These California trucking schools broke state laws. Regulators couldn’t do anything about it
Adam Echelman and Erica Yee
February 3, 2026
When commercial truck drivers are speeding down California’s highways and interstates with thousands of pounds of cargo in tow, a single mistake can be catastrophic.
Yet California fails to regulate most of the schools that train truck drivers, allowing nearly 200 unlicensed schools to operate with effectively no oversight, according to a CalMatters analysis of state and federal records. And when the state has tried to use its limited authority to discipline schools for shortchanging students or flouting the law, its regulators are often powerless, according to the analysis.
Without regulatory oversight, industry experts say there is no way to know whether students coming out of those schools are prepared to operate a big rig safely.
