User:Starrfruit/sandbox/Redistricting in Florida

As in other U.S. states, the state of Florida must redraw its congressional and legislative districts every ten years to reflect population changes. Redistricting normally occurs after the decennial United States Census; the most recent Census took place in 2010. The Florida Legislature has primary control over the congressional and legislative redistricting process.

Redistricting of county commissions, school boards, and city commissions is carried out by the individual local government, and generally also occurs every ten years following the Census.

History

See also: United States congressional apportionment

Here is some light background and history. Pre-1960s.

Automatic Supreme Court review

History of automatic review background/development. 1970s, 1980s.

1990 redistricting cycle

Deadlock and court intervention.

2000 redistricting cycle

Attempts at challenges

Fair Districts Amendments

In 2010, the political committee Fair Districts Florida proposed two ballot initiatives to amend the Florida Constitution to restrict gerrymandering. The "Fair Districts Amendments" appeared as Amendments 5 and 6 on the November, 2010 ballot. The measures prohibited districts from being drawn to favor or disfavor a political party or incumbent, and included provisions to protect minority voting rights. They also required districts to be compact and use existing political and geographic boundaries.

The amendments' supporters included the Florida Democratic Party, the League of Women Voters of Florida, NAACP, ACLU, Common Cause, National Council of La Raza, and then-Republican Governor Charlie Crist. Opponents included the Republican Party of Florida, Florida Chamber of Commerce, and Democratic Congresswoman Corrine Brown.

The Fair Districts Amendments were approved with over 62% of the vote, surpassing the 60% threshold needed. They were codified as Sections 20 and 21 in Article III of the Florida Constitution.

Amendment 7

In April 2010, the legislature passed a resolution proposing its own redistricting amendment. The measure would require the state to balance various standards when it redistricted, including minority opportunities and communities of common interest. Supporters claimed the amendment would clarify the Fair Districts proposals, while opponents charged that the amendment's goal was to undermine the Fair Districts Amendments and preserve the legislature's ability to draw maps as it pleased.

Proponents of the Fair Districts Amendments sued to remove Amendment 7 from the ballot. On July 8, 2010, a 2nd Circuit Court judge struck the amendment from the ballot, finding that the ballot summary was misleading. The next month, the state Supreme Court upheld that ruling, and Amendment 7 did not appear on the November ballot.

2010 redistricting cycle

Info on legislative process and lead up to automatic review.

Supreme Court automatic review

App I & II

Later challenge to the Senate plan

This.

Challenge to the congressional plan

Congressional case.

Effects of Fair Districts and calls for further reform

Partly as a result of the Fair Districts Amendments, the Republican Party's advantage in Florida's congressional delegation shrunk to 17-10 following the 2012 elections, down from 19-6 prior. Two Republican incumbents lost primary elections in 2012 after being drawn into new districts with new, unfamiliar territory. Democrats are widely expected to net one or two more seats in 2016 under the court-mandated plan.

In the Legislature, the Republicans similarly saw their majorities diminish somewhat, partly due to the Fair Districts Amendments. The Republican Party lost two Senate seats and five House seats in 2012, resulting in majorities of 26-14 and 76-44, respectively. Republicans regained five seats in 2014, however. As with the congressional plan, Democrats are widely expected to gain seats in 2016 under the court-mandated Senate map.

Citing the Legislature's inability to follow the Fair Districts laws and the high cost of the resulting court battles, some politicians have called for further reform. In a concurrence to the Apportionment II opinion approving the first revised senate map, Justice Barbara Pariente suggested loosening the tight timeframes of the automatic review process and exploring less legally onerous ways to achieve fair maps. She also suggested handing redistricting over to an independent commission, an idea that others have embraced. State Representative Dwight Dudley and Senator Arthenia Joyner, both Democrats, have introduced bills to establish a state redistricting commission similar to the ones in Arizona and California. Some Republican legislators, meanwhile, have proposed changing the Fair Districts requirements to give the Legislature more flexibility when making redistricting decisions.

External links

• "Redistricting in Florida" on Ballotpedia.org
• Florida Senate's redistricting website
• Florida House's redistricting website

[[Category:Florida elections] [[Category:Florida politics] [[Category:Redistricting] [[Category:United States congressional districts|Florida]

Florida Constitution Revision Commission

The 1997-98 Commission
Agency overview
Jurisdiction	Florida Constitution
Headquarters	Tallahassee, Florida
Agency executives	Dexter Douglass, Chair (1997-98) William Buzzett, Executive Director (1997-98)

The Florida Constitution Revision Commission (CRC) is a 37-member body established every 20 years to propose changes to the Florida Constitution. The commission last met in 1997-98 and will next meet in 2017-18, with any proposed amendments appearing on the 2018 general election ballot.

