As the legislative components to Florida’s redistricting process have concluded, we will no longer be posting to our blog sites. You can visit us at www.floridaredistricting.org or email us at mydistrictbuilder@myfloridahouse.gov for additional information. Thank you to everyone who made these last couple years a great conversation, a sharing of ideas, and an open redistricting process.
What is preclearance? Five Florida counties are “covered jurisdictions under Section 5 of the Federal Voting Rights Act (Collier, Hardee, Hendry, Hillsborough & Monroe counties). As such, any redistricting or election law change that affects those five counties must be submitted for preclearance with either the U.S. Department of Justice or the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before it can take effect. You can learn more at DOJ’s website at http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/sec_5/about.php.
Florida Supreme Court Approves Revised State Senate Map
Last Friday, the Florida Supreme Court validated Florida’s revised state senate map, as redrawn by the Florida Legislature in a March 2012 extraordinary apportionment session. Click here to read the April 27 opinion of the Court. Note, the state senate map precleared is the same as the revised state senate map, as enacted by the Legislature on March 27 and validated by the Supreme Court of Florida on April 27.
As the Extraordinary Apportionment Session moves forward this week, the Senate will post subsequent amendments to the map at http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Redistricting/Plans. So make sure to check back from time to time.
The Extraordinary Apportionment Session, pertaining to the state senate map, must conclude by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, March 28, 2012.
For reports on downloads regarding plan 9016, from the Florida Senate, click below:
Florida Senate Set to Finalize State House, Congressional and State Senate Maps
Today, the Florida Senate is scheduled for an approximately 3:30 p.m. Session in which they are expected to concur with the state legislative and congressional redistricting maps, as approved by the Florida House on Friday, February 3. The three maps are as follows:
The Florida House of Representatives today approved House, Senate and Congressional maps. The redistricting maps approved by the House of Representatives include:
The three maps must still receive approval from the entire membership of the Florida House of Representatives. The Florida Senate would also have to concur on the State House and Congressional maps. The State Senate map is identical to the map approved by the Florida Senate.
When the full membership of the House convenes this Thursday and Friday, February 2-3, on the House Floor, the maps above will be considered for questions, amendments and debate.
Last week, the House approved special procedures for the Redistricting Committee and the House Floor for redistricting amendments to ensure that members of the House and the public have an opportunity to view any amendments before they are voted upon. Click here to view those special amendment procedures.
To learn more about the Florida House’s redistricting process thus far, check out the resources below:
Listed below are 5 timely filed amendments to redistricting legislation for Friday January 27, 2012. All of the amendments were submitted as a complete plan. If you visit http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Redistricting/Redistricting2012.aspx, under the “Pending Amendments” section you will find maps and resources for each amendment. Additionally, a summary of the amendments can be found by clicking here.
State House map: Amendment 1 (H000H9049) to HJR 6011 (H000H9027) by Vice Chair Precourt
State House map: Amendment 2 (SPUBH0177) to HJR 6011 (H000H9027) by Chair Weatherford
Congressional map: Amendment 1 (H000C9047) to HB 6005 (H000C9043) by Vice Chair Precourt
Congressional map: Amendment 2 (SPUBC0170) to HB 6005 (H000C9043) by Chair Weatherford
State Senate map: Amendment 1 (S000S9008) to HJR 6001 (S000S9004) by Vice Chair Precourt
Regarding the amendments filed by Redistricting Committee Chairman Weatherford, those amendments were filed as a courtesy to the League of Women Voters, the National Council of La Raza and Common Cause, who collectively asked that their proposed redistricting plans be formally considered by the Committee.
Tomorrow’s Redistricting Committee meeting time will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in 404 of the House Office Building. Visit the Florida Channel at http://thefloridachannel.org/ to watch the live webcast of the meeting.
In yesterday’s House Redistricting Committee workshop, committee members agreed to focus on the following specific options for the Congressional and State House maps:
Rather than wait till their January 27 Committee meeting to narrow the options, Committee members discussed how narrowing down the options yesterday would give the public and members of the House a clear picture of what will be voted on and what to draft amendments to.
Following the meeting, Committee Chairman Will Weatherford issued a statement: “Today, the Members of the House Redistricting Committee agreed to focus on a single state House map and a single Congressional map. As chairman of the committee, I appreciate the many suggestions from the public, which are helping to ensure our options for maps further reflect the wishes of cities and communities across the state.”
During the meeting, Committee members heard presentations on additional public input that has been received since the House first released its options on December 6, 2011. That public input includes written testimony, which is viewable by clicking here, and several recent maps submitted by the public, which are available at http://mydistrictbuilderplanexplorer.wordpress.com/.
Committee members and the audience also viewed the video presentation below by the House’s Office of Public Information regarding how citizen testimony has been used to craft the House’s options for redistricting.
Since December 6, 2011, Members and staff of the House Redistricting Committee have been hard at work collecting public input on the House’s proposed redistricting map options. Tomorrow, the Redistricting Committee will meet to workshop these options one last time before a vote will be taken next Friday, January 27, 2012. Additional details regarding tomorrow’s meeting are below:
What: House Redistricting Committee Meeting
Date: Friday, January 20, 2012
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. EST
Location: 404 House Office Building, Tallahassee, FL
During the workshop, Members will discuss the three proposed state House maps, three proposed congressional maps and one proposed state Senate map with the purpose of thoroughly reviewing the maps and all public comment associated with them. If you have not yet expressed your opinion on the House’s proposed maps, we are still eager to hear from you. You may view the proposed maps by visiting the Florida House of Representatives Redistricting Bill page. After reviewing the House’s proposals, we encourage you to offer public comment via any of the methods below:
This Blog and Resource page offers additional insight into the legislative process for Florida's redistricting, a broader array of resources, and additional opportunities to partcipate in the redistricting conversation.
Blog & Learn More 