Jim Rosica
State Sen. Bill Galvano has filed a proposed new Senate district map for his Reapportionment Committee, meaning there will be one “base map” going forward to discuss and amend.
Galvano posted the map to the Senate’s redistricting website at about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Among other things, it contains a district that crosses Tampa Bay – the 19th, that’s held by Democrat Arthenia Joyner.
As redrawn, it hugs the area of Hillsborough County along the water, then jumps over to take in the Democrat-rich southeast corner of Pinellas.
It also creates a compact district for eastern Hillsborough County, numbered as the 24th District, which is now held by Republican Tom Lee of Brandon.
Galvano’s own 26th District as redrawn includes all of Manatee and the northern half of Sarasota, but excludes the southern sliver of Hillsborough he now represents.
In a memo released Wednesday night, however, Galvano said he intends to “file a substitute amendment that includes randomly assigned district numbers for the purpose of determining two- and four-year terms.”
At 11 a.m. Thursday, he added, “the Auditor General will meet with Senate staff … for the purpose of generating these random numerical assignments.”
“The process to randomly assign district numbers will be the same [as the one used] to randomly select lobbyists for audit,” he said.
The full committee will decide on which numbering system to use, which determines which senators have to run for re-election to the chamber because their district lines changed.
Also Wednesday night, state Sen. Jeff Clemens filed two more proposed maps, after filing one Tuesday. The Lake Worth Democrat wasn’t immediately available for comment.
Senators disagreed on whether members whose districts change have to sit for re-election.
Previous court rulings, some senators of both parties, and even Florida House leadership have taken the position that they do. Galvano, a lawyer, and Senate outside counsel Raoul Cantero maintain they don’t have to.
Cantero, a former state Supreme Court justice, has referred to court decisions that OK’d what they called “temporary disenfranchisement” – voters being represented by someone they did not have an opportunity to elect.
The Legislature is midway through the first week of a three-week Special Session to redraw the state’s 40 senatorial districts.
It’s doing so after settling a court challenge that its current map was gerrymandered for Republicans and incumbents. The Senate, but not the House, admitted that the map was gerrymandered, improperly drawn for political purposes.
