Legislative Update - February 2009

"Redistricting"

Take a look some time at a map of Florida's state legislative and Congressional districts, and you'd probably think it bears a closer resemblance to a child's artwork than a sensible plan for dividing up legislative seats.
 
Counties, cities and even neighborhoods get sliced up.  People with common concerns and interests find themselves represented by multiple legislators, who may or may not share those same concerns.  Right here in our own county, for example, the people of Pembroke Pines have six different State Representatives - none of whom actually live in Pembroke Pines.  (Four of them live in Broward County, one in Miami-Dade, and one almost 100 miles away in Naples.)
 
It's not that there's anything wrong with redrawing district lines in and of itself.  The United States Constitution actually requires legislative boundaries to be re-drawn every ten years after the Census is taken.  District lines need to be adjusted in order to ensure that people have equal representation in their legislative bodies.  Each state House, state Senate and Congressional district is supposed to have about the same number of people.  Because people move a lot, the districts become unbalanced over the course of ten years, so redistricting is how we restore relatively equal numbers of constituents to each district.
 
The problem with redistricting arises when there are no guidelines to keep partisanship and self-interest from running rampant.  Florida currently gives state legislators complete discretion to draw their own district boundaries, as well as those of Florida's Congressional districts.  So it should come as no surprise that with this sort of fox-and-hen house scenario, that what's right for the voters often takes a back seat to political self-interest.  The result is that legislators draw themselves safe seats that will guarantee easy re-election, and that the ruling party expands its numbers in the legislature.
 
That's how a state like Florida - which has almost equal numbers of registered Republicans and Democrats - winds up with nearly two-thirds of its legislative seats held by Republicans.  More importantly, our legislative districts are so safe for one party that we rarely see competitive general elections.  Term limits become the only way a legislator leaves office, and elections cease to be a means to hold our elected representatives accountable.
 
The bottom line is that instead of the voters choosing their legislators, the politicians are choosing their own constituents.  That's just not right.
 
But there's a way we can take some of the raw partisan politics out of the redistricting process, and make our legislators more accountable to the people they serve.  A bipartisan group of public officials and organizations has joined together in support of a proposed amendment to our state constitution that would establish standards for the redistricting process in Florida.  The amendment provides that:
 
- District lines cannot favor or disfavor an incumbent or political party
- Minority groups must have equal opportunity to participate in the political process
- Districts must be compact and contiguous
- Existing city, county and geographical boundaries must be respected, where possible
 
Among those working for passage of this amendment are Democrats Bob Graham and Janet Reno and Republicans Thom Rumberger and Nathaniel Reed.  Organizations supporting the proposals include the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans and Clean Water Action.  Many newspapers around the state, including the Tampa Tribune, Tallahassee Democrat, Orlando Sentinel and even the conservative Florida Times-Union have also endorsed the proposed redistricting standards.
 
The redistricting proposal recently gained key approval from the Florida Supreme Court, which reviews ballot initiatives to ensure they are clearly worded.  This is an important first hurdle, but in order to get the proposed amendments on the ballot, we must gather about 675,000 signatures on two petitions.  (There are two amendments - one dealing with state legislative districts and for Congressional districts.  The same standards would apply to each amendment.)
 
I encourage you to learn more about the proposed redistricting amendments, and to consider signing the petitions to get the proposals on the 2010 ballot.  You can find more information about the amendments and the redistricting process at www.fairdistrictsflorida.org.
 
As always, if you have any questions about this issue, or any issue related to state government, please feel free to contact my office at (954) 747-7933, or e-mailing me at rich.nan.web@flsenate.gov.

Send this Article to a Friend

	Senator Rich Addressing Seniors at the Daniel Canter Senior Center
	Nan Rich with Gradutes of Weston University
	Senator Rich with the Final Graduting Class of Weston University 2010

Stay Updated!
E-mail Address	Zip Code
First Name  Last Name

Calendar of Events