Article
Courtesy of The Miami Herald
By Steve
Bousquet and Michael Auslen
Published
September 6, 2015
TALLAHASSEE -- A special legislative session to
redraw congressional district lines ended in chaos Friday as senators
staged an abrupt walkout and an angry House refused Senate requests to
extend the session until next week.
Gov. Rick Scott has the power to force the Legislature to reconvene and
agree on a map before a court-imposed deadline of next Tuesday, Aug. 25.
Scott had no immediate comment on the latest legislative meltdown.
Facing an impasse over a remapping of Florida congressional districts,
the Senate requested a conference committee to resolve their differences
and the House refused.
"You don't get up and leave," said Rep. Jose Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, the
House redistricting chairman, who called the Legislature
"dysfunctional."
The crisis engulfing the Legislature greatly complicates the members'
next responsibility to redraw Senate boundaries after senators
acknowledged that the 2012 lines were illegally gerrymandered.
Friday's escalating tensions were the latest sign of a Capitol in
complete chaos. Republicans have battled each other for months over
health care, the budget and a recent mandate by the Florida Supreme
Court to redraw congressional district lines to adhere to constitutional
requirements that they not favor a party or incumbent.
The latest meltdown was complicated by two more factors: limits on
private communication among lawmakers in line with the court's
instructions and the impending court review of the new map.
Three legislative staffers, hunched over computers in a Capitol cubicle,
devised a so-called base map that followed the court's orders, such as
drawing a new east-west 5th district from Jacksonville to Tallahassee.
U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, who has held the seat since
1992, filed suit, seeking to block the proposed realignment.
At the urging of Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, the Senate altered the map and
put all of east Hillsborough into one congressional district, currently
represented by U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Lakeland. House members have
privately questioned Lee's motives.
The House instead passed its own map nearly identical to the base map,
and put all of Sunrise, a city of about 90,000 people in Broward, into
one district rather than being divided three ways as it is now.
In a brief Friday morning session, the Senate quickly rejected the
House's changes and insisted on its version.
"What we think counts," Galvano told senators.
Oliva said the House is troubled that the changes to Hillsborough split
Orange and Lake counties in ways that could raise new Supreme Court
objections.
"The House's position is that this current configuration would not hold
up," Oliva said.
The usually mild-mannered Galvano orchestrated the walkout after asking
for a conference committee. He was joined by Sens. Denise Grimsley,
R-Sebring, Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville,
and Nancy Detert, R-Venice.
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