The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation are cracking down on state-level licensing failures. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced that over $73 million in highway funds are being withheld from New York due to the state’s failure to revoke illegally issued non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) and commercial learner’s permits (CLPs).

A recent nationwide audit exposed massive administration failures within the New York DMV. Out of a sample of records, auditors found a 53% failure rate where licenses were issued in direct violation of federal law. Alarmingly, the state’s systems were defaulting to issue 8-year licenses to foreign drivers, completely ignoring when their legal residency status in the U.S. expired.

After repeated warnings and demands to rescind these noncompliant licenses, New York failed to complete the required corrective actions. In response, the DOT is pulling over $73 million in funding to hold the state accountable and remove unvetted, unqualified drivers from American roads.

In an administrative announcement, the FMCSA rolled out mandatory, enhanced identity verification requirements for specific users accessing the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse online database.

The days of simple email-and-password registrations are ending. If you or your compliance partners interact with the Clearinghouse, you need to understand these new security protocols immediately.