Structure and procedures

The 1968 Florida Constitution, Art. XI, Sec. 2, called for a constitutional revision commission to be established in the tenth year after the original constitution was adopted, and in every twentieth year after that. Each commission is tasked with examining the constitution, holding public hearings, and proposing any amendments it deem necessary. Those proposals go before the voters at the next general election and must be approved by 60% of those voting to be adopted.

The 37 commission members are appointed in the following manner:

• 15 members appointed by the Governor
• 9 members appointed by the President of the Florida Senate
• 9 members appointed by the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives
• 3 members appointed by the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court
• The Florida Attorney General is a member ex officio

The governor selects one of the members to serve as chair.

1977-78 Commission

The commission was first established in 1977. Commissioners were appointed in July 1977 by Governor Reubin Askew, Senate President Lew Brantley, House Speaker Donald Tucker, and Chief Justice Ben Overton. Attorney General Robert Shelvin served as an ex officio member.

Following the commission's first meeting on July 6, 1977, it conducted 10 preliminary public hearings throughout the state, held 25 meetings, and adopted 87 proposed changes of the hundreds considered. After more hearings, the commission condensed the changes into eight constitutional amendments, which were submitted to voters in the November 1978 election.

Proposed amendments

The CRC proposed eight amendments: the first would make a variety of changes throughout the constitution, with the remaining seven making more specific changes to different sections. All eight amendments were rejected by the voters, but several of the ideas included in these proposals were eventually incorporated into the constitution or law in succeeding years

No.	Title	Ballot Summary	Results
			Yes	%	No	%	Total
1	Basic Document	"Proposing a revision of the Florida Constitution, generally described as the Basic Document, embracing the subject matter of Articles I (Declaration of Rights), II (General Provisions), III (Legislature), IV (Executive), V (Judiciary), VI (Suffrage and Elections), VIII (Local Government), X (Miscellaneous), XI (Amendments) and XII (Schedule), except for other revisions separately submitted for a vote on this ballot."	623,703	29.2%	1,512,106	70.8%	2,135,809
2	Declaration of Rights (SEX)	"...to provide that no person will be deprived of any right because of sex."	1,002,479	43.1%	1,323,497	56.9%	2,325,976
3	Legislative (Single-Member Districts and Reapportionment Commission])	"...to require single-member legislative districts, and to establish reapportionment standards and a commission to prepare a reapportionment plan for legislative and congressional districts."	982,747	46.9%	1,113,394	53.1%	2,096,141
4	Executive (Cabinet)	"...to eliminate the cabinet composed of the secretary of state, the attorney general, the comptroller, the treasurer, the commissioner of agriculture and the commissioner of education in January, 1983; and to provide, in such event, that the governor, acting jointly with at least one officer, as provided by law, shall be responsible for the investment of state funds, the management of bond debt and the acquisition and disposition of state lands; and to provide that other cabinet duties shall be transferred by law."	540,979	25.1%	1,614,630	74.9%	2,155,609
5	Executive (Public Service Commission and Public Counsel)	"...to provide for a five-member public service commission, each member to be appointed by the governor from a list of not fewer than three persons submitted by a nominating commission, and that such members shall be confirmed by the senate; and to establish a public counsel to represent the people of the state before the public service commission."	772,066	35.9%	1,375,548	64.1%	2,147,614
6	Judiciary (Selection and Retention of Circuit and County Judges)	"...to provide that circuit and county court judges submit themselves for retention or rejection by the electors in a general election every six years; to provide that the governor shall fill vacancies occurring by rejection or otherwise from a list of at least three names submitted by the appropriate nominating commission; and to increase the terms of county court judges from four to six years."	1,058,574	49.1%	1,095,756	50.9%	2,154,330
7	Finance and Taxation	"...to provide that property owned by a municipality and held for municipal purposes shall be exempt from taxation; to extend the personal property tax exemption to all natural persons, and to extend to widowers the property tax exemption of not less than five hundred dollars; to provide for ad valorem tax exemption for leasehold interests created prior to January 1, 1978 in government owned property; to provide that leasehold interests in government property leased for public purposes in connection with air, water or ground transportation may be exempt from taxation as provided by law; to permit adjustments to tax assessments relating to stock in trade and livestock, historic property and solar energy systems; to permit the revaluation of property every two years; to authorize the use ot tax abatement and increment for redevelopment of slum and blighted area; to provide that corporate income tax may not be levied against the appreciation of property value occurring prior to November 2, 1971; to permit an annual adjustment to the homestead exemption to maintain a constant value using 1979 as a base year and providing for replacement of revenue to local governments; to provide that state bonds may be used to finance water facilities and may be combined for sale; to provide that revenue bonds may only be issued for fixed capital outlay projects, to place limitations on revenue bonds and bond anticipation notes issued by local governments; and to provide that revenue bonds may be issued for housing and related facilities."	779,389	36.4%	1,368,346	63.7%	2,147,735
8	Education	"...to provide that the state board of education shall be appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate, and shall be responsible for the management and coordination of the state system of public education, to provide that the commissioner of education shall be appointed by the board in the event the office of elected commissioners is abolished, and to provide for a board of regents, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate, which shall govern the state university system."	771,282	36.3%	1,353,986	63.7%	2,125,268

