Florida lawmakers crawled closer to striking a deal on new congressional maps Wednesday, though an official agreement hasn’t been reached just yet. There are only two days until the redistricting special session officially ends, and on Wednesday the full Senate took up an amended set of maps with slight differences from the original congressional base maps proposed before the legislative session began.
Rather than simply accept the base maps, senators had some changes in mind.
Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, in particular, was successful at pushing an amendment to keep all of eastern Hillsborough County in one congressional district instead of two or three as was originally proposed.
The Senate Reapportionment Panel stamped a seal of approval on Lee’s amendment earlier this week, and off it went to the Senate floor. Other amendments were also proposed Wednesday, with some altering one of the most hotly-contested districts, CD 5 (currently represented by U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown), but those amendments failed.
Senators approved the new maps 28-8 Wednesday afternoon.
But the Senate’s seal of approval doesn’t mean the battle for new districts is over. Like any other piece of legislation, both the Senate and the House must agree for a bill to become law.
Because the two chambers don’t agree on a map, Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, and Rep. Jose Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, who chair the Senate and House redistricting committees, met to hammer out a final product.
The tone of the meetings has been a relatively quiet affair. There wasn’t much of a throwdown over the differenct maps, and both Oliva and Galvano seemed hopeful that both chambers would reach some sort of agreement.
“You have the House’s commitment ... that we can hope to build a better product together,” said Oliva.
“We have to go back and digest all of [the changes,]” Oliva explained, saying the House would take a deeper look at the Senate’s proposal. “What we are here to do is comply [with the Florida Supreme Court ruling.]”
Sen. Galvano, too, said it was going to be a joint effort to create a new set of maps.
“We are in this together in good faith,” he explained. “If something needs to be pointed out to the Senate [about the maps], we are going to be open-minded as well.”
If the House rubber-stamps the Senate’s proposal, it could mean change is on the horizon, especially for the Tampa Bay area. The Senate-approved redistricting would have CD 15 include all of Hillsborough County south of the Alafia River, which is currently represented by U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla.
Under the House map, that specific region would be represented by U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan.
In debate Wednesday, Sen. Lee stood firm by his amendment, saying there were no specific instructions from the Florida Supreme Court to simply approve a base map and make any changes.
So, the Senate made “improvements.”
“We have produced a better map,” he said on the floor.
The House will inspect the Senate proposal Thursday.
This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.
Reach Tampa-based reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
