Florida Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed a bill that would have allowed commercial driver’s license (CDL) training for a narrow segment of state prisoners, according to FreightWaves. The veto removes a potential pipeline for expanding the truck driver workforce in Florida, a state with significant freight movement.
Bill Details
The bill, HB 325, passed both houses of the Florida legislature with no opposition. It would have permitted CDL training for “nonviolent, scheduled-release inmates and nonviolent inmates who have two years or less remaining on their sentence.” Proficiency in English was required for enrollment. The training would have been overseen by the Correctional Education Program, which could contract with colleges, public or private school districts, or undefined “entities.” The program had to give “highest priority … to youthful offenders and those inmates nearing release.” Additionally, an inmate trained could operate a state-owned vehicle if appropriately licensed, but at least one corrections officer had to be present in the vehicle, according to the bill’s language.
DeSantis’s Reasoning
A copy of DeSantis’s veto letter was not immediately available, but Florida news sources that obtained it reported that DeSantis said the program would be “unnecessarily burdensome” to the Department of Corrections, which would need to supply personnel to monitor inmates during CDL training. He also wrote that it “creates significant public safety concerns by authorizing incarcerated individuals to operate commercial vehicles in public thoroughfares,” according to those reports.
Implications for the Trucking Workforce
The veto means Florida will not implement a CDL training program for incarcerated individuals, which was part of a broader vocational training bill. The law as drafted would have permitted the state’s Department of Transportation to fund a wider array of workforce development programs, instead of solely construction workforce programs. The Florida Trucking Association could not be immediately reached to comment on the legislation or the veto, per FreightWaves. The decision removes a potential source of new drivers at a time when the industry faces ongoing workforce challenges, though specific impacts on freight rates or capacity are not detailed in the source.
Watch List
- Any future legislative efforts to reintroduce CDL training for inmates in Florida.
- Reactions from the Florida Trucking Association and other industry groups.
- Potential alternative workforce development programs for the trucking industry in Florida.
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