Thursday, January 15, 2026 |
Photo – Big rigs parked in a snowstorm – Bigfoot99 file photo
Congresswoman Harriet Hageman is backing legislation to require CDL holders to speak and understand English.
Last May, Wyoming Congresswoman Harriet Hageman, along with five other members of Congress, introduced H.R. 3608. Known as Connor’s Law, the bill would require all commercial driver’s license holders to demonstrate a minimum proficiency in English.
Connor’s Law is named after 18‑year‑old Connor Dzion. According to a report from First Coast News in Jacksonville, Florida, Dzion was killed over the 2017 Labor Day weekend when a distracted semi‑truck driver crashed into a line of vehicles at 70 miles per hour.
The driver, identified as Yadwinder Sangha, was on his phone at the time of the crash and reportedly could not read English, including the electronic signs warning of the approaching accident scene.
Here in Carbon County, at least one highway fatality has been linked to a commercial truck driver with little to no understanding of English. Last March, 47‑year‑old Borys Bakhtiarov of Washington state lost control of his truck while driving west on I‑80. His vehicle spun across the center median and crossed into the eastbound lanes, where it collided with a semi‑truck driven by 63‑year‑old James Byars. Byars and his co‑driver, 70‑year‑old Mary Couch, both from Alabama, were trapped in the cab; Couch died at the scene.
Bakhtiarov reportedly did not speak English and required a translator when he appeared in Carbon County Circuit Court. In July, the driver pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor homicide‑by‑vehicle charge and was sentenced to 356 days in jail and 364 days of unsupervised probation upon release.
Connor’s Law was recommended to the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Highways and Transit on May 25th, 2025.
Congresswoman Hageman is continuing her push to require CDL holders to read and understand the English language. In a video clip posted to social media, Congresswoman Hageman highlighted the danger of Wyoming’s highways.
For those reasons, Congresswoman Hageman said commercial driver’s licenses should be issued only to individuals who are properly trained and prepared to respond to high‑risk situations, calling it critical to maintaining safety on the nation’s highways. The congresswoman said English proficiency should be a prerequisite for obtaining a CDL, and that drivers who cannot demonstrate a minimum understanding of the language should be taken out of service. Congresswoman Hageman said commercial drivers must be able to read and understand the state’s variable warning signs.
In a social media post, Congresswoman Hageman wrote, “If you can’t read in English, you shouldn’t be behind the wheel. That’s why I’m fighting to codify English language proficiency standards for CDL holders with Connor’s Law.”
