OOSC, Part I, Item 3. Commercial Driver's License, a. License

Our company is based in Midland, TX. Recently, one of our drivers was stopped for a Level II roadside inspection. He was cited and placed OOS for 383.23(a)(2) because our driver had a Florida CDL and has been residing in TX for more than 30 days. The CDL return came back as valid so there were no issues with that, but he was placed OOS because he now resides in TX. My question is: Is failing to change a CDL from one state to another due to change in domicile such a safety imminent hazard that the driver needs to be placed Out of Service for this? I understand the purpose and requirements of each State, but how is this related to the safe operation of a commercial motor vehicle? I forwarded this same question to Jeremy Disbrow (CVSA Roadside Inspection Specialist) and basically he said, each state can do what they want. Some states place the driver OOS, while others don't. The problem I see in this is that CVSA prints out the guidance (OOSC), but each state enforces as they wish, so there is no unified thought. There should be more clarity in this policy directly linked to the safety of the driver and the general public.

If a driver has a valid Interstate CDL, he is able to operate under reciprocity throughout the United States. If a driver fails to meet a state requirement due to change of domicile, this is more of a 383.71(c) violation and in no case is an imminent safety hazard that merits to be placed OOS under 383.23(a)(2). A driver like in our case, at one point had a domicile in Florida and rented an apartment for when just working in Midland, Texas. If after the 30 days the driver decided to domicile in Texas, we were not made aware of. As a motor carrier, this violation will impact our SMS Driver Fitness score and realistically, it is very difficult to tract as a motor carrier if our employees have decided to domicile in Texas if initially, they moved here to just work. Nothing in the FMCSRs require a motor carrier to verify a domicile address of an employee after 30 days of employment. This is a responsibility of the driver and if he fails to notify an employer, this is almost impossible to do. A motor carrier is required to verify a driver is qualified to drive and retain records such as MVR, Application, Medical Card, Road-test, ect. but verifying that an employee is currently domiciled in a state after 30 days is not.

383.23(a)(2) - Amend or change the wording to the OOS criteria to include "if a driver has not changed domicile as required by the State where driver currently resides this does not constitute an OOS condition". Or something to that effect. Make reference to use 383.71(c)