Heller: Setting safer standards for the future

“Hey There Delilah” debuted in 2005 by the Plain White T’s and is seemingly reverberating over and over in my head recently.

In February, President Trump's State of the Union address mentioned Dalilah’s Law, a yet-to-be-introduced piece of legislation at the time that would provide the strength of Congress behind the recent regulatory actions in supporting English language proficiency and non-domiciled commercial driver’s license (CDL) rulemakings.

Continuing to relate it to the song, there have been at least five iterations of the legislation introduced since the State of the Union, three in the House and two in the Senate, to varying degrees. I say varying degrees because while there are certainly differences in legislative texts in each that stray away from the basic premise of what the legislation is designed to do, they are meant to save lives.

The legislation language itself is not new. Enforcing English language proficiency standards that have been present for decades and no longer providing exceptions for non-domiciled CDLs has been the talk of the town since they were brought to the forefront of our industry by presidential action. This legislation represents an important step toward closing gaps in safety, accountability, and prevention while honoring the lived experiences that too often go unheard. Named after 5-year-old Dalilah Coleman, injured by a truck driver in the country illegally, it prohibits issuing CDLs to undocumented immigrants and mandates English proficiency.

“It would take an act of Congress” is an idiom often used to describe something that is extremely difficult or nearly impossible to achieve. In this instance, that act of Congress is no longer a satirical joke but rather an exclamation point on regulatory actions that make it more difficult to reverse within the agency due to an administration change because the weight of Congress stands behind the legislation. Though in this particular instance, it would be hard to believe that even an administration change could argue against some of the safety benefits that have already occurred.

What makes the premise of these proposals so important is that it prioritizes  intervention as well as enforcement. With early action, clear standards, and coordination among those who issue CDLs on the front end rather than policing at the roadside, it prevents ELP and non-domiciled CDLs from being a problem. 

These bills will require states to stop administering CDL exams in other languages, specifically targeting practices in states like California that allow CDL skills and proficiency tests in up to 20 languages. 

Further, it targets “CDL mills” by checking the federal registry for proper training records to address fraudulent training schools. In addition to roadside enforcement already taking place across the states, the front end of the CDL process is being called into question and could be inevitably answered.

Unfortunately, Dalilah’s Law addresses a hard truth: Unintended consequences are too often missed, minimized, or lost within fragmented systems. Time and again, cases of severe harm reveal similar patterns, such as communication failures, unclear responsibilities, and opportunities for intervention that came too late. As I have stated previously, we cannot advocate for noncompliance; when we do, accidents happen. 

This legislation confronts those failures head-on by strengthening standards, improving oversight, and reinforcing that safeguarding lives must come before institutional convenience. Dalilah’s Law represents a meaningful effort to ensure that lessons learned from tragedy are not ignored. It is about accountability, prevention, and the moral responsibility we share to do better. Born from pain rather than ideals that typical legislation should derive from, it behooves everyone to understand that this reason is exactly why it matters.

No statute can guarantee that tragedy will never occur again. Refusing to act, however, guarantees that the same mistakes will be repeated in the future. Dalilah’s Law represents a decision to act, to raise standards, improve coordination, and treat the protection of vulnerable lives with the seriousness it deserves.