By Carole Hawkins, [email protected]
Sen. Rob Bradley couldn’t report success following the Legislature’s recent attempt to redraw Florida’s voting districts.
But he did say there’s not total disagreement about what to do in Northeast Florida, where the district represented by U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown will likely be redrawn.
Bradley, R-Fleming Island, spoke to members of the Clay County Builders Council at their September breakfast meeting.
One of the first things he did was apologize for not appearing at a meeting sooner.
“It seems like every time we’d schedule a date for me to talk to all of you, I’d get called back into a special session instead,” he quipped.
The Legislature will have met in three special sessions, in addition to its regular session, before the end of 2015. They include one in June to pass a state budget, the August session to resolve congressional redistricting and an October session on state Senate redistricting.
The August session fell apart without an agreement between the House and Senate on redrawing Florida’s Congressional district map, an outcome that throws the issue back into the hands of the courts, where Bradley believes its fate will ultimately be decided.
It’s a problem that began in 2011. After Congressional maps were redrawn to reflect the U.S. 2010 Census, they were challenged in court for gerrymandering. Challengers cited two Fair District amendments approved by Florida voters in 2010.
The August session marked the third time lawmakers had attempted to redraw maps to the court’s satisfaction.
Now, the outstanding disagreement is over districts in Central Florida, Bradley said, not with redistricting in Northeast Florida.
In Northeast Florida, many lawmakers are in agreement with the court that Brown’s District 5 should be redrawn with an east-west orientation. Currently, it follows a north-south orientation that stretches from Jacksonville to Orlando.
The process of redrawing a district to reflect population shifts can be arduous.
The Federal Voting Rights Act mandates that minority-access districts be preserved, Bradley said. Legislators draw lines for those districts first before drawing lines for other districts. That way, minority communities will have the ability to choose a candidate of their choice.
“So, if you thought you were voting in 2010 to get rid of that district (5), that’s not what the amendment does,” Bradley said. “… It’s not a conspiracy, it’s just the law.”
The Florida Congressional District Boundaries Amendment, passed in 2010 and known as the Fair Districts amendment, requires lawmakers to draw districts more compactly, within existing geographical and government boundaries and without intentional favoritism toward political parties or incumbents.
Bradley serves on the Legislature’s redistricting committee.
“You have to be a statistician and a lawyer to be on that committee,” he said with a laugh. “And still, it’s not enough.”
Pension reform
It’s an issue that’s dragged down budgets of local governments statewide, including Jacksonville’s.
The Legislature this year passed Local Government Pension Reform, SB 172, a bill co-sponsored by Bradley and which he said “cut the strings” Tallahassee has attached on how tax dollars for pensions may be used by local governments.
A portion of the state tax on insurance premiums has historically been used to fund police and firefighter pension plans. A 1999 law mandated the pension money be used to pay for “extra benefits” for police and firefighters.
Now, SB172 gives the cities more flexibility, allowing them to alternatively use the tax to strengthen pension funds. At the same time, it time requires workers’ pension benefits to accrue at a rate of 2.75 percent of their salaries per year.
First Coast Expressway
The transportation project has received its full “ask” on funding for three years now, Bradley said.
When finished, it will form an outer loop outside Interstate 295, encircling Jacksonville from I-10 at Cecil Commerce Parkway to I-95 at County Road 210. The new artery will pass through Clay County and is expected to spur development there.
Commercial lease sales tax
The Legislature made no progress on reducing the tax this year, but Bradley said he will continue to support its elimination.
Florida is the only state that has the tax, which when cities and counties compete for out-of-state companies considering a move to Florida.
Bradley said he wants to pursue phasing out the tax slowly.