Taking a position out of the state of your licensed residence

Regional, semi-local, daily is OK if it pays well with flexibility for no-touch. OTR is an option for the right company and base location with an option to take up a position of the aforementioned type in the future.

Thanks for the tips!

 

Sweet! It'd be good to how to find these types of positions.
May I ask, what company or type it was?

 

Yeah, that'd be a perfect arrangement! Can you expound on that or give a company referral?

 

Do you live in Washington State?
`
Do you live in Tampa, FL?

 

Whichever ones is hiring

 

Companies hire based on the address on your CDL.

 

Bulkley Trucking hires experienced Tampa drivers.
Solo Drivers - Bulkley Trucking, LLC
No-touch freight.

 

Companies hire based on where you reside, which has to match you address on your CDL. This is a legal requirement. Now, if you are close enough to commute, for example I worked as a local driver for several companies with New York terminals while living just across the Delaware River in Pennsylvania, but I went home daily, so this was legal.

Are you willing to move and transfer your CDL, or are you trying to get a "local" or regional job without transferring your legal residence to wherever you get hired? If you are trying to keep you residence where your current CDL is issued from then you will be limited to companies hiring in that area. If you are willing to legitimately move, most companies will give you time to transfer your CDL after they hire you.

What is not legal, although it happens often, is to work as a "local" driver, keeping a place to crash nearby while keeping their CDL in a different state. I understand that some folks want to "live" in a specific state for tax purposes, but if you don't actually live there you are committing fraud and violating state law and federal regulations, and not just for driver's licensing.

This is why companies are picky about hiring someone with an address on their CDL that is too far from where they need to report for work, unless they are OTR, because then they will not be expected to go home every night. Typically you have thirty days from when you establish a new residence to transfer your driver's license, and if the company knows you live in one state but your license is issued in another they can't qualify you to drive.

If you are looking for local driving jobs away from where you currently live, and are licensed out of, expect that you will need to transfer your CDL to the new location within 30 days of being hired. That is normal, and except for the hazardous materials endorsement, the license usually transfers without retaking any tests. Illinois is one exception, they will make you retest, but they are the only state I am aware of that does that.

No local job is going to hire you if you don't have an address close to their reporting location. Now regional and OTR are different, although even there many companies have radius they hire from because they need to get you home and if they don't have freight or service where you live they can't get you home.

For example, below is a typical state statute that defines what "resident" means. Most states have very similar language.

NRS 483.141 “Resident” defined.
1. “Resident” includes, but is not limited to, a person:
(a) Whose legal residence is in the State of Nevada.
(b) Who engages in intrastate business and operates in such a business any motor vehicle, trailer or semitrailer, or any person maintaining such vehicles in this State, as the home state of such vehicles.
(c) Who physically resides in this State and engages in a trade, profession, occupation or accepts gainful employment in this State.
(d) Who declares that he or she is a resident of this State to obtain privileges not ordinarily extended to nonresidents of this State.
2. The term does not include a person who is an actual tourist, an out-of-state student, a foreign exchange student, a border state employee or a seasonal resident.
​

Then we look at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, which also address this issue in multiple ways.

49 CFR Part 383.5 then definitions:

State of domicile means that State where a person has his/her true, fixed, and permanent home and principal residence and to which he/she has the intention of returning whenever he/she is absent.​

49 CFR 383.71 (c) further states that a driver must transfer their CDL within thirty (30) days of establishing a new State of Domicile, as below:

(c) License transfer. When applying to transfer a CDL from one State of domicile to a new State of domicile, an applicant must apply for a CDL from the new State of domicile within no more than 30 days after establishing his/her new domicile.​

This is why legitimate trucking companies are so particular about where you live. They are required to check this stuff to complete their required driver background investigations and driver qualification files. Also, if they require the truck be parked at their terminal or facility for your time off, either nightly or weekly (for regional), then they want you to live a reasonable distance from the place they want the truck parked.

Lastly, after the Wal-Mart crash in 2014 where their driver, Kevin Roper, crashed into a limo van injuring comedian Tracy Morgan and killing Jimmy McNair, hiring distance from the terminal became central to the facts in that case. The Wal-Mart driver, Kevin roper, lived hundreds of miles from his reporting terminal, and had commuted to the terminal from home, got in his truck and drove up to New Jersey. He was fatigued when he failed to slow for stopped traffic, crashing into the limo and causing serious injury and death. Wal-Mart was found to be fully liable because their hiring practices allowed for this long commute. Most trucking companies took notice of this and changed their hiring policies shortly afterwards.

 

Absolutely make sense!! Thanks for the detailed response