenophobic, and harmful to lawfully authorized workers who have obtained CDLs and performed safely. The record shows competing claims about the scale of safety benefits and the number of drivers affected; the committee adopted a mostly enforcement- and verification-focused package and moved the measure forward to the full House.

Next steps: the committee ordered HR5688 as amended favorably reported to the House and authorized the usual follow-up steps (technical edits, motions to go to conference if needed). It remains to be scheduled for consideration by the full House.