State Rep. Phillip Pettus (R-Killen) believes that if you want to get a drivers license in the Yellowhammer State, you should be able to read English.
Pettus has pre-filed a legislation that would require the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) to conduct driver’s license exams only in English. The bill is expected to come up in the 2026 legislative session.
“All of our road signs are in English, people need to be able to read and understand English in order to drive,” Pettus told Alabama Daily News.
The bill includes licenses for private passenger vehicles and commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs).
The issue has garnered attention nationwide in recent weeks after several high profile wrecks were caused by illegal immigrant drivers of commercial vehicles.
“That’s what brought my attention to it,” Pettus explained. “The federal government says they have to be able to understand English, so they ought to be able to read in English.”
Pettus is not the first Alabama official to raise this issue in the state. U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn), who is also a candidate for Alabama Governor in 2026, recently helped introduce the Secure Commercial Driver Licensing Act in the Senate.
Tuberville’s bill that would require all commercial driver’s license (CDL) testing to be conducted in English and strengthen federal oversight of non-domiciled CDLs.
“If you drive a truck in the United States, you should be able to speak English fluently,” Tuberville said. “This protects our law enforcement officers and the general public. This is not only about safety and efficiency – it’s just commonsense.”
ALEA has also been working with the federal government on finding illegal immigrants who shouldn’t be driving commercial vehicles.
Earlier this month ALEA said their Motor Carrier Safety Unit, working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has assisted in the detention of 82 individuals identified during Commercial Motor Vehicle inspections since the partnership began just over a month ago.
According to a draft version of the Pettus’ bill, it will mandate all “written, oral, vision, and driving portions of the examination administered for purposes of obtaining or renewing a driver license must be in the English language only,” it says. “An applicant may not use a translation dictionary, an electronic device, or an interpreter to assist with the administration of the examination.”
Pettus is a retired state Trooper who also has experience managing driver’s license offices in the state.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee
