Texas' Ban on the Mandate

Hey all,

I got out of dodge about a year in advance of the mandate, because I could see it coming a mile away, and I also have a real estate investment in South America I had to attend to. My prediction came true for the most part, but luckily there are some exceptions like Texas.

I've got a current TN (not Texas) CDL with all endorsements and a clean OTR record of 3 years.

Is there some sort of loophole to the Texas ban on the mandate, where you're required to take a covaids jab for a cdl, since "CDLs are federal" or something along those lines?

I wouldn't mind getting back into trucking in my home country at this point in my life, but not if it means I need a jab to do so.

 

Well, sure I've got a TN CDL, but really what I'm asking about is getting hired in TX, and changing my address to TX or at least just working for companies based in southern TX. Are there other states (maybe TN is one of them) that also banned mandatory vaccines? That's important to me.

Was thinking of linehaul and/or working border towns like Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Laredo, etc. Heck, I'd even consider working the oilfields. I'm not tied to Tennessee. Actually, I was thinking of never returning to the USA, but I miss trucking, and would like to have a consistent income again. I'm not adventurous enough to start trucking in Peru, which is where I am nowadays.

 

Climate? Must be a reefer outfit with that name?

 

I also wanted to take this opportunity to ask: How is the industry in general nowadays? When I left over a year ago, you could see some businesses demanding to take your temperature before letting you back your trailer into their dock. Most businesses would just have you open your doors, leave the papers in the back, "we'll sign them, put them back in the trailer, and call you when you're okay to leave", and there was never any contact with anyone. I prefered it that way.

Even if you work for a company with less than 100 employees, aren't there still customers that insist that truckers need to be vaccinated to enter their property for pickups/deliveries? How does that work logistically? You see why I'm leaning towards working intra-state in a place like Texas?