Why isn't there a Federal CDL?

Because the government doesnt have a long enough list of things to make over complicated and under efficient?

Let the feds get involved in licensing and it'll take 6 months to grade your test, another month to process your approval, and cost you $1000 to actually issue.

 

Yes and they will send you a fishing license!

 

Because the States want money,,yes with fed regs it should be the same for pilots,,of course pilots are smarter too,, they vote more than truckers

 

Because the government is really good and efficient at everything......

 

If you think about it,

CDL is a federal license,

issued by individual states.

 

Technically CDL's are Federal Licenses already, with States DMV's being the issuing agents. Although I'm for the Gov't NOT being involved in as much as they are I think they should officially take over the CDL role completely. Too many states tweaking things as they see fit, not honoring the reciprocity of them when people move, force expiring HME's when there still good for years. Forcing background checks when the one's on file are still good. This is all Federal stuff that the states are playing games with, the state's need to be taken out of the equation. I really don't see it getting worse, possibly better. (Yes, I know what I just said haha).

People here in VA pay $3 for their permit and $5/yr for their endorsements Plus obviously the lic itself.

People in NJ pay I believe $125 for their learners permit ALONE!

If I go back to my home state of MA I need to bring letters from employers I've worked with for the preceding 2 yrs or I'll have to re-road test.

ALL HME's in ALL states are valid for 5 years, yet how many "expire" before that? That shouldn't even be legal!

As all you guys know the list goes on and on. The feds already have all the rules on the books for this stuff, they either need to enforce it via the states or take it over completely. The only downside I really see if probably less testing sites in some states but in most states you can't do a CDL road test everywhere you do in a car anyways.

 

Because it's a driver license and states may have different requirements to qualify a driver, I think the federal level is for giving states minimum standards to implement, just as states may have different standards for how trucks may be configured there. It's probably better for figuring out what works best too, if one state has fewer issues with trucks, or drivers in general, maybe others can learn from that.

 

You don't want that.

If you are looking to have no residency requirements, it will turn into a mess, but if you are doing it because you want to be free of the requirement, move to a state that doesn't impose high fees.