Members

Of the 37 members and four alternates, there were five women, three African-Americans, and one Cuban. Nine members were from Tallahassee while only eight came from the much more populous Dade County. Four members were Republicans while thirty were Democrats, with three judges holding nonpartisan offices. 19 members were attorneys. Four were currently serving as state senators, including Senate President Lew Brantley, who appointed himself. There were two current state representatives, and a further four members who had formerly served in the legislature. The commission's three judges were all appointed by Chief Justice Ben Overton, who appointed himself.

Steven Uhlfelder, a Tallahassee attorney and special counsel to Reubin Askew, was the commission's executive director.

Member	Occupation	Residence	Party	Appointed by
Sandy D'Alemberte, Chair	Attorney, former state representative	Miami	Dem	Governor
Jim Apthorp	Businessman, former Reubin Askew aide	Miami	Dem	Governor
DuBose Ausley	Attorney	Tallahassee	Dem	Governor
Yvonne Burkholz	Teachers' union lobbyist	Miami	Dem	Governor
LeRoy Collins	Former governor	Tallahassee	Dem	Governor
John DeGrove	Florida Atlantic University professor	Boca Raton	Dem	Governor
Freddie Groomes	Executive Assistant to the President of Florida State University	Tallahassee	Dem	Governor
Lois Harrison	Florida Ethics Commission member, President of the Florida League of Women Voters	Lakeland	Dem	Governor
James W. Kynes	Former Attorney General, Vice President of the Walter Corporation	Tampa	Dem	Governor
Jack Mathews	Former Senate President	Jacksonville	Dem	Governor
Jesse J. McCrary Jr	Attorney	Miami	Dem	Governor
Jon Moyle	Former Chairman of the Florida Democratic Party	West Palm Beach	Dem	Governor
Jan Platt	Tampa City Council member	Tampa	Dem	Governor
Donald H. Reed Jr.	Former House minority leader	Boca Raton	Rep	Governor
Nathaniel P. Reed	Former Assistant Secretary of the Interior	Hobe Sound	Dem	Governor
Edward R. Annis	Former President of the American Medical Association	Miami	Dem	Senate President
Dempsey J. Barron	State senator	Panama City	Dem	Senate President
Bill Birchfield	Former state representative	Jacksonville	Dem	Senate President
Lew Brantley	Senate President	Jacksonville	Dem	Senate President
Mark C. Hollis	Vice President of Publix Super Markets	Lakeland	Dem	Senate President
Richard V. Moore	Former President of Bethune-Cookman College	Daytona Beach	Dem	Senate President
Kenneth A. Plante	Senate minority leader	Winter Park	Rep	Senate President
Stella F. Thayer	Attorney	Tampa	Dem	Senate President
John T. Ware	State senator	St. Petersburg	Rep	Senate President
William C. Clark	Vice Chair of the Judicial Qualifications Commission, insurance executive	West Palm Beach	Dem	House Speaker
Dexter Douglass	Attorney	Tallahassee	Dem	House Speaker
William H. Gardner	Accountant and tax expert	Tallahassee	Dem	House Speaker
Bill James	House minority leader	Delray Beach	Rep	House Speaker
Marcello Oliva	Osteopath	Dade City	Dem	House Speaker
Nathaniel Polak	Insurance executive	Tallahassee	Dem	House Speaker
B.K. Roberts	Former Supreme Court Justice	Tallahassee	Dem	House Speaker
John L. Ryals	House Speaker pro tempore	Bradenton	Dem	House Speaker
J.B. Spence	Attorney	Miami	Dem	House Speaker
Thomas H. Barkdull Jr.	Third District Court of Appeal Judge	Miami	N/A	Chief Justice
John H. Moore II	17th Judicial Circuit Court Judge	Fort Lauderdale	N/A	Chief Justice
Ben Overton	Chief Justice of the Supreme Court	St. Petersburg	N/A	Chief Justice
Robert L. Shevin	Attorney General	Miami	Dem	ex officio

