Texans for Strong Borders asks for Amendments to Senate Bill 39 to Protect Texans
Recently, several groups statewide have expressed serious concerns about Senate Bill 39, which was recently referred to the Texas House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence. While we recognize the intent behind the bill and certainly do not agree with the tactics utilized by other groups to accuse individual legislators of endorsing corporate negligence, we also have concerns about the bill, especially as it could prevent a jury from certain information relating to a commercial driver.
On April 28, President Donald Trump issued an executive order requiring truck drivers in the U.S. speak English and instituting an “English Language Proficiency Testing and Enforcement Policy.” This order is prudent and necessary given the large number of foreign truck drivers on American roads and the recent string of accidents that have caused property damage and, even more tragically, the deaths of American citizens.
As filed, SB 39 appears to prevent a jury from seeing evidence regarding whether a truck driver was in compliance with this order.
We believe that this bill as filed would bar a Texan injured by a truck driver from having a jury consider factors such a foreign national driver’s unlawful presence in the United States, inability to read and understand English, and ineligibility to legally work in the United States.