Florida’s senate district boundaries are under scrutiny. The Florida House is considering a new map approved by the senate last week.
The Senate called the special session after it was sued by the League of Women Voters and Common Cause- which alleged the district boundaries were gerrymandered. University of Central Florida political science professor Aubrey Jewett said one big change under the proposed map is to the district currently held by Senator Darren Soto.
Jewett said in that district the Hispanic population would drop to 37.5%
“Before it was about 50%, and so Hispanics in Central Florida, it’s possible they might lose representation," said Jewett.
Even if the House approves the Senate map, Jewett said that's not the end of the process.
“It does seem to me no matter what they pass, the courts are going to tweak it at minimum, and perhaps make fairly substantial changes as we saw in the case of the congressional districts,” he said.
This is the second special session this year to fix district boundaries. In August lawmakers went back to Tallahassee to draw up new Congressional maps.