Jackson Falconer
TALLAHASSEE – The task to create new congressional maps for Florida's 27 districts will now go to a state judge following Tallahassee's failure to agree on a standard.
Amid quarreling with their colleagues in the House over the maps, members of the Senate cut Friday's special session short by walking out of their chambers. Friday was the deadline for the legislature to create new maps.
The Senate had designed new maps this week, but those maps did not align with the vision of the majority of lawmakers in the House, who
approved their own version of district maps Tuesday.
In July, the Florida Supreme Court
ruled 5-2 that the state's current maps are unconstitutional as they carry gerrymandering "deficiencies." The maps were approved by the legislature in 2012, two years after Floridians voted to approve amendments that prohibit lawmakers from drawing maps for the purpose of political benefit.
The walkout is the second to take place this year for the Republican-controlled legislature. In April, members of the House walked out of the state's annual legislative session following persistent hostilities with the Senate over the issue of Medicaid expansion.
Hearings for the new maps will take place in September. Florida Judge Terry Lewis will oversee the process. Another legislative special session is scheduled for October, when lawmakers must create new maps for state Senate seats.
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