FRANKFORT — To learn to drive a truck in Kentucky, you soon may have to prove you're a resident of the Commonwealth.

        The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, concerned about security for transportation of hazardous materials on state roads, is again pushing for all applicants for Kentucky commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) to be state residents.

        The cabinet has filed a motion in Judge William Graham's Franklin Circuit Court to dissolve a restraining order barring the state from enforcing the residency requirement, and for summary judgment.

        The office of Gov. Paul Patton also has announced that training time for a commercial driver's license will be doubled to four weeks, and Kentucky State Police will run a criminal background check on all applicants.

        The action comes in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and investigation by the FBI into two former students of a Paducah commercial truck-driving school who were working toward CDLs. Both were believed to be from outside the United States.

        The cabinet in May tried to impose a residency requirement but was sued by four commercial driving schools.

        Judge Graham issued an order barring enforcement of a residency requirement. The cabinet Thursday filed a motion to have the restraining order lifted.

        Marcia Harris, co-owner of Professional Truck Driving School in Paducah, one of the four schools that obtained the restraining order, said the company has in creased its security measures since the Sept. 11 attacks.

        “We increased the scrutiny of work qualifications including driving-record screening and criminal background checks,” she said Friday.

        “Prior to acceptance to our programs, a student must be able to show proof of where he or she has been and what they have been doing for the past five years.”

        She said several applicants had already been denied admittance to the school as the result of the revised security measures, and the school was working with the FBI to identify applicants who might pose a security risk.

        Ms. Harris said, however, that her company and the other three companies that filed suit will continue to oppose attempts by the Transportation Cabinet to impose a residency requirement.

        “We believe that litigation by state officials does not address the security needs of Kentucky or the nation,” she said.

        “Since Sept. 11, we have been on the front line by increasing our already strict security measures. A lawsuit by state officials does nothing to address the immediate security needs we face.”

        Arguments are scheduled before Judge Graham for Nov. 1 in Frankfort on the Transportation Cabinet's motion.

        Earlier this month, Jefferson Circuit Court Clerk Tony Miller appealed to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell to have the Immigration and Naturalization Service take over the job of verifying documents of foreign citizens applying for licenses — a task currently assigned to hearing officers in the Transportation Cabinet.

        A statement from Gov. Paul Patton's office said the hearing officers will get extra training on how to authenticate INS documents.

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