I Am A Little Confused (out Of State Training)

I agreed to a conditional job offer with a certain trucking company, starting making plans to do my DOT physical and get my CDL permit in PA. I sent an email to my recruiter asking about when, during the training, would I take my cdl driving test. About an hour later she emails me back and says, due to Pennsylvania not complying with Federal Laws, you can not take your cdl exam in another state and have it transferred back to PA. Therefore we are not going to have you start training until PA complies.

Has anyone heard about this happening to anyone else?

Is this even a real thing?, I can't find anything online confirming that this is true.

Could this be a way of turning down someone for the training program?

I would appreciate any advice I can get. I really wanted to go through this company and even drive for this company.

Unfortunately that is indeed a real thing.

In recent years several states have passed laws preventing people from transferring their CDL into the state. This was mostly done to protect the private schools in their state from losing students to the Company-Sponsored Training Programs and out of state Private Schools. It also prevents the state from losing the fees associated with the CDL license.

For instance, if someone from Pennsylvania went to a company-sponsored training program in Missouri then the schools in Pennsylvania would lose a student. The state itself would lose taxable income from the school itself along with the fees associated with getting your CDL permit, your endorsements, taking the CDL exams, and then of course finally getting your license. That's a lot of lost revenue for the state and it's hurting the businesses in the state at the same time. Instead of all of those fees going to the state of Pennsylvania and the tuition going to a school in Pennsylvania, the fees would go to Missouri and tuition would go to an out of state school or company.

Some of the company-sponsored programs work around this by having you obtain your permit in your home state, bring you to their facility for training, and then return you to your home state to take the CDL exams and get your license. Other company-sponsored programs simply eliminate students that reside in states with prohibitive laws.

My first co driver back in may of this year went through crst program in Iowa but lived in Lancaster pa... Had no problem Transferring over.... Now I think that all states are requiring you to get your permit in your home state.... Not 100% sure though... Call other company sponsored training programs to find out...

I was told from day one that I needed to get my (instructional) permit in pa then go to the trucking company's school for training. Then once training was complete, I needed to go back home to get my CDL before heading out with a driver trainer. Then upon further research and asking questions, I found out that I needed to get my CDL while in town for training, transfer it to a PA CDL, then leave with a driver trainer.

All of that sounded easy enough, until I emailed my recruiter about it. She then told me today about PA not conforming. I really want to start a new career in the trucking industry but now my options are limited to companies with schools within PA. As far as my research has led to me to only CR England.

I will be making numerous calls today to other companies and hopefully expand my options further.

Thanks for the replies, I am using this websites CDL Training program to study for my permit test.

I was told from day one that I needed to get my (instructional) permit in pa then go to the trucking company's school for training. Then once training was complete, I needed to go back home to get my CDL before heading out with a driver trainer. Then upon further research and asking questions, I found out that I needed to get my CDL while in town for training, transfer it to a PA CDL, then leave with a driver trainer.

All of that sounded easy enough, until I emailed my recruiter about it. She then told me today about PA not conforming. I really want to start a new career in the trucking industry but now my options are limited to companies with schools within PA. As far as my research has led to me to only CR England.

I will be making numerous calls today to other companies and hopefully expand my options further.

Thanks for the replies, I am using this websites CDL Training program to study for my permit test.

Do you know anyone in another state that you can move in with and use their address.. Just a option...

Way back in the day I started with England got my permit in Pa went to school in jersey went to utah to get my license transferred it to pa with no problems

Hey Brett, July 1st of this year brought a big change in regards to states accepting trading from other states. I can't tell you the legislation number or anything but it took place while I was finishing training with Knight. Illinois was the one state everyone thought would refuse but eventually came online, accepting tests taken in other states for Illinois residents. They still had to get their permit in Illinois though. The regulation was an agreement of all the states.

Hey Brett, July 1st of this year brought a big change in regards to states accepting trading from other states. I can't tell you the legislation number or anything but it took place while I was finishing training with Knight. Illinois was the one state everyone thought would refuse but eventually came online, accepting tests taken in other states for Illinois residents. They still had to get their permit in Illinois though. The regulation was an agreement of all the states.

I'm gonna look into that. I know there were some changes this summer but I don't recall any sweeping changes that everyone agreed to for that. I'll get to the bottom of it. Thanks!

No problem. It's not very often that I get to add much on here in the way of regulatory changes. In this case, a few fellow students were some of the first to take advantage of the changes.

Ok the TruckingTruth research arm has gotten to the bottom of this. I've left out the parts that don't pertain to what we're talking about and I simplified the government speak a little bit in places.

First of all a CLP (Commercial Learner's Permit) has certain requirements as specified here by the FMCSA in section 383.25: Commercial learner's permit (CLP):

A CLP is considered a valid CDL for purposes of behind-the-wheel training on public roads or highways, if all of the following minimum conditions are met:

(2) The CLP holder holds a valid driver's license issued by the same [state] that issued the CLP.

In other words you can only get your permit in the same state that you have your regular driver's license. So to stay compliant with this rule some of the company-sponsored programs and out-of-state private schools were having students transfer their residency and driver's license into the state they were being trained in. The student would then get their permit and eventually their CDL in that state and transfer the CDL back to their home state.

Well the States didn't like this because they were losing a lot of students and revenues to out of state schools. So various States started passing laws that prohibited you from transferring your CDL into their state without taking the skills tests over again. Well this isn't how a CDL is supposed to work. It's supposed to be universally recognized by all States across the country. So the Feds passed a law that said the states must accept a skills test that was issued by another state.

From the FMSCA website: 383.79: Skills testing of out-of-State students:

(a) A State may administer its skills test...to a person who has taken training in that State and is to be licensed in another [State]. Such test results must be transmitted electronically directly from the testing State to the licensing State in an efficient and secure manner.

(b) The State of domicile of a CDL applicant must accept the results of a skills test administered to the applicant by any other State...

So by law a resident of Pennsylvania may get their CLP in Pennsylvania, then attend a school in Missouri, take the skills test to receive their CDL in Missouri, and have the results of the skills test sent to Pennsylvania who will then issue a Pennsylvania CDL to the student.

The problem they're having right now is that all of the states are not currently compliant with these laws. In this case Pennsylvania is behind in its implementation. According to an article on the CDL College website the following states are currently in compliance with this rule:

• Alaska
• Alabama
• Arkansas
• California
• Colorado
• Georgia
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Louisiana
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• Mississippi
• New Mexico
• Nevada
• New York
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Rhode Island
• South Dakota
• Texas
• Virginia
• Washington
• Wisconsin
• West Virginia
• Wyoming

So if you live in any of those states you should have no problem getting your schooling out of state in either a Company-Sponsored Training Program or a Private Truck Driving School. If you don't live in those states you may still run into problems getting your training from out of state.