CDL Waivers for Servicemembers - PA Department of Military and Veterans Affairs

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and the

Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA) announced today that a new

Pennsylvania law waives the requirement for Pennsylvania residents who are current and

former military members and who operated a commercial vehicle as part of their duties, to take

a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) Knowledge Test when applying for a CDL. Previous

legislation – Act 133 of 2008 – established a waiver of the CDL skills test for these individuals.

“We are pleased to announce this important change and hope that it helps military members in

their transition to civilian life find good-paying, sustainable employment to begin their new lives,”

said PennDOT Secretary Yassmin Gramian.

Act 131 of 2020 allows the PennDOT to waive the CDL Knowledge Test for Pennsylvania

residents on active or reserve military duty or recently honorably discharged veterans, provided

those service members have at least two years of experience operating a commercial motor

vehicle as part of their military job requirements.

The waiver applies to CDL applicants who wish to operate vehicles similar to those they

operated in the military. For example, those who drove combination type commercial (Class A)

motor vehicles in the military will be eligible in Pennsylvania for a waiver to drive a combination

type vehicle and those who drove a single motor vehicle of commercial type (Class B) in the

military will be eligible in Pennsylvania for the waiver to drive that type of vehicle. Applicants

must complete form DL-398, “Application for Military CDL Test Waiver,” to request the waiver.

Doubles, triples and school bus endorsements cannot be waived under this program. PennDOT

will waive the knowledge test specified, subject to the limitations in the 49 Code of Federal

Regulation Section 383.77, to an applicant who meets all the requirements for a waiver.

“Service members gain many valuable skills in the military that translate well into the civilian job

sector,” said Maj. Gen. Mark Schindler, Pennsylvania’s acting adjutant general and acting head

of the DMVA. “This program is a huge opportunity to assist our veterans and service members

with these skills to get good jobs as Pennsylvania is critically short in CDL drivers.”

Military personnel and veterans interested in taking advantage of the CDL skills and knowledge

test waivers can find further information by visiting www.dmv.pa.gov, click on Driver Services

and choose Military Personnel Veterans from the dropdown. Form DL-398 can be found under

Forms and Publications on the homepage.