Transportation

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned Sunday that he’s about to make good on a threat to revoke millions in federal funds for California because he says the state is illegally issuing commercial driver’s licenses to noncitizens.

In an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” Duffy said California Gov. Gavin Newsom has refused to comply with U.S. Department of Transportation rules that require the state to stop issuing such licenses and review those already issued.

“So, one, I’m about to pull $160 million from California,” Duffy said. “And, as we pull more money, we also have the option of pulling California’s ability to issue commercial driver’s licenses.”

Newsom’s press office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the matter Sunday, but California has defended its practices previously. When Duffy threatened to revoke funds last month, a spokesperson for the governor dismissed the attack and noted that commercial license holders from California have a significantly lower rate of crashes than the national average and the Texas average, which is the only state with more licensed commercial drivers.

Last month, the Transportation Department tightened commercial driver’s license requirements for noncitizens after three fatal crashes that officials said were caused by immigrant truck drivers. Only three specific classes of visa holders will be eligible for CDLs under the new rules and states must verify an applicant’s immigration status in a federal database. The licenses will be valid for up to one year unless the applicant’s visa expires sooner.

Duffy said last month that California should never have issued 25% of 145 licenses investigators reviewed. He cited four California licenses that remained valid after the driver’s work permit expired — sometimes years after. The state had 30 days to come up with a plan to comply or lose funding.

A nationwide commercial driver’s license audit began after officials say a driver in the country illegally made a U-turn and caused a crash in Florida that killed three people. The audit found licenses that were issued improperly in California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas and Washington.

Duffy said Sunday that California has unlawfully issued tens of thousands of these licenses to noncitizens.

“So you have 60,000 people on the roads who shouldn’t have licenses,” Duffy said. “They’re driving fuel tankers, they’re driving school buses, and we have seen some of the crashes on American roadways that come from these people who shouldn’t have these licenses.”

Duffy said earlier this month that he would withhold $40 million from California because it is the only state that is failing to enforce English language requirements for truckers. California defended its practices in a formal response to the Transportation Department, but federal officials were not satisfied.

The investigation launched after the Florida crash found what Duffy called significant failures in the way California is enforcing rules that took effect in June after one of President Trump’s executive orders. California had issued the driver a commercial license, but these English rules predate the crash.

Aug. 28 (UPI) — Robert Primus, member of the Surface Transportation Board, was fired by the White House Thursday, though he contends that the move is illegal.

The Surface Transportation Board is an independent regulatory agency that has been considering the merger of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern railroad companies.

“Robert Primus did not align with the president’s America First agenda and was terminated from his position by the White House,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement. “The Administration intends to nominate new, more qualified members to the Surface Transportation Board in short order.”

In a statement on LinkedIn, Primus said the email he got telling him he was fired was “deeply troubling and legally invalid.”

“Ironically, this comes at a time when the Board is considering significant, pressing matters of critical importance to both our national freight rail network and supply chain that would directly affect large swaths of our manufacturing, agricultural, industrial and energy sectors,” he wrote.

He noted that he was hired by President Donald Trump in his first term, was kept on during the President Joe Biden administration, and was unanimously confirmed by the House and Senate.

“I have worked tirelessly to build bipartisan trust and have demonstrated myself to be truly an independent Board member that has consistently rendered fair and impartial decisions,” he said. “My record during my four and a half years at the Board reflects this, and I strongly believe the actions of the White House would weaken the Board and adversely affect the freight rail network in a way that may ultimately hurt consumers and the economy.”

He ended his statement saying he doesn’t plan to step down.

“I plan to continue to discharge my duties as a member of the Board and, if I’m prevented from doing so, I will explore my legal options,: he said.

The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers — Transportation Division said it strongly condemns the “unprecedented and unjustified” removal of Primus.

“Appointed bodies established through federal code are not designed to be erased at the whim of powerful corporate interests. This action is unprecedented, unlawful in spirit, and reeks of direct interference from hedge funds and the nation’s largest rail carriers,” SMART-TD, the largest rail labor organization in the United States, said in a statement.

“It sends a chilling message: that regulators who dare to stand up for fairness and balance in the rail industry can be swept aside to serve Wall Street’s agenda,” SMART-TD said.

The Surface Transportation Board started the review of the merger in July after Union Pacific announced it would buy Norfolk Southern for $85 million. The merger faces criticism from labor unions and those who believe it would hurt competition in the rail industry.

Reporting from Sacramento — In his first week in office, Gov. Gavin Newsom sent a strong warning to cities and counties: He was coming for their road repair dollars if they didn’t meet state goals for new housing.

“If you’re not hitting your goals, I don’t know why you get the money,” Newsom said when he announced his budget plans in January.

Two months later, Newsom is setting aside plans to withhold state transportation dollars from local governments for four years. The move, which comes after fellow Democrats pushed back on the idea, is part of a larger acknowledgment that revamping how California plans for growth will be more arduous than the governor implied on the campaign trail.

Newsom made the announcement Monday when he unveiled a new bill that will be debated as part of the state budget. The legislation calls for $750 million in new funding for cities and counties to plan for increased housing production and then receive financial rewards as new building occurs. The money would begin flowing, according to the bill, in August.

“Our state’s affordability crisis is undermining the California Dream and the foundations of our economic well-being,” Newsom said in a release.

Gov. Gavin Newsom threatens to cut state funding from cities that don’t approve enough housing »

But the bill released Monday also laid out a lengthy timeline for the governor to implement more contentious parts of his housing agenda.

As a candidate, Newsom called for the building of 3.5 million new homes in the state by 2025, an amount that would more than quadruple the current rate of production.

For five decades, the state has required cities and counties to plan for housing production at a rate sufficient for all residents to live affordably. But the process hasn’t resulted in nearly enough homebuilding, especially for low-income residents, to meet demand.

Newsom pledged to reset housing supply goals so cities and counties would have to set aside more land for housing, concentrate production in existing urban areas to support climate change efforts and receive greater financial incentives to actually approve development. California’s tax system generally provides local governments with more tax revenue if they authorize hotel or commercial projects instead of housing.

Under Newsom’s new proposal, the state could take until 2023 — after the governor’s first term in office has ended — to put the new housing supply goals in place. When he unveiled his budget in January, Newsom also said he wanted to withhold money from the state’s recently approved increases to the gas tax and vehicle registration fees from communities that blocked housing. The bill says that wouldn’t happen until 2023 as well.

Giving new money to cities and counties before implementing new planning rules is an effort to show local governments that the governor sees their support as vital to meeting his housing goals, said Jason Elliott, Newsom’s chief deputy cabinet secretary.

“The best way to do that is to work with cities,” Elliott said.

When Newsom first announced his plans to tie transportation funding to housing goals, he didn’t provide a timeline. But some Democratic lawmakers made clear they weren’t fans.

At a budget committee hearing last month, Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) noted that voters upheld the gas tax hike at the ballot last year and said the governor shouldn’t consider restricting that money.

“We worked too hard on that and to all of a sudden have that used as a potential is disturbing to me,” Aguiar-Curry said.

It’s unclear if pushing off the plan for four years will lessen legislators’ concerns.

Sen. James Beall (D-San Jose), who authored the gas tax increase in 2017, said in a statement after the bill was released Monday that he remains against linking road construction funds to housing supply goals.

“Their use for any other purpose, such as to be used as leverage, is a violation of the trust of the voters and taxpayers,” Beall said.

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