Image by janeb13 from Pixabay 

August 21, 2026 - OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Thursday issued the following statement after the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted a coalition of states’ request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) halting the Trump Administration’s attempt to obtain the sensitive personal information of drivers who have either a commercial driver’s license or commercial driver’s permit required to drive large, heavy, or hazardous commercial vehicles. Last week, Attorney General Bonta joined a coalition in suing the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) after it threatened to withhold funding to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) if it did not comply with demands for commercial driver data including drivers’ names, license numbers, licensing states, and more. The states simultaneously challenged an administrative subpoena from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the same data, and the court also paused that attempt.

“Just last week, I joined attorneys general across the country to challenge the Trump Administration, yet again, for attempting to seize personal, sensitive data on commercial drivers, and now the court has put a stop to these unlawful efforts,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Today’s ruling marks another important step in making sure Americans’ privacy rights remain protected and resolute. When the President forgets the rules of the road, we’ll be there to remind him.”  

BACKGROUND

AAMVA operates a federally mandated system called the Commercial Driver’s License Information System (CDLIS). States use CDLIS to search for specific individuals applying for a commercial driver’s license, which is required to operate large, heavy, or hazardous commercial vehicles, such as semi-trucks, as opposed to a standard driver’s license that allows a driver to operate a passenger vehicle. CDLIS allows states, for example, to confirm that a person applying for a commercial driver’s license does not have such a license in another state. The federal government has historically used the information system to search for records on an individual basis, but FMCSA recently threatened to withhold funding for AAMVA and terminate the cooperative agreement under which CDLIS exists and operates, subject to demands for the records of millions of people in the system. DHS, in coordination with FMCSA, issued a separate subpoena seeking these very same records.

Last week, Attorney General Bonta and a multistate coalition challenged the demand for CDLIS data, arguing that it is unconstitutional, exceeds the Trump Administration’s authority, and violates the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act along with the federal Privacy Act, and challenged DHS’s subpoena. Today’s orders temporarily halt this broad demand for information.