TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida's Republican-controlled Legislature returned to the state Capitol Monday for a 12-day special session to draw up new congressional districts.
The final outcome could prompt a major shakeup for the state's congressional delegation and short-circuit or resurrect the careers of some of the state's veteran politicians.
Despite knowing about the start of the session for about a month, 30 legislators and Gov. Rick Scott are not in Tallahassee.
Senate President Andy Gardiner opened the day by laying out a timeline for the special session, which is scheduled to run until Aug. 21.
“We intend to, if necessary, use every minute to make sure this is properly vetted," Gardiner said.
The state’s highest court ordered legislators to change the boundaries of eight districts, ruling that previous map-drawing efforts violated voter-approved standards that ban drawing up districts to benefit incumbents or a political party.
The Legislature was sued by a coalition of groups including the League of Women Voters and Common Cause.
House Speaker Steve Crisafulli continued to maintain that the districts drawn in 2012 were fair.
The newly proposed map would also alter the seat held by Rep. Corrine Brown, changing the district from one that snakes from Jacksonville to Orlando to a new east-west alignment that stretches the seat to west of Tallahassee.
Brown has responded by asking a federal judge to block the Legislature from changing her district.
She argued that the proposal, which was done in order to comply with the Supreme Court ruling, violates federal voting laws and would adversely harm minorities.
Forty-five percent of registered voters in the district would be black. Her current district currently consists of 48 percent black registered voters.
The shift would also impact Rep. Daniel Webster, whose district would become more diverse.
The proposed map rolled out last week would affect most of the state's 27 congressional districts and could result in a shift in the partisan balance of the state's delegation. Republicans now hold a 17-10 edge even though Florida has more registered Democrats than Republicans.
The court gave the Legislature just 100 days to draw up a new map in advance of the 2016 elections.
This will mark the third time since 2012 that the Legislature has drawn new congressional maps due to three years of legal challenges.
Lawmakers will start debating the maps Tuesday.
Cox Media Group
