The Florida Legislature will hold a special session at the end of October and the start of November to redraw the state Senate districts, the leaders of both chambers announced Tuesday.
Already returning to Tallahassee for a special session to redo the congressional districts after the Florida Supreme Court ruled eight of them failed to pass constitutional muster, the special session on Senate districts will take place from Oct. 19 through Nov 6.
Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, and House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, insisted in a memo sent to legislators Tuesday that the Supreme Court decision “introduced new legal precedent” which would carry over to the state Senate districts.
“Given these implications, the Senate has entered into a stipulation and consent judgment with the plaintiffs and agreed the enacted Senate map will be revised prior to the 2016 primary and general elections,” the leaders wrote. “It has been the practice of each chamber to draw its own districts. Senate professional staff, with the advice of counsel and at the express direction of the members of the Senate, drew the Enacted Senate Plan. By entering into this consent judgment, the Senate accepts full responsibility for the Enacted Senate Plan. The House was not involved in drawing the Senate map, nor did the House amend the Senate map prior to its enactment. The House did not intend to favor or disfavor any political party or incumbent, and had no knowledge of any constitutional infirmities relating to the Enacted Senate Plan. Taking these facts into account, the House does not object to the consent judgment and has agreed to be bound by its terms.”
Just as with the new congressional districts, Gardiner and Crisafulli ordered staffers to start assembling the new maps while ensuring legislators and political consultants are kept out of the process.
“Moving forward, professional staff of the Senate Committee on Reapportionment and the House Select Committee on Redistricting are directed to work with legal counsel to develop a base Senate map that complies with the Florida Supreme Court’s ruling and all other relevant legal standards,” Gardiner and Crisafulli wrote. “This map proposal will be drafted solely by staff in collaboration with counsel, without our participation or the participation of any other member, and will be provided simultaneously to all members and the public prior to the convening of the special session. As we stated in regards to the congressional map, we believe presenting a base map that follows the Supreme Court order will make it easier to discuss all legislative actions in an open and transparent manner.
“As with the creation of the base congressional map, staff and counsel have been instructed to avoid any assessment of the political implications of any map either before or during the special session, except where consideration of political data is legally required to assess compliance with state and federal minority voting-rights provisions,” they added. “Consistent with Section 11.26(1), Florida Statutes, redistricting staff have been instructed to have no interactions with any member of the Legislature, a member’s staff or aide, political consultants or others concerning their work on the base map prior to its public release. If any member of the House or Senate suggests to staff that a plan be changed with the intent to favor or disfavor any incumbent or political party, staff should disregard the suggestion entirely and report in writing the conversation directly to the speaker or the president, respectively.”
Gardiner and Crisafulli pledged “every member will have a full opportunity to review, discuss, debate, and offer amendments to the base map" once it was set up and laid out the rules for redistricting bills and amendments, following the same guidelines from last year’s special session on redistricting. The leaders also called on members to be careful with documentation and asked for members to send their communications on redistricting to their offices.
In 2010, voters passed two state constitutional amendments regarding redistricting to ensure less partisan motivations in the process.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