Alternate members

Alternate member	Occupation	Residence	Party	Appointed by
Charlotte Hubbard	Florida Ethics Commission member	Clearwater	Dem	Governor
Sybil C. Mobley	Florida A&M University professor	Tallahassee	Dem	Governor
Elliott Messer	Attorney	Tallahassee	Dem	Senate President
Warren Morgan	Aide to Donald Tucker	Tallahassee	Dem	House Speaker

1997-98 Commission

Proposed amendments

The commission proposed nine amendments, which appeared on the 1998 ballot as revisions 5-13. All but one of the revisions received the majority support needed to be incorporated into the constitution.

No.	Title	Ballot Summary	Results
			Yes	%	No	%	Total
5	Conservation of Natural Resources and Creation of Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission	"Requires adequate provision for conservation of natural resources; creates Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, granting it the regulatory and executive powers of the Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission and the Marine Fisheries Commission; removes legislature's exclusive authority to regulate marine life and grants certain powers to new commission; authorizes bonds to continue financing acquisition and improvement of lands for conservation, outdoor recreation, and related purposes; restricts disposition of state lands designated for conservation purposes."	2,630,674	72.3%	1,007,905	27.7%	3,638,579
6	Public Education of Children	"Declares the education of children to be a fundamental value of the people of Florida; establishes adequate provision for education as a paramount duty of the state; expands constitutional mandate requiring the state to make adequate provision for a uniform system of free public schools by also requiring the state to make adequate provision for an efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system."	2,623,889	71.0%	1,069,406	29.0%	3,693,295
7	Local Option for Selection of Judges and Funding of State Courts	"Provides for future local elections to decide whether to continue electing circuit and county judges or to adopt system of appointment of those judges by governor, with subsequent elections to retain or not retain those judges; provides election procedure for subsequent changes to selection of judges; increases county judges' terms from four to six years; corrects judicial qualifications commission term of office; allocates state courts system funding among state, counties, and users of courts."	2,028,165	56.9%	1,536,523	23.1%	3,564,688
8	Restructuring the State Cabinet	"Merges cabinet offices of treasurer and comptroller into one chief financial officer; reduces cabinet membership to chief financial officer, attorney general, agriculture commissioner; secretary of state and education commissioner eliminated from elected cabinet; secretary of state duties defined by law; changes composition of state board of education from governor and cabinet to board appointed by governor; board appoints education commissioner; defines state board of administration, trustees of internal improvement trust fund, land acquisition trust fund."	1,950,311	55.5%	1,562,234	44.5%	3,512,545
9	Basic Rights	"Defines "natural persons," who are equal before the law and who have inalienable rights, as "female and male alike;" provides that no person shall be deprived of any right because of national origin; changes "physical handicap" to "physical disability" as a reason that people are protected from being deprived of any right."	2,416,324	66.3%	1,230,683	33.7%	3,647,007
10	Local and Municipal Property Tax Exemptions and Citizen Access to Local Officials	"Broadens tax exemption for governmental uses of municipal property; authorizes legislature to exempt certain municipal and special district property used for airport, seaport, or public purposes; permits local option tax exemption for property used for conservation purposes; permits local option tangible personal property tax exemption for attachments to mobile homes and certain residential rental furnishings; removes limitations on citizens' ability to communicate with local officials about matters which are the subject of public hearings."	1,754,747	49.8%	1,766,490	50.2%	3,521,237
11	Ballot Access, Public Campaign Financing, and Election Process Revisions	"Provides ballot access requirements for independent and minor party candidates cannot be greater than requirements for majority party candidates; allows all voters, regardless of party, to vote in any party's primary election if the winner will have no general election opposition; provides public financing of campaigns for statewide candidates who agree to campaign spending limits; permits candidates for governor to run in primary elections without lieutenant governor; makes school board elections nonpartisan; corrects voting age."	2,239,607	64.1%	1,253,150	35.9%	3,492,757
12	Firearms Purchases: Local Option for Criminal History Records Check and Waiting Period	"Authorizes each county the option of requiring a criminal history records check and waiting period of 3 to 5 days in connection with the "sale" of any firearm; defines "sale" as the transfer of money or other valuable consideration for a firearm where any part of the transaction occurs on property open to public access; does not apply to holders of a concealed weapons permit when purchasing a firearm."	2,655,010	72.0%	1,033,020	28.0%	3,688,030
13	Miscellaneous Matters and Technical Revisions	"Removes gender-specific references; allows prison sentences in court-martial actions; consolidates ethics code provisions; specifies time for veto message consideration; clarifies that legislature gives designated officials final general appropriations bills 72 hours before passage; allows direct appeal of courts-martial to specified state court and advisory opinions from federal military courts; requires earlier constitution revision commission appointments; changes tax and budget reform commission voting procedures and meetings from every 10 to every 20 years."	1,869,111	55.0%	1,530,883	45.0%	3,399,994

