The chairman of the House redistricting committee Friday filed a new Senate map that would recast districts in South Florida, opening up a potential conflict with the Senate a week before a special legislative session on the lines is set to end. Rep. Jose Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, said in a memo to House members that his proposal for the 40 state Senate districts was inspired in part by a plan floated by the League of Women Voters of Florida and Common Cause Florida. Those voting-rights organizations have helped lead a legal fight against congressional and Senate maps drawn by the Legislature in 2012, saying that the plans violated the anti-gerrymandering “Fair Districts” amendments approved by voters two years earlier.
The ongoing special session comes after the Legislature settled a lawsuit dealing with the Senate map. The settlement, which was reached in the wake of legal defeats on the congressional plan, requires redrawing Senate districts.
In his memo, Oliva noted that the plan offered by the voting-rights organization came just hours before the Senate approved its version of the lines on a nearly party-line vote this week.
“Due to the late submission, the Senate did not have sufficient time to consider their map,” Oliva wrote. “In contrast, we have had a few days to review the plaintiffs’ map. After a thorough review and with careful consideration, I directed the House redistricting staff to prepare an amendment that incorporated concepts found in the plaintiffs’ map that I believe improved the base map.”
Full Article: House Pitches New Redistricting Senate Map | FlaglerLive.