By Justin Seyl, NATMI Certified Director of Safety, 25+ years in CDL compliance, founder of CDL Manager.
Justin has personally overseen more than 650,000 citations and directed more than 10,000 Safety Fitness Determination upgrades.
Many small carriers do not have a dedicated compliance department. The person watching driver records may also handle payroll, dispatch, recruiting, or daily operations. According to the American Trucking Associations’ American Trucking Trends 2025, 91.5% of carriers operate 10 or fewer trucks, and 99.3% operate fewer than 100 power units.
At CDL Manager, our work is built around that small-carrier reality. The goal is to keep recurring compliance tasks visible, identify missing or inconsistent records, and help the carrier maintain a more reliable process before an audit or record problem exposes a gap.
What’s Behind the Recent CDLIS Privacy Concerns?
The Commercial Driver’s License Information System, or CDLIS, is a nationwide system that allows state driver licensing agencies to confirm that a commercial driver has only one driver license and one complete driver record. The CDLIS Central Site functions as a pointer system. It identifies the State of Record and helps authorized users locate the state-held driver record rather than serving as the repository for a driver’s complete history.
In August 2026, FMCSA demanded that the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, which operates CDLIS, provide a bulk database containing information on more than 17 million commercial drivers. A coalition of states challenged that demand. On August 20, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted a temporary restraining order that blocks the requested bulk transfer and related adverse action while the dispute proceeds.
As of August 28, 2026, no later ruling has displaced that TRO in the sources reviewed. The August 20 order directed preliminary-injunction briefing and scheduled a hearing for September 10, 2026, so the litigation status should be checked again before publication after any new court action.
That order is interim. It concerns federal access to the bulk CDLIS data at issue in the case. It does not suspend the motor carrier duties addressed in 49 CFR 391.23, 49 CFR 391.25, or 49 CFR 391.51.
[SAFETY PROFESSIONAL COMMENT PLACEHOLDER: Add 2-4 sentences from a qualified safety or compliance professional. Do not include legal advice, guaranteed outcomes, or claims that records, violations, tickets, CSA visibility, PSP data, or audit results can be removed, fixed, cleared, or guaranteed.]
Who Monitors Driver Records at a Small Carrier?
In a small operation, one person may own the compliance process while also carrying several other responsibilities. The practical risk is that recurring requirements can become dependent on memory instead of a documented monitoring process.
For carriers subject to the annual inquiry and review requirement in 49 CFR 391.25, the rule requires an inquiry at least once every 12 months to obtain the motor vehicle record of each employed driver, covering at least the preceding 12 months, from each licensing authority where the driver held a commercial motor vehicle operator’s license or permit during that period. The carrier must also review the MVR at least once every 12 months to determine whether the driver meets minimum safe-driving requirements or is disqualified under 49 CFR 391.15.
The MVR and a dated note identifying the reviewer must be maintained in the driver’s qualification file.
What Driver Data and Records Are Actually Involved?
CDLIS, a state MVR, a driver qualification file, and drug and alcohol testing records are related to driver compliance, but they are not the same record.
CDLIS helps identify the State of Record and supports the exchange of licensing information among authorized users. A state MVR is the motor vehicle record obtained from a licensing authority for purposes that include the hiring inquiry under 49 CFR 391.23 and the annual inquiry and review under 49 CFR 391.25.
The driver qualification file is broader. Under 49 CFR 391.51, it includes the employment application completed under 49 CFR 391.21, the MVR received under 49 CFR 391.23(a)(1), road test documentation or an accepted equivalent, annual MVRs and review notes, and other required qualification records.
Drug and alcohol testing records are governed separately. Section 382.401 establishes retention requirements that vary by record type and requires covered records to be maintained in a secure location with controlled access.
Keeping these categories distinct helps a carrier avoid assuming that one record or one system satisfies a different regulatory requirement.
What Can Go Wrong When Documentation Slips?
A missed annual inquiry or review can leave the driver qualification file without documentation required by 49 CFR 391.25. Missing DQ-file records can also be identified during a compliance review or audit.