Members

Commissioners were appointed by Governor Lawton Chiles, Senate President Toni Jennings, House Speaker Daniel Webster, and Chief Justice Gerald Kogan. Attorney General Bob Butterworth served automatically.

Member	Occupation	Appointed by
Dexter Douglass, Chair	General Counsel for Lawton Chiles, 1977-78 CRC member	Governor
Clarence E. Anthony	Mayor of South Bay	Governor
Thomas H. Barkdull Jr.	Third District Court of Appeal Judge, 1977-78 CRC member	Governor
Martha Barnett	Attorney	Governor
Robert Brochin	Deputy General Counsel for Lawton Chiles; Chief Inspector General	Governor
Barbara Ford-Coates	Sarasota County tax collector	Governor
Ellen Freidin	Attorney	Governor
William Clay Henderson	President of the Florida Audubon Society	Governor
Jon L. Mills	Law professor, former House Speaker	Governor
Robert L. Nabors	Attorney	Governor
Judith Byrne Riley	Realty executive	Governor
Katherine Fernandez Rundle	State Attorney for the 11th Judicial Circuit	Governor
H.T. Smith	Attorney	Governor
James Harold Thompson	Attorney; former House Speaker	Governor
Stephen N. Zack	Attorney	Governor
Antonio L. Argiz	Accountant	Senate President
Pat Barton	Realtor	Senate President
Ander Crenshaw	Investment banker; former state senator and representative	Senate President
Marilyn Evans-Jones	Realtor; former state representative	Senate President
Toni Jennings	Senate President	Senate President
John F. Lowndes	Attorney	Senate President
Frank Morsani	Business executive; former U.S. Chamber of Commerce chair	Senate President
Carlos Planas	Auto dealership executive	Senate President
James A. Scott	State senator	Senate President
Carlos J. Alfonso	Architect	House Speaker
Kenneth L. Connor	Attorney	House Speaker
Chris Corr	Walt Disney Imagineering executive	House Speaker
Valerie W. Evans	Attorney and school teacher	House Speaker
Paul M. Hawkes	Attorney; former state representative	House Speaker
Dick Langley	Attorney; farmer; former state senator and representative	House Speaker
J. Stanley Marshall	Chair and CEO of the James Madison Institute	House Speaker
Jacinta Mathis	Attorney	House Speaker
Paul West	Mortgage and real estate broker	House Speaker
Gerald Kogan	Chief Justice of the Supreme Court	Chief Justice
Alan C. Sundberg	Florida State University General Counsel; former Chief Justice	Chief Justice
Gerald T. Washington	Former 11th Circuit Court judge	Chief Justice
Bob Butterworth	Attorney General	ex officio

Alternate members

Alternate member	Appointed by
Ira H. Leesfield	Governor
Lyra Blizzard Logan	Governor

2017-18 Commission

The commission will next be established in 2017, within 30 days before the start of the regular session of the legislature on March 7. Assuming there are no changes in leadership, commissioners will be appointed by Governor Rick Scott, Senate President-Designate Joe Negron, House Speaker-Designate Richard Corcoran, and Chief Justice Jorge Labarga. Attorney General Pam Bondi will automatically serve as a member. This will be the first time a majority of the CRC will be appointed by Republicans.

Any amendments the commission proposes will appear on the November 2018 ballot for voters' approval. As a result of a 2006 legislatively-referred constitutional amendment, this will be the first time the CRC's proposals will have to be approved by a 60% supermajority of voters, rather than a simple majority.

In advance of the commission's formation, the LeRoy Collins Institute at Florida State University spearheaded the Partnership for Revising Florida's Constitution. Its mission is to educate the public on the revision process, engage them in the CRC's work, and conduct outreach during the election.

External links

• Partnership for Revising Florida's Constitution
• 1997-98 Commission Website Archive
• State Constitutions for the Twenty-first Century, Vol. 1: The Politics of State Constitutional Reform
• Constitution Revision Commission: A Retrospective and Prospective Sketch

Category:State agencies of Florida