Last updated July 7, 2026 — this guide will be kept current as the story develops. Background: the veto and the state’s own utilization records.
On June 29, 2026, line item 2054-1 — $6 million for the Innovative Service Development (ISD) Grant Program, which funded door-to-door rides for transportation-disadvantaged Floridians — was vetoed from the state budget. Service ended July 1. If your family used one of these services, or your loved one will someday need one, here is everything you can actually do, in order of effort.
1. Write to your own state legislators (10 minutes, highest value)
Restoration of a vetoed program happens through the Legislature. Your own representative and senator are the ones with standing to fight for it in the 2027 session — and legislators consistently say that a handful of specific, personal constituent letters outweigh a stack of form letters.
- Find your state representative: flhouse.gov/FindYourRepresentative
- Find your state senator: flsenate.gov
In Tallahassee or Leon County? This story is centered in the Big Bend, so if you’re local, your legislative delegation (public offices — contact them as a constituent) is:
- Rep. Gallop Franklin II (D, House District 8 — central and west Tallahassee): gallop.franklin@flhouse.gov
- Rep. Allison Tant (D, House District 9 — northeast Tallahassee and east Leon): allison.tant@myfloridahouse.gov
- Sen. Corey Simon (R, Senate District 3 — all of Leon County): simon.corey.web@flsenate.gov
Everyone else: use the find-your-legislator links above — your own representative and senator are the ones with standing to act for you.
Template — make it yours by adding one paragraph about your family:
I’m a constituent and the [parent/guardian/sibling] of an adult with [disability]. On June 29, line item 2054-1 — $6 million for the Innovative Service Development Grant Program — was vetoed from the FY 2026-27 budget, and door-to-door transportation for disabled riders ended statewide on July 1.
The Commission for the Transportation Disadvantaged’s own records show the program spent 91% of its FY 2024-25 funds, committed 99.2% of FY 2025-26 funds, and received 24 applications requesting $11.6 million against the $6 million vetoed — nearly double oversubscribed.
[One short paragraph: who in your family rode, where the ride took them, and what your family is doing now instead.]
I’m asking you to support restoring this funding in the 2027 session, and to ask the Commission and the Governor’s office why a fully-utilized program was vetoed. I would appreciate a reply.
2. Write to the CTD Ombudsman and the Governor’s office (5 minutes each)
- CTD Ombudsman (the official channel for transportation-disadvantaged riders): CTDOmbudsman@dot.state.fl.us — the affected providers themselves have asked rider families to use this channel. Same template works.
- TD Helpline: 800-983-2435 — if writing isn’t your thing, calls are logged too.
- Governor’s office: governorron.desantis@eog.myflorida.com, the official contact page, or (850) 488-7146 — cite line item 2054-1 specifically. (Note: correspondence to the Governor’s office is a public record under Florida law.)
3. Show up (or watch): the public meetings
- September 17, 2026 — Tallahassee: the first Commission meeting since the veto, with public comment available — the first official venue where affected families can put their story on the record. The June 11 minutes publish with this package (the first official record of what the board did with the staff recommendations), and the Commission must publicly address a program the Legislature funded and the Governor cut.
- December 10, 2026 — Tallahassee: the Commission’s following meeting, same opportunity.
- Agendas and packages post at the CTD meetings page.
4. Watch the two dates that decide whether this comes back
- ~Mid-October 2026: agency budget requests for FY 2027-28 become public. If the Commission requests ISD funding again, restoration is live. (It did exactly that last year — Interim Executive Director Karen Somerset reported a legislative budget request to continue the program at the September 25, 2025 meeting.)
- The 2027 legislative session: where any restored appropriation would actually happen — which is why the letters in step 1 matter now, not next spring. Two things worth knowing: this program has come back from zero before (the Legislature let it lapse entirely in FY 2021-22, then refunded it the next year), and Gov. DeSantis is term-limited out in January 2027 — so a new governor will sign the FY 2027-28 budget that could carry it.
If you’re not in Florida
Every state runs some version of transportation for disabled adults, and every state budget can do this to it in one line. The lesson travels: know which line item funds your loved one’s ride, because programs that take years to build can end with eighteen days’ notice. Your state’s services are covered in our state guides and waiver waitlist database.
We’ll update this guide at each development — the newsletter gets each update the day it posts.
Disclosure: the author’s family used an ISD-funded service and has written to the officials listed above. Sources for every figure cited: the companion article’s document list.