Attorney General Rayfield Sues Trump Administration for Unlawfully Demanding Personal Information of CDL Drivers

Attorney General Dan Rayfield is suing the Trump administration for demanding a database containing the personal information of 17 million commercial drivers - and threatening to cut off more than $10 million in federal funding if the agency that manages the database doesn't hand it over.

"This is about whether millions of working Oregonians and Americans can trust that their most sensitive information won't be misused," said Attorney General Rayfield. "When you get a commercial driver's license, you trust the state to keep your Social Security number and personal information safe - no one expected the federal government to demand that states hand over information like this in bulk, and for who knows what purpose."

AG Rayfield and a coalition of 21 attorneys general and the state of Pennsylvaniaare filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) over the demand. They also filed an additional related action against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). FMCSA's demand was made to the AAMVA, the nonprofit that runs the database on the states' behalf. The lawsuits say the federal government is breaking privacy law by quietly building its own copy of the database - with drivers' Social Security numbers and other personal data - without telling the public or putting any limits on how that information could be used or shared. The lawsuits also argue the federal government skipped required legal steps, including consulting the states, before making such a major change.

Background

Since 1986, states have shared information about commercial driver's license (CDL) applicants through a system called CDLIS, so they can check whether an applicant is already licensed elsewhere. AAMVA has run that system for the states since 1988. Before issuing a CDL, states verify a driver's identity, medical fitness, immigration status, and driving history - work that has always belonged to the states, not the federal government. Once a license is issued, CDLIS keeps a record for each driver that includes their name, date of birth, Social Security number, driver's license number, and the state that issued it.

Even though the states own that data, FMCSA sent AAMVA a letter demanding five years' worth of records for every driver in the system. When AAMVA pushed back, FMCSA threatened to cut off all its federal grants and contracts - a move that could have shut CDLIS down entirely. AG Rayfield and the coalition have filed the two lawsuits to block FMCSA's demand, as well as a subpoena from DHS seeking the same data.

Attorney General Rayfield has sued the Trump administration several times over its attempts to misuse Americans' personal data for undisclosed purposes, including immigration enforcement.

Alongside Attorney General Rayfield in filing these lawsuits are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, as well as governor the state of Pennsylvania.