THE FUTURE OF FLORIDA PUBLIC POLICY SUMMIT

Transcription

1 THE FUTURE OF FLORIDA PUBLIC POLICY SUMMIT Florida Constitutional Revision Commission: Developing Fair and Equitable Redistricting Conference Guidelines Chair: Frances Chapman 1

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Background...3 Conference Members, Roles and Expectations..3 Conference Timeline 5 Proposed Conference Schedule 6 Proposed Speakers.6 2

3 BACKGROUND CONSTITUIONAL REVISION COMMISSION The Florida Constitution can be amended through a legislative motion or through the Constitutional Revision Commission. The Constitutional Revision Commission meets once every twenty years to review the relevance of the Florida Constitution and recommend new amendments to later be voted upon by the electorate. The Commission is comprised of 37 members, which include the Attorney General, fifteen members selected by the Governor, nine selected by both the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and three selected by the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court. The Governor will select one committee member to chair the body. The Constitutional Revision Commission most recently met in 1997 under former Governor Lawton Chiles, Attorney General Bob Butterworth, Florida Senate President Daniel Webster and Florida Speaker of the House Toni Jennings. Governor Rick Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi, the next Florida Senate President, and the next Florida Speaker of the House will lead the Governor Scott will select the Commission Chair. CONSTITUTIONAL REVISION COMMISSION SCHEDULE The Commission spends one year traveling Florida and meeting with citizens to understand the state s most pressing policy issues. The full committee meets within thirty days of the legislative session and must submit its ballot initiatives sixty days before Election Day. The 1997 Commission schedule is listed below and the 2017 will likely follow this structure: i June 1997: Organizational Meeting July-August 1997: Public hearings throughout Florida August-December 1997: Commission conducts hearings, considers proposals December 1997-January 1998: Full commission considers, votes, and debates on proposals February-March 1998: Public hearings to disseminate proposals May 1998: Full Commission casts final votes on proposals May 1998: Proposals are transmitted to the Secretary of State November 1998: Floridians vote on proposals REDISTRICTING IN FLORIDA 3

4 Congressional and Legislative districts are drawn in Florida by the State Legislature. Like other states, gerrymandering is a serious threat to the integrity of these districts. In order to reduce partisanship in the redistricting process, Floridians voted for the Florida Congressional District Boundaries Amendment in 2010, requiring lawmakers to draw the districts as fairly as possible. After its passage, lawmakers sued to block the amendment. In particular, Rep. Corinne Brown (D-Jacksonville) cited concerns that amendment would be unable to protect minority access districts. Republican lawmakers joined the lawsuit in 2011 but it was ultimately rejected. Supporters of the amendment included former Governors Bob Graham and Charlie Crist, who argued that the outcomes of elections are essentially rigged before ballots are even printed. ii All major newspapers in Florida also supported the amendment. In 2014 a Florida judge found the congressional and legislative maps drawn by the Florida Legislature to be unconstitutional and in violation of the fair district amendment. Currently Republican lawmakers in the Florida House and Senate cannot agree on a map, largely due to concerns about being written out of their own districts. In order to avoid similar situations, other states have created independent districting boards. These states include California, New Jersey and Montana; other states have commissions that only control legislative districts, such as Ohio and Pennsylvania. In July 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that these independent boards are constitutional, and some groups in states, including Illinois and Michigan, are fighting for ballot initiatives that would create similar groups. CONFERENCE COMMITTEE STRUCTURE MEMBERS Katy Burnett Frances Chapman Jesse Fallen Angel Gonzalez Caroline Nickerson Stephen Paolini TJ Pyche Wendy Serra Ricardo Sabater 4

5 ROLES Students will be responsible for planning and implementing a three-day summit for students