Kamal Ghorui
Wyoming governor Mark Gordon has signed a new state law allowing all police officers in Wyoming to pull over commercial truck drivers who are not proficient in English and may jeopardise public safety.The bill is named House Bill 32 and was approved by the state legislature and signed by Gordon earlier this week.Under the new law, any law enforcement officer or deputy in the state can stop a truck driver if the driver cannot show they meet federal English language proficiency standards. Before this change, only federally certified Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers had authority to enforce those standards.The federal standard requires commercial drivers to be able to speak and understand English well enough to talk with the public, respond to official questions and read road signs. If a driver does not meet these requirements, they can now be cited by local officers as well as state troopers.The law also includes penalties for drivers who fail to demonstrate English proficiency. A first offence can result in a fine of $1,000. If a driver continues to operate a commercial vehicle in the state before proving English proficiency, they face another $1,000 fine and may be charged with a misdemeanour punishable by up to 90 days in jail.The law aims to improve safety on Wyoming’s roads by ensuring commercial drivers can communicate and understand important information while driving. Federal requirements on English language proficiency were reinstated by the US Department of Transportation after being paused by previous administrations.The new law takes effect immediately following several accidents and incidents in which immigrant drivers were unable to speak or read English properly.In 2025, Wyoming commercial vehicle inspections found that 676 out of 16,676 truck drivers could not demonstrate basic English proficiency during interviews, according to state patrol data. Officers had to cite those drivers for failing to show they could read or communicate in English during roadside checks. Moreover, a sem‑truck crash in Florida in August 2025 that killed three people brought national attention to English proficiency rules. Federal investigators said the truck driver failed an English language test and could not answer basic questions or identify highway signs correctly after the crash
