It’s the final countdown for Florida lawmakers as they try to hammer out a new set of Senate district maps and state legislators still haven’t finalized a map as of Thursday evening, and Florida senators have yet to agree on a finalized map for Florida’s 40 Senate districts.
State senators voted down a “compromise” map from the Florida House Thursday evening by a narrow vote of 23-16.
Senators and state reps are supposed to agree and vote upon a new map to pass the constitutional muster for Florida’s 40 congressional districts by the end of the day Friday, but the prospects of an agreement look bleak as the clock ticks down to the end of special session.
Over the last two and a half weeks, state lawmakers have spent countless hours poring over maps which will vastly reshape the state’s political landscape. State senators kicked off the special session by using six base maps as the potential foundations for the new district lines.
After much debate, the Senate narrowly approved an amended map from Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Coral Gables, which had specific implications for Diaz de la Portilla’s home turf of Miami-Dade County.
Before Diaz de la Portilla’s amendment, three senators -- Diaz de la Portilla, Anitere Flores, R-Miami, and Dwight Bullard, D-Cutler Bay, would have been drawn into the same district and forced to run against each other.
Under Diaz de la Portilla’s proposal, however, the Miami-Dade area would be split into three Senate districts, allowing the three senators to retain their own districts.
Diaz de la Portilla defended the amendment, saying it was best for the interests of the heavily Hispanic community in Miami-Dade County.
“What this map does is preserve the three Hispanic seats [in Miami-Dade County],” Diaz de la Portilla told his fellow senators.
The House, too, had its own version of a map, which significantly changed the South Florida boundary lines and proved to be the focal point of a bitter debate over redistricting.
Disagreements over what to do with South Florida ultimately led Senate Reapportionment Committee Chairman Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, and House Redistricting Chair Rep. Jose Oliva, to meet together briefly.
Galvano and Oliva decided to allow staff members to work on changes to the Miami section of the maps, but those changes ultimately proved to be too much for state senators who rejected the map.
Rep. Oliva took shots at the plaintiffs, saying they wanted the maps to be drawn by the courts at the end of the day.
“I do believe the plaintiffs did not help this process move along,” he said.
2015C special session is scheduled to end Friday. If state lawmakers cannot reach a final agreement on a map, the mapmaking responsibility will be left to the Tallahassee Circuit Court Judge George Reynolds, who will review the plan Dec. 10.
