AG Brown leads coalition to block feds from obtaining personal information of commercial driver's license holders

Attorney General Nick Brown and a coalition of 23 attorneys general secured a preliminary injunction that blocks the federal government from demanding the sensitive personal information of 17 million drivers who hold commercial driver’s licenses, and from terminating more than $10 million in federal funding to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA).

“When Washingtonians give the government their private information, it should be kept safe and secure—and it should only be used for its intended purpose,” said Brown. “This order is the latest example of our office keeping Washingtonians’ personal data safe from federal overreach.”

In August, Brown and the coalition filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, as well as an additional related lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security. The lawsuits claim the federal agencies are violating multiple federal privacy laws by secretly setting up their own database with records extorted from AAMVA, with no guardrails on the use or sharing of drivers’ Social Security numbers and other personal information, and no notice to the public.

A week later, the court issued a temporary restraining order, immediately blocking the administration from obtaining this sensitive information. Today’s preliminary injunction extends that relief by continuing to block the demand going forward as the attorneys general continue to litigate the ongoing case.

Brown filed these lawsuits with attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as the states of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

Brown has joined fellow state attorneys general in several legal challenges to the Trump administration’s attempts to unlawfully use Washingtonians’ personal data for improper purposes, including immigration enforcement. Washington has successfully challenged the administration’s attempt to access Washingtonians’ data retained through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid, and recently filed a similar case released to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.