CDL self-reporting: what your state still requires
On 22 July 2026 FMCSA deleted the federal rule telling you to report your convictions to your own state. It did not delete the state laws that say the same thing — and it declined to tell anyone which states those are.
“FMCSA agrees with the comment from NAPT that having the information on which States continue to require drivers to notify their SDLAs of convictions outside of their State of domicile would be helpful. However, FMCSA will not be compiling this list. … Nothing in this rule absolves a CDL holder from having to comply with a State requirement if that requirement exists.”
FR 2026-12449, "Removal of Self-Reporting Requirement"
Ohio
Yes — Ohio still requires you to tell the state yourself.
- Deadline
- 30 days
- Notify
- Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (and your employer, in the same notice)
- Applies to
- Convictions in other states
Citation: Ohio Rev. Code §4506.18 · verified 2026-08-12
“Any driver who holds a commercial driver’s license issued by this state and is convicted in another state or a foreign jurisdiction of violating any law or ordinance relating to motor vehicle traffic control, other than a parking violation, shall provide written notice of that conviction within thirty days after the date of conviction to the bureau of motor vehicles and to the driver’s employer in accordance with the provisions of 49 C.F.R. 383, subpart C, as amended. … Whoever violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree.”
Ohio also imposes its own employer-notification duty (30 days), separate from the federal one below.
Ohio attaches the heaviest penalty we found anywhere: a first-degree misdemeanour, up to 180 days and $1,000. There is a live legal question — the section says "in accordance with 49 C.F.R. 383, subpart C, AS AMENDED," a moving reference to a subpart that, since 22 July 2026, no longer requires telling your state. Whether that leaves Ohio’s BMV duty standing on its own words or dormant is genuinely unsettled. Given what is attached to it, file the notice and ask the BMV.
Everywhere: you still have to tell your employer
This did not change in July. 49 CFR §383.31 still requires a CDL holder convicted of a traffic violation — in any vehicle, not just a truck, and anything other than a parking ticket — to notify their current employer in writing within 30 days.
The notice has to carry all seven of these:
- Driver's full name
- Driver's license number
- Date of conviction
- The specific offense(s), and any suspension, revocation or cancellation that resulted
- Whether the violation was in a commercial motor vehicle
- Location of offense
- Driver's signature
49 CFR §383.31 · verified 2026-08-12
This is journalism, not legal advice. Every answer links to the statute so you can read it yourself — do that before you act, and confirm with your state licensing agency if anything here decides something expensive. Rules change; each row carries the date we last checked it.