Tillis bill easing commercial driving license process for military members signed into law

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis’s (R-NC) bipartisan legislation making it easier for American military veterans, reservists and active-duty personnel to apply for a commercial driver’s license (CDL) has been signed into law by President Donald Trump.

The Jobs for Our Heroes Act of 2017, S. 1393, which Tillis cosponsored and introduced on June 21, 2017 with U.S. Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), lets states exempt these military members from the knowledge test when they apply for a commercial driver’s license if they’ve already had heavy-vehicle training and operation experience in the military.

“This legislation will allow 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,” Sen. Tillis said on Tuesday.

Veterans and national guardsmen have had such an exemption under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act of 2015. Tillis’s legislation makes the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) two-year waiver they received permanent so that active-duty personnel and reservists also have equal standing for getting a commercial driver’s license.

Additionally, S. 1393 streamlines the process for veterans to get the DOT-mandated health exam, which is a requirement for having a commercial driver’s license.

“This bill shows our veterans that after all of their hard work defending our nation, after everything they’ve sacrificed for us, we have their backs,” said Sen. Cornyn.

S. 1393 passed the Senate on Sept. 14, 2017 by unanimous consent and then the House passed it unanimously, 418-0, according to the congressional record. The president signed the bill into law on Jan. 8.