TALLAHASSEE — Florida lawmakers are moving quickly on a revised redistricting plan for the state’s 27 congressional districts.
On Monday, Circuit Judge Terry Lewis decided the revised congressional map, which will be passed in a special session set for Aug. 10-21, will return to his courtroom on Sept. 24 for a three-day hearing if necessary.
David King, an Orlando lawyer representing the Florida League of Women Voters, Common Cause and other groups that challenged the map, said that because of the detailed instructions issued in the state Supreme Court order that overturned boundaries for eight congressional districts, there is a “high likelihood” that a lengthy court hearing will not be needed.
“Maybe we won’t need a long remedial hearing in this situation,” King said. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”
Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, who is leading the Senate redistricting effort, said he intends to follow the court’s redistricting directions, likening it to Lewis’ order last year that forced lawmakers to revise a handful of congressional districts in another August special session.
He noted there was no dispute over that revised plan. “There is a very high likelihood that following what recommendations that have been made that there won’t be a controversy,” Galvano said.
Lawmakers are returning to Tallahassee for a special session after the state Supreme Court ruled the last congressional map violated the state’s constitutional prohibition against partisan line-drawing, following a trial that revealed the behind-the-scenes role that political operatives played in developing the 2012 redistricting plan.
The next step in the process will be a “base map” that is being developed by legislative staffers in consultation with the lawyers, reflecting the directions outlined in the July 9 Supreme Court order that overturned boundaries held by four Democrats and four Republicans.
The Democrats included: U.S. Reps. Corrine Brown of Jacksonville, Kathy Castor of Tampa, Lois Frankel of West Palm Beach and Ted Deutch of Boca Raton. The Republicans were: U.S. Reps. David Jolly of St. Petersburg, Mario Diaz-Balart of Miami, Carlos Curbelo of Miami and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Miami.
Katie Betta, a spokeswoman for Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, said the base map will be available some time before the 12-day special session starts Aug. 10.
Under directions from Gardiner and House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, the base map will be reviewed by a joint Senate-House committee on the second day of the session and then head toward hearings and possible amendments in separate House and Senate committees later in the week. In the second week of the session, lawmakers will vote out the final plan.
With the limited time frame of the special session, Galvano said the redistricting process could become more complicated if lawmakers face a flurry of amendments. But he said the Legislature would be vetting each proposal and making sure “that each one of them has some justification for making it more constitutionally compliant and a better map.”
He also said there would be no backroom negotiations on the new map. “Every discussion that we’re going to have is going to be public,” he said.
But as lawmakers move to approve a new congressional map, Galvano said other legal challenges of the Supreme Court decision remain “open,” such as a federal court challenge that could be initiated by lawmakers, congressional members or other groups.
Nonetheless, Galvano said legislative leaders did not want to use the possibility of further legal cases as way to delay enacting the Supreme Court-ordered plan.
“What we have decided we are not going to waste time or seek a stay or try to stop the process in the meantime while some of these issues are being looked at,” Galvano said. “We’re going to take what the Supreme Court of Florida has said and apply it to the special session the best way that we can.”
One of the more potentially contentious issues remains U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown’s District 5, which runs from Jacksonville south to Orlando, picking up many minority communities along the way. The state court has ordered the district to be reconfigured in an east-west direction, running from Jacksonville to the Tallahassee area.
Brown has opposed the east-west reconfiguration and raised the possibility that it could violate minority voting rights under federal law.
King, the lawyer for the groups that challenged the constitutionality of the 2012 map, said he does not see any basis for a federal challenge of the Supreme Court’s order.
King said the key is whether the new District 5 is an “ability to elect district,” meaning it is reconfigured to give minority candidates a chance to win an election. He said the Supreme Court ruled the east-west district has that ability.
“If that’s the situation, I don’t think there is a basis for any sort of a federal claim,” King said.
Further complicating the redistricting scenarios is a separate challenge of the 2012 state Senate map, which is also being contested under the state’s “Fair Districts” constitutional amendment. A trial is set on that map in late September, although many expect it to be overturned like the congressional map.
King and legislative representatives declined to say Monday whether the Legislature was trying to reach a settlement on that case before it heads to trial.
