Proposal would have commissions draw Florida’s voting district maps

Three commissions would draw maps for Florida’s Senate, House, and congressional districts. The selection process calls for 15 members per commission: five from each of the two leading parties and five independents or minor-party members. Screening panels would review applicants, and legislative leaders could remove some before a random draw. Voters would need to approve the constitutional amendment. Applicants would need to have voted in two of the last three presidential elections and two of the last three governor elections. Anyone who has held elected office would be barred. Party officers, registered lobbyists, paid campaign staff, and governor’s office workers would face a 14-year exclusion; Florida Legislature workers would face an 18-year exclusion. Those exclusions would also cover parents, spouses, children, siblings, corresponding relatives by marriage, and people sharing a household with the excluded people.

Commission members would serve 10-year terms and face limits on later running for office. The restrictions would apply to members of all three district map commissions. These rules would depend on voters approving the amendment. Members could not serve consecutive terms. Members could not run for an office whose district their commission drew during their term or within 10 years after those maps were issued. The first commissioners’ terms would begin in 2027.

Commissions would publish proposed maps and drawing data, accept public submissions, and hold public hearings. Florida residents could submit maps and comments through a public website. Commissions would post proposed maps before voting on them. Voters would need to approve the amendment. Meetings would be in person and streamed on the Florida Channel. Records about commission work, including internal messages and advisers’ records, would be public. Commissioners, staff, and advisers could discuss district drawing with outsiders only at public meetings or hearings, except for written public comments. Before adopting a final map, each commission would hold at least two hearings in each state appeals court district and at least two in each county with 1 million or more residents. The map submission portal would open January 1 of a year ending in one. Drawing data would be posted within three days of receipt.

Lawmakers would choose commission maps for state legislative districts, with limits on changing them and on the number of districts. The proposed ranges are 30 to 60 state Senate districts and 80 to 180 state House districts. They would allow, rather than require, the maximum totals. Voters would need to approve the amendment. Each commission’s three final maps would need approval from at least two-thirds of its members, including at least two independent or minor-party members. Each legislative chamber would choose a map by majority vote. Changing a commission map would require approval from three-quarters of each chamber. Lawmakers could extend the deadline until December 15 only for a congressionally recognized foreign invasion or a presidentially declared pandemic or natural disaster. Lawmakers would adopt final maps by the earlier of July 1 of a year ending in one or 60 days after receiving census data, unless an allowed extension applied.

Florida’s Supreme Court would select a map if lawmakers failed, and commissions would propose repairs if the court rejected lawmakers’ map. The court would have sole authority to hear cases about whether district maps are valid. Repairs would target unlawful districts while disturbing other districts as little as possible. Voters would need to approve the amendment. If lawmakers failed to adopt a map, the court would choose the most compact of the three submitted maps without changing it. The court could hire up to two experts to help. Justices with a listed family relationship or shared household with a member of Congress or the Florida Legislature could not participate in map challenge hearings or decisions. If the court found lawmakers’ map invalid, the governor would call the commissions back to propose a repair.