\n\t\t\t\t\t\tFlorida lawmakers are awaiting Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 proposed Congressional maps for mid-decade redistricting, which will redraw lines set in April 2022, as they prepare for a special session beginning Tuesday. The redistricting effort is unprecedented, and Democratic lawmakers argue it is not legally permitted under Florida\u2019s constitution. They cite the passage of Amendments 5 and 10, known as \u201cFair Districts,\u201d in November 2010, which prohibit districts from being drawn with the intent to favor one political party. DeSantis spent part of Friday in Chipley, posing with junior princesses and unveiling a statue of George Washington to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States. He did not answer questions from reporters and ended his news conference by saying, \u201cGod bless you all and thank you.\u201d The governor has offered no comments on the special session, which will address the maps and other items. Local Democratic lawmakers have raised concerns about potential partisan gerrymandering.Orlando State Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith said, \u201cArticle three, section 20 of the Florida Constitution is very clear. Partisan gerrymandering to benefit one political party is completely illegal.\u201d DeSantis may also face challenges in getting the maps approved by House Speaker Daniel Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton, who have previously pushed back on his redistricting plans and have not been on good terms with him. The special session will also tackle two bills filed by Republican Sen. Jason Brodeur. One bill proposes an \u201cartificial intelligence bill of rights\u201d to establish guardrails for managing AI technology and protecting minors from its misuse. The other bill seeks to exempt certain documents generated in investigations by the Department of Legal Affairs from public records requests. A third bill, titled \u201cMedical Freedom,\u201d would allow parents to exempt their children from vaccine requirements typically mandated by schools. Lawmakers are also preparing for a special session to address the state budget, which must be passed before July 1. That session is scheduled to take place between May 12 and May 29.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tFLORIDA, USA \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Florida lawmakers are awaiting Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 proposed Congressional maps for mid-decade redistricting, which will redraw lines set in April 2022, as they prepare for a special session beginning Tuesday. <\/p>\n
The redistricting effort is unprecedented, and Democratic lawmakers argue it is not legally permitted under Florida\u2019s constitution. They cite the passage of Amendments 5 and 10, known as \u201cFair Districts,\u201d in November 2010, which prohibit districts from being drawn with the intent to favor one political party. <\/p>\n
DeSantis spent part of Friday in Chipley, posing with junior princesses and unveiling a statue of George Washington to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States. He did not answer questions from reporters and ended his news conference by saying, \u201cGod bless you all and thank you.\u201d <\/p>\n
The governor has offered no comments on the special session, which will address the maps and other items. Local Democratic lawmakers have raised concerns about potential partisan gerrymandering.<\/p>\n
Orlando State Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith said, \u201cArticle three, section 20 of the Florida Constitution is very clear. Partisan gerrymandering to benefit one political party is completely illegal.\u201d <\/p>\n
DeSantis may also face challenges in getting the maps approved by House Speaker Daniel Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton, who have previously pushed back on his redistricting plans and have not been on good terms with him. <\/p>\n
The special session will also tackle two bills filed by Republican Sen. Jason Brodeur. One bill proposes an \u201cartificial intelligence bill of rights\u201d to establish guardrails for managing AI technology and protecting minors from its misuse. The other bill seeks to exempt certain documents generated in investigations by the Department of Legal Affairs from public records requests. <\/p>\n
A third bill, titled \u201cMedical Freedom,\u201d would allow parents to exempt their children from vaccine requirements typically mandated by schools. <\/p>\n
Lawmakers are also preparing for a special session to address the state budget, which must be passed before July 1. That session is scheduled to take place between May 12 and May 29.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida lawmakers are awaiting Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 proposed Congressional maps for mid-decade redistricting, which will redraw lines set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5238,56117,4033,55118,11853,2683,28,30,49630,29,8597,25127,108086,3574,9081,108085,108084,56118],"class_list":{"0":"post-245560","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-bill","9":"tag-congressional-map","10":"tag-constitution","11":"tag-democratic-lawmaker","12":"tag-department","13":"tag-desantis","14":"tag-florida","15":"tag-florida-headlines","16":"tag-florida-lawmaker","17":"tag-florida-news","18":"tag-friday","19":"tag-george-washington","20":"tag-legal-affairs","21":"tag-part","22":"tag-political-party","23":"tag-potential-partisan-gerrymandering","24":"tag-redistricting-plan","25":"tag-special-session"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}