It looks to be game over -- at least for now -- for the Florida Legislature, which couldn’t reach an agreement on a set of redrawn congressional maps during the August special session.
As relations between the two chambers crumbled Friday, the Senate pushed an effort to extend the special session until Tuesday in hopes of reaching some kind of agreement with the House. The House refused, sending the clear message they wouldn’t back down from their map, nor would they extend the special session. Scrambling, the Senate attempted to extend the special session until Friday evening, but the House refused.
What initially started as a cordial gathering of legislators pledging to work together harmoniously over a week ago disintegrated into a shade-throwing brawl because neither chamber could agree on a set of maps.
A tense meeting early Friday morning set the stage for a less-than-pleasant sequence of events.
Redistricting chairs Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, and Rep. Jose Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, made it very clear neither chamber was ready to strike a deal to redraw the state’s congressional districts in time for the session’s regularly scheduled end of 12 p.m. Friday.
As tensions grew, Galvano became flustered.
"We're damned if we do, damned if we don't,” he said.
And with a drop of the mic, Galvano and the Senate stormed out of the meeting.
Oliva told House members he walked into the meeting with an open mind, but any possibility of reaching an agreement seemed like a dim prospect.
“What you saw was a disagreement about what is constitutional ... but what you also saw was the loss of that cordiality which was so important in this process,” he told members on the House floor. “We don’t come here to have our wishes done. We come here to represent people.”
House members slammed the Senate and rued the possibility of the Florida Supreme Court redrawing the congressional maps.
Even Democrats joined in on the bashing. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Coral Springs, said the Senate should be “ashamed.”
"Apparently, when you violate the Constitution and admit it, you're a senator,” he said, accusing the Senate of setting up a messy process for October.
"From what you've seen today, we're looking at the court redrawing the map,” said Oliva.
The House shot down two subsequent motions from the Senate to extend the special session, one for a few days and one for a few hours.
With just a few minutes to go until the session would have officially wrapped up with new maps finalized, the Senate gave up, called sine die and state lawmakers went home.
Sen. President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, expressed dismay over the very real likelihood the state’s congressional districts would be left in the hands of the Supreme Court.
“Unless we can come to some agreement in the next few days, we’re going to sit back and watch the Supreme Court draw the congressional districts,” he explained. “I think everybody, if they believe in the legislative process, [that] should make them nervous.”
Sen. Galvano said concerns about legislative intent to favor politicians should have been brought up earlier instead of the last minute.
“What flushed out today was a tier-one concern ... the intent to favor or disfavor,” he said. “If you don’t get past tier one [issues], everything else is just academic. As much as I tried to vet that issue out, it just wasn’t happening.”
House members were quick to point fingers at the Senate for being the whole reason the maps had to be redrawn in the first place, a position with which Galvano found fault.
“Both chambers ... were involved in the congressional maps that [the court] found there was an intent violation,” he said.
Going forward, senators said they would remain open-minded to any possibilities of a joint map, but the remnants of yet another legislative stalemate hung heavy over the Capitol.
“We are open to all suggestions for the legislative branch to be the one to make the decisions,” he explained.
The Senate said the “soft deadline” for redrawn congressional maps is Tuesday. If neither chamber can reach an agreement, the maps are in the hands of the Supreme Court.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
