Senate passes Tillis bill to lift obstacles for military members to drive commercial vehicles

The Senate on Thursday approved legislation introduced by U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) to lift obstacles that help active-duty military members and reservists more easily obtain commercial driver’s licenses that lead to employment.

“The brave men and women that serve in the U.S. military learn a wide-range of skills applicable to jobs once they enter the civilian workforce, but too often face unnecessary barriers that makes it harder for them to find jobs,” Tillis said.

Under the Jobs for our Heroes Act of 2017 active-duty service members and reservists will be given the same training and testing requirements afforded to veterans under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.

The FAST Act established a streamlined set of requirements for veterans applying for a commercial driver’s license. If veterans had experience driving similar vehicles in the military, they could be exempted from all or part of civilian commercial vehicle driving tests. The rules also allow veterans who had appropriate military training to count it as credit toward the minimum requirements needed to obtain a commercial motor vehicles license.

However, the FAST Act did not apply to active-duty members of the military and reservists in the requirements for veterans with prior training in military driving.

To rectify that, the Department of Transportation (USDOT) granted a two-year exemption allowing states to waive certain commercial driver’s license tests for current service members and reservists if they had been trained and regularly employed in a military job that required them to operate heavy vehicles.

The Jobs for our Heroes Act would make the USDOT’s two-year exemption permanent.

“I applaud my colleagues for passing this legislation that allows our active-duty military, reservists, and veterans to apply the experience they gained serving our nation in a civilian capacity and not force them to go through a duplicative credentialing process to obtain a commercial driver’s license,” Tillis said.

Additionally, the bill makes it easier for veterans to get the health examination that is required to hold a commercial driver’s license.

Tillis introduced the bipartisan measure with U.S. Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).