“Illegal operators who exploit loopholes in our regulatory systems are the bad actors in our industry.There’s no room for failure and there’s no place for unqualified drivers behind the wheel."
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN, Texas – Recently the Trucking Association Executives Council (TAEC) released a progress report documenting significant federal and state action to remove illegal operators, strengthen regulatory oversight and restore fairness for trucking companies and professional drivers that follow the rules. The Texas Trucking Association (TXTA) is a member of TAEC, and TXTA President and CEO John D. Esparza serves on the action committee that helped develop the report.
The report follows TAEC’s release last fall of Trucking Resurgence: The Fight for Fairness and Safety, an industry-led action plan identifying regulatory and enforcement gaps that allowed unsafe and fraudulent operators to enter and remain in the trucking industry.
Since then, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), law enforcement agencies and state governments have acted across nearly every priority identified in the plan, producing measurable results and demonstrating the value of sustained collaboration between regulators and the trucking industry.
“Illegal operators who exploit loopholes in our regulatory systems are the bad actors in our industry. They put everyone at risk, and we must simply eliminate them from our highways. We are focused on solutions and resolute on seeing them implemented. Doing so saves lives as well as small businesses and sets the table for a trucking resurgence in America,” says TXTA President and CEO John D. Esparza. “America’s trucking industry is built on the hard work with thousands of family-owned businesses in Texas alone. Independent owner operators and professional drivers across the country who play by the rules are the backbone of our industry and essential to our communities. There’s no room for failure and there’s no place for unqualified drivers behind the wheel. The numbers prove it’s working. And we are just getting started.”
The progress report highlights extensive enforcement and reform efforts on a national level, including:
- Nearly 10,000 CDL schools removed from the federal Training Provider Registry;
- 550 fraudulent CDL schools shut down;
- $217 million in new federal safety and CDL integrity investments;
- 704 investigations of high-risk carriers, with 430 carriers voluntarily ceasing operations and another 60 to 70 shut down;
- 3,200 visa revocations tied to cabotage enforcement;
- Audits of all 50 states’ CDL programs and non-domiciled CDL issuance;
- More than 194,000 non-domiciled CDLs that will no longer qualify under strengthened federal requirements;
- $273 million in highway funding withheld from noncompliant states;
- More than 27,000 drivers placed out of service for English-language proficiency violations (in Texas 645 outside of the Border Zone)
- 76 noncompliant electronic logging device platforms removed from the approved registry and 426 blocked from entering the marketplace; and
- More than 20 states engaged in legislative action, in addition to states that have strengthened policies and enforcement practices.
“FMCSA’s mission is to prevent crashes, fatalities and injuries involving large trucks and buses, and that requires a regulatory system with no room for fraud or deliberate noncompliance,” said FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs. “The overwhelming majority of motor carriers and professional drivers operate safely and responsibly. Our responsibility is to support those operators by identifying bad actors, enforcing the law and closing gaps that threaten highway safety and the integrity of the trucking industry. The progress reflected in this report shows what is possible when government, law enforcement and industry work together, and we remain committed to building on these results.”
Many of the plan’s recommendations called for better use of existing authority, stronger verification and more consistent enforcement, rather than imposing new requirements on carriers already operating safely and legally.
“Texas continues to improve the highway environment for both commercial vehicles and the motoring public,” said Major Omar Villarreal, Commercial Motor Vehicle Enforcement, Texas Department of Public Safety. “And will continue to work with the industry and our law enforcement partners as well as our elected officials to remove fraud and unqualified drivers from our highways.”
Despite the progress, the report emphasizes that sustained enforcement and additional reform remain necessary. It also highlights the need to ensure FMCSA has the staffing, technology and regulatory tools required to oversee millions of regulated entities and identify high-risk operators before they endanger the motoring public.
The Trucking Resurgence Progress Report was a featured topic at the TXTA Annual Conference on July 30, 2026, in San Antonio. TXTA President and CEO John D. Esparza, Arkansas Trucking Association President Shannon Newton, Iowa Motor Truck Association President and CEO Brenda Neville, and California Trucking Association CEO Eric Sauer will all take part in a panel discussion on the report's findings, recent progress and ongoing efforts to strengthen the trucking industry.
The Trucking Resurgence Action Plan and the updated Progress Report are available at www.truckingresurgence.com.
