The chairman of the House Redistricting Committee says Republicans will be more disappointed than Democrats as they review the seven maps proposed for the states new congressional districts.
Those studying the congressional districts will also be confused when they first see the numbers, as the districts have been made more uniform, starting at 1 in the western end of the Panhandle down to the states additional 27th and 28th districts landing in Miami-Dade County and the Florida Keys.
The state is picking up the additional districts because of its population growth.
As with the Senate proposal released last week, a number of congressional members may find they now live in new districts.
We felt like what the (state) Constitution says is that we cannot show an intent to favor or disfavor an incumbent, and the only way you can do that is if you look at the state blindly, said House Redistricting Committee Chairman Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel.
We felt like the integrity of the process, what the Constitution calls for us to do is to draw the maps to make them compact, make them follow the geographic boundaries and make sure that minorities have the ability to vote for the candidate of their choice. The byproduct of that is our members live outside their district, there are members who will live in districts with other members, probably more Republicans than Democrats.
Republicans currently hold 19 of the states 25 congressional seats.
Members of the House Redistricting Committee will return Thursday to whittle down the maps that followed the voter-approved Fair District amendments and offer little nuisances that occur mostly in Central Florida where there is a Hispanic seat -- similar to the state Senate proposal -- and in more urban areas.
We looked at the NAACP submission, we looked at it very closely, Weatherford said. But we used a lot of submissions as a guide. I think the beauty of this process is that technology has allowed us to solicit public information and get ideas about what people really think about map making.
As with the Senates proposed new congressional lines, in most of the House maps the District 3 of U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, R-Jacksonville -- District 5 under the proposed new lines -- remains widely gerrymandered from Jacksonville to Orlando.
Brown and Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, sued to block the voter-approved redistricting effort, contending the Fair Districts guidelines imposed by voters violate the U.S. Constitutions requirement that boundaries be drawn by the state legislature.
The state Legislature received 157 proposed redistricting maps from the public, up from four in 2000.
The final congressional, Senate and House maps legislators settle up are subject to approval by state and U.S. courts before the 2012 qualifying period -- June 4-8 -- for Congress and the Legislature.
Weatherford has agreed to a proposal by Senate Redistricting Chairman Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, which will have the House review the proposed Senate lines, while the Senate will judge the House lines.
See the House proposals here.
See the Senate proposal here.
Weatherford said the maps did not consider where the current sitting House members or congressional representatives live.
We felt that would be inappropriate so we didnt do it, Weatherford said.
The numerical change means that what had been District 15, a Space Coast district represented by Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, is now District 8. Meanwhile, District 16, the Palm Beach County to Charlotte County district of Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, becomes a more compact District 18 covering St. Lucie, Martin and northern Palm Beach counties, while the new district marked the 16th sits in Sarasota and Manatee counties.
An additional five maps have been proposed for the new House lines for the once-a-decade redistricting.
Meanwhile, the Florida Senate Committee on Reappointment on Tuesday voted 23-3 to submit into bill form the Senate and Congressional redistricting plans as presented last week.
Because of the expedited timeline we are operating under, the bills will be available for the committee to vote on in early January, allowing the proposals to be voted on the Senate floor early in the 2012 Legislative Session two months ahead of past redistricting schedules, Gaetz stated in a release.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or (772) 215-9889.
