Claron Brenchley, director of regulatory services in the Department of Public Safety, said the Bramble bill did not change residency definitions but required applicants to prove residency by such means as presenting a recent utility bill, property tax notice, Utah vehicle registration, mortgage papers, etc.

Brenchley says the bill did not apply to CDLs, but Bramble says he believes it does and he intended it to do so (and may amend the law if necessary to ensure it does).

After Bramble's bill passed, memos show that lower-level state officials urged enforcement of residency requirements for all CDLs. That did not happen. Instead, memos said Flowers "met with the governor's office to request a written legal opinion on the issue with C.R. England."

While waiting for that opinion, which would not come for months from the attorney general, a Department of Public Safety memo said, "We are going to allow C.R. England to operate according to status quo."

That almost changed again, however, when state officials soon became concerned that practice might violate federal law — and jeopardize all federal transportation funds for Utah.

Brenchley was sent to find out for sure in meetings with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. He returned with a letter from it saying, "States are required to comply with the current regulation limiting the issuance of a CDL to individuals (permanently) domiciled in their state."

Once again, Flowers said his department decided to prepare to enforce that law, and told driving schools. And once again, trucking companies mobilized in a way that would manage to forestall that.

Dan England says he and officials of the American Trucking Association (which donated more than $750,000 to federal races in the 2004 campaign cycle) met with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to plead their case.

Soon, Brenchley said, top federal officials called the state, "Saying, 'Whoa, wait a minute, hold off, you don't need to do this, there's going to be a letter coming out,' " promising the federal government would not enforce its current rules while it considered rewriting them to help truck driving schools that serve out-of-state students.

Confirmation came in a Nov. 21 letter. But even before that on Oct. 6, a state memo told driver's license officials to verify "the Utah resident address for all CDL applicants except those out-of-state students who are currently enrolled (in) CDL training schools."

It adds, "If a driver is in a CDL training school and they are using the school's address as their resident address, you are to accept that address and not ask for proof of their Utah address."