Staff Reports
Legislative staff announced on Monday afternoon the proclamation that officially sets up the third special Session of 2016.
Lawmakers will meet in Tallahassee beginning at 12 p.m. Monday on October 19 to revise the state’s Senate districts pursuant to a related Supreme Court ruling that struck down the Legislature’s Congressional boundary lines back in July.
Legislative leaders emphasized the Sunshine provisions the Supreme Court issued in that case, which chided lawmakers for their sloppy maintenance of records and correspondence.
“Accordingly, you and your staff should continue to keep and not delete any and all records related to redistricting, including copies of unfiled draft maps, unfiled draft bills and amendments, correspondence, emails, texts and other electronic communications related to the enactment of new congressional districts, whether sent or received on official Senate accounts or devices or personal email accounts or devices,” the proclamation read.
“To facilitate the defense of the Legislature’s work product and the response to pending public records requests, I respectfully ask every senator and their staff to proactively forward all such records to [email protected],” an email address created in the wake of news that consultants had illegally discussed maps with lawmakers as lines were being drawn in 2011.
Previous special Sessions were held in 2015 to pass a budget after legislators’ failure to do so during the regular Session this spring, and to amend the state’s Congressional boundaries over the summer.
See the full text of the proclamation below here.
