Article
Courtesy of The Tampa Bay Times
By
Jeremy Wallace and Mary Ellen Klas
Published January 29, 2016
TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Legislature is giving up the
fight and will not contest a court ruling that redraws all of the state's 40
state senate districts for the 2016 election cycle.
Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, said he told Senate President Andy Gardiner,
R-Orlando, on Wednesday that the Legislature should let court-ordered maps
go into effect, even though he says there were legal issues that were open
to appeal.
"My recommendation is for us not to appeal, and the Senate president has
agreed," Galvano said.
The decision means that the state's new map will become official Feb. 8,
when the clock runs out on the appeals process. It is the first time
lawmakers have refrained from challenging a lower court ruling after four
years of legal battles that have cost Florida taxpayers more than $11
million.
The new Senate map recasts Florida's political landscape, giving millions of
people new representation and bolstering Democratic chances in 2016. It also
ends a tumultuous process that led to four trials, three special sessions
and eight rulings from the Florida Supreme Court.
Democratic party analysts say the new maps are fairer and gives them a
better chance of winning additional seats in a Florida Senate that has been
dominated by the Republican Party for most of the last two decades.
Republicans now hold 26 seats in the 40-member chamber and Democrats hold
14. With 15 members leaving because of term limits or seeking other offices,
the composition of the chamber could shift dramatically.
Voters in South Tampa, East Hillsborough, and large portions of Pasco County
will get new state senators in the presidential election year, as a result
of the map. In Miami-Dade, incumbent Sens. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, Dwight
Bullard, R-Cutler Bay, Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Coral Gables, and Gwen
Margolis, D-Coconut Grove, are forced to move or face an election battle
against another senator.
Circuit Judge George Reynolds in Tallahassee ruled in late December that he
was rejecting the Senate's latest attempts to draw district lines and
turning instead to a map backed by a coalition of voting rights groups, the
League of Women Voters and Common Cause.
Senate leaders considered appealing the decision or asking for a re-hearing
of the case, but Galvano said Wednesday that they are ready to accept the
court ruling and move forward with the new districts in place for the 2016
election cycle. He said the issues he has can be addressed in future
redistricting sessions, which happen ever 10 years after the U.S. Census is
completed.
The Legislature's attempt to draw new district lines was complicated by the
new rules imposed by the Fair District provisions of the state Constitution
which barred lawmakers from drawing maps that favor incumbents or political
parties.
They enacted a congressional district map and state Senate map that were
used as the political boundaries in 2012, but both were struck down by the
courts this year after a coalition of voters groups led by League of Women
Voters and Common Cause brought evidence that showed they were drawn to
protect the Republican majority or incumbent Democrats.
The decision not to pursue an appeal in the Senate case does not mean the
end to the redistricting lawsuits, however. U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown,
D-Jacksonville, has filed a challenge in federal court claiming that the
congressional map violates the federal Voting Rights Act. And the coalition
led by the League of Women have two lawsuits seeking reimbursement for their
attorneys fees.
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