Photo courtesy of Truck Drivers USA

By David L. Snelling

MIAMI – Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a bill that would have allowed state prisoners to take up CDL training, which received bipartisan support during the 2026 Legislative Session.

DeSantis trimmed the state’s budget by axing $11.7 billion in programs and projects, bringing the spending plan to $117.6 billion for the 2026-2027 fiscal year.

House Bill 325 was approved for vocational training for prisoners under certain circumstances but DeSantis vetoed the budget item.

DeSantis said the program would be “unnecessarily burdensome” to the Department of Corrections, which would need to supply personnel to monitor the inmates taking the CDL training.

“It also creates significant public safety concerns by authorizing incarcerated individuals to operate commercial vehicles in public thoroughfares,” DeSantis wrote in his veto letter, according to the Florida news reports.

A provision in the bill would allow only non-violent, scheduled to be released inmates who have two years or less remaining on their prison sentence.

Earning a CDL license could help them land a job once they are free, giving them a new life to earn money and stay out of trouble.

A truck driver can earn $79,239 a year, according the American Trucking Association.

The Correctional Education Program that would have overseen the CDL training would be empowered to strike a deal for the training with colleges, public or private school districts as well as undefined “entities.”

The Correctional Education Program also would have been required to develop procedures and monitoring for the schools chosen to undertake the CDL training.

The U.S. trucking industry is currently experiencing a shortage of around 60,000 drivers nationwide, according to the American Trucking Association.

The industry hires formerly incarcerated individuals to fill the void but most have to take classes and earn their CDL license before they can get behind the big rigs.

But it takes eight weeks or more to finish the courses.

HB 325 could’ve speed up the training by helping inmates earn their licenses in prison and have a truck driver job as soon as they are released from

Roughly 60 percent of formerly incarcerated individuals are still unemployed four years after release, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Nearly 70 percent return to prison, and the cycle of recidivism is hard to break without meaningful work and opportunity.

But some states have CDL training initiatives including The Commercial Driver’s License Workforce Development Program in New York which partners with the criminal justice system to train inmates incarcerated or recently released from prison.

The program equips participants with the skills to earn their CDL and connects them with motor carriers across the country.

It’s not just about finding a job, it’s about creating a sustainable career path in a field that desperately needs skilled, committed drivers.

“When you put more barriers in somebody’s pathway, they don’t see a way to actually make an honest living and that doesn’t benefit them, but it also really doesn’t benefit society,” said Deanna Logan, director of the Mayor’s Office for Criminal Justice. “They paid their debt to society and now they need to come back.”

Florida was seeking to join New York and other states that help inmates ready to enter the workforce once they have completed their sentences.

A provision to which DeSantis apparently objected, given his reference to burdens placed on the corrections system, would have allowed an inmate in training to be transported in or operate a state-owned vehicle “if the inmate is appropriately licensed” or has completed a CDL program.

But it also would have required at least one corrections officer to be in the vehicle.

The Florida Trucking Association could not be immediately reached to determine if it had any view on either the legislation or the veto.