Under California law,

…private trucking programs charging $2,500 or less in tuition are exempt from licensing and regulation by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE). This has created a gray area where nearly 200 such schools issue non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) with little accountability.

Lewie Pugh, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), told the DCNF that this lack of enforcement is part of a broader federal failure in trucking oversight. He argued that even the basic federal Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT) requirements are poorly enforced, allowing inadequate programs to persist and produce underprepared drivers — foreign or domestic — who pose risks on the highways.[…]

Pugh described the federal Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT) program, launched in 2022 as the first real requirement for new truckers, as fundamentally ineffective. Applicants simply complete an online registration, find a registered trainer (who needs only minimal qualifications), and have the trainer check off topics taught — often with no meaningful behind-the-wheel instruction required.