Memos add, "Just recently, our State Bureau of Investigation discovered that nonresidents . . . were paying facilitators to help them obtain a Utah driver license. They would fly into Utah for the day, attempt to obtain a Utah license and leave the state the same day."

So, it concluded, "our investigations have revealed the need to increase our verification processes to ensure that applicants for a CDL or operator license are in compliance with state law."

With that, Flowers said his Department of Public Safety prepared early this year to require all license applicants to verify they are permanent Utah residents.

"That sent us into a real tizzy that continues to this day," said Dan England, CEO of C.R. England and president of the Utah Trucking Association.

He says 95 percent of students at his company's local school come from out of state, so such a change could close the school that now produces 30 to 40 graduates a week.

That could not only lead to layoffs of 30 or so school staffers, but England says it could worsen what he says is a severe driver shortage here and nationwide. "We have 2,600 trucks. But currently, 197 of them are unseated."

He adds his company has an annual turnover rate of 121 percent because of low pay in the industry and because many do not like long absences from family that come with long-haul work.

So, he says, C.R. England established its local school (and five others nationwide) to fill that constant demand for new drivers. It even has its own "hotel" at its 64-acre West Valley headquarters, where students (and other truckers) can live temporarily.

Fearful of the proposed change, England officials met with Huntsman (to whom the company had given a $5,000 campaign donation) on Jan. 20. Notes show the company said its 4,350 employees made it one of Utah's five largest private employers and that its CDL applications and taxes generate a lot of revenue for Utah.

The company argued that current law could be interpreted to continue allowing issuing CDLs to its students because it allows licenses for students who seek Utah residency or for people who accept employment here for other than seasonal work.

Afterward, a Feb. 2 memo shows the governor's office called and coordinated a meeting between England and Department of Public Safety officials.

Flowers said that even before that meeting, his department had decided to hold off the proposed enforcement changes. "Our law was, and is, still rather ambiguous about what constitutes a resident," he said.

His department heard Bramble was about to push his bill creating a "driving privilege" card for noncitizens. Flowers said the department thought it might clarify some murky residency requirements, so it held off enforcement to see what Bramble's bill would do.