Retention rules are another common source of confusion. Under 49 CFR 391.51(c), a driver’s qualification file generally must be retained for as long as the driver is employed by the motor carrier and for three years afterward. Section 391.51(d) allows certain listed records, including annual MVRs and annual review notes, to be removed three years after the date of execution.
Drug and alcohol testing records follow a different schedule under 49 CFR 382.401. Treating Part 382 records as though they follow the same rule as the DQ file can create avoidable recordkeeping gaps.
Why Documentation Discipline Matters
A driver file does not become audit-ready simply because most of the records are present. The important questions are whether the carrier has the required records, whether recurring reviews were completed on schedule, and whether the documentation shows what was actually done.
For a small carrier, the process should make it easy to identify who owns the review, when the next review is due, which records belong in the DQ file, and which records follow a separate retention schedule.
When CDL Manager Can Help
CDL Manager helps small carriers manage recurring compliance tasks without building a full in-house safety department. When we review a driver file or monitoring process, we look for gaps in required documentation, missed or approaching review dates, inconsistent record handling, and areas that may need follow-up.
For annual MVR monitoring, that means checking whether the required inquiry and review are documented under 49 CFR 391.25 and whether the resulting records are maintained in the DQ file. For broader file management, it means comparing the carrier’s records with applicable 49 CFR 391.51 requirements and identifying items that may need attention.
The purpose is to give the carrier a clearer picture of its current compliance position and help prioritize follow-up. It is not to promise an audit result or assume that every record issue has the same remedy.
When Should a Small Carrier Review Its Record-Monitoring Process?
A review is worth considering if the carrier cannot quickly determine who is responsible for driver-record monitoring, when each active driver’s annual MVR inquiry and review was completed, or which retention rule applies to a particular record.
Those are signs that the process may depend too heavily on memory, individual employees, or scattered files. A focused review can help identify where additional tracking or documentation may be needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CDLIS and why does it matter to a small carrier?
CDLIS is the nationwide system used by state driver licensing agencies to help ensure that each commercial driver has one driver license and one complete driver record. The CDLIS Central Site is a pointer system that identifies the State of Record and supports access to the underlying state-held record. The current federal court dispute concerns bulk federal access to CDLIS data. It does not pause a carrier’s existing driver qualification and MVR-review duties.
Is CDLIS the same as a standard MVR?
No. CDLIS is the national information-sharing system used to identify the State of Record and support the exchange of commercial-driver information. An MVR is the motor vehicle record obtained from a licensing authority. Motor carriers use MVRs for requirements that include the hiring inquiry under 49 CFR 391.23 and annual inquiry and review under 49 CFR 391.25.
How often does a carrier need to obtain and review an MVR?
For carriers subject to 49 CFR 391.25, the required inquiry and review occur at least once every 12 months. The carrier must retain the MVR and a dated review note identifying the reviewer in the driver’s qualification file.
How long must a driver qualification file be retained?
Under 49 CFR 391.51(c), the general rule is for the duration of the driver’s employment with the motor carrier and for three years afterward. Section 391.51(d) permits certain listed records to be removed three years after the date of execution. That limited provision is not the same as permission to discard the entire DQ file early.
Do drug and alcohol testing records follow the same retention rule as DQ files?
No. Drug and alcohol testing records are governed by 49 CFR 382.401 and follow retention periods that vary by record type. They should not be managed as though the DQ-file retention rule automatically applies to them.
Does the 2026 CDLIS court order change a carrier’s Part 391 duties?
No change to those duties is reflected in the current Part 391 rules. The August 20, 2026 temporary restraining order addresses the disputed bulk transfer of CDLIS data to federal defendants. The carrier requirements in 49 CFR 391.23, 391.25, and 391.51 remain in place.
Keep Driver Record Monitoring From Becoming a Last-Minute Problem
If your carrier is not fully confident about annual MVR reviews, DQ-file completeness, record-retention distinctions, or who owns the monitoring process, CDL Manager can review the current workflow and help identify compliance tasks that need attention.
The goal is practical managed compliance i.e. clearer tracking, better documentation, and stronger audit readiness without requiring a small carrier to build a full in-house safety department.