The Florida House stepped closer to finalizing a new set of maps for Florida’s congressional districts on Tuesday, but the passage of a bill approving a set of base maps wasn’t met without criticism from several lawmakers who blasted both the Florida Supreme Court as well as the entire redistricting special session.
Despite the House approving the congressional base maps, the leadup to the vote was anything but a cup of tea for the state represenatives.
Some of the most pointed comments on the redistricting process came from Rep. Mike Hill, R-Pensacola, who lambasted the Florida Supreme Court justices who ordered the Legislature to redraw the maps, finding the current districts violated state constiutional amendments voters backed in 2010.
“The Florida Supreme Court is playing a most dangerous game,” Hill told his fellow lawmakers.
Hill continued to rip into the justices and said the Legislature did not need to be redrawing any maps at all, saying lawmakers had already done so twice and did not need to do so again.
“It is a myth to say that the [Florida Supreme Court] is the final arbiter of laws,” Hill said.
Hill’s comments Tuesday directly mirrored a letter he penned to House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, at the end of July.
Hill wasn’t the only one with something to say about the process. Some lawmakers, like Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Shalimar, were quick to disagree with Hill on why the Legislature was back to rework the maps.
Gaetz threw a few jabs at the Florida Senate, calling foul on the map-making process.
"Across the rotunda, they're tinkering with maps,” said Gaetz. “The nerve!"
Gaetz’s comments were met with applause from his fellow representatives. The Republican representative stood firm in his assertion the House did nothing wrong in the redistricting process.
"Are we still going to be the institution that has never been found to have acted with partisan intent?" Gaetz asked.
Comments on the process continued, with many House members expressing concerns on the base maps. Some, like Rep. Victor Torres, D-Orlando, said they had problems with the map (which is an adoption of the base map) because it would dilute Hispanic influence in his congressional district. Others, like Rep. Barbara Watson, D-Miami Gardens, said relying on 2010 Census numbers meant excluding a lot of people from districts.
Ultimately, the House decided to approve the congressional base maps by a 76-35 vote with most of the Democrats and a handful of Republicans voting against it.
With the base map approval comes a problem, though: the Senate will be voting on an entirely different set of maps, altered Monday as a result of an amendment from Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon.
As with any other piece of legislation, both chambers have to agree on it before it can become a law. The Senate is set to vote on the map Wednesday. If approved, the bargaining process over the map would begin and legislators would have to wrestle out the fine lines of the two competing maps.
If they can’t reach an agreement by the scheduled end of the special session (Friday), it’s possible the session could be extended.
“I would not be surprised to see some sort of deadlock on this issue Thursday or Friday,” said House Minority Leader Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, who added he didn’t think lawmakers should be ready to jet out of Tallahassee Friday afternoon.
“It could be a showdown between two philosophical ideas in both chambers,” he said.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
