The Summerland Advocate-Messenger - Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community

Last week, I heard the story of a veteran trying to use his GI benefits and attend school. After retiring from service, this veteran, who requires the use of a service dog, decided to enroll at a Commercial Driver’s License school. Obtaining a CDL will qualify this veteran for a good career as a truck driver.

The veteran lives near a city with a new CDL school branch — but there’s a problem. Because it’s less than two years old, the branch isn’t yet approved to receive the military GI benefits that this veteran is using to pay for his CDL training. That means the veteran has to commute to a CDL school more than a hundred miles from his home rather than attending the school next door.

This is a roadblock for our veterans, trucking schools and the trucking industry, overall. As I heard from veterans like this one, I realized that it should be a simple problem to remedy.

Currently, if an approved trucking school opens a secondary facility in a new location, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and state regulators are required by law to deny that new facility’s ability to receive GI benefits for two years. That’s unnecessary when the primary trucking school has already been approved and the new branch will provide identical training.

Trucking is a vital part of our economy, and red tape that needlessly restricts GI benefits is harmful to the trucking industry as well as our veterans. Our country faces a shortage of 80,000 truck drivers and some estimates show that number could reach 160,000 by 2030. Trucking shortages have a ripple effect across our nation’s supply chains, worsening bottle necks and delaying delivery times. Because CDLs are in high demand, can provide veterans with high-paying jobs and will help address shortages in the trucking industry, we want to work hard to increase access to them.

Today, we’re one step closer to getting past regulatory inefficiency and expanding veterans’ benefits. Last week, just in time for Veterans Day weekend, the Senate unanimously approved my Veteran Improvement Commercial Driver License Act to end the two-year waiting period for GI benefit approval at CDL schools.

Earlier this year, I reintroduced the Veteran Improvement Commercial Driver License Act with my colleague Senator Alex Padilla. Our legislation ensures that GI benefits can be used at new branches of CDL schools whose primary institutions have already received regulatory approval.

By clarifying the two-year moratorium statute and exempting new branches of previously-approved institutions, our bill will increase veterans’ access to nearby CDL schools. Ultimately, it will expand their access to high-paying careers in the trucking industry.

I’m proud that our bipartisan legislation to support veterans passed the Senate with unanimous support. Our bill will now be considered by the House of Representatives, and I look forward to working with my colleagues in the House to get this legislation passed and onto the president’s desk.

Thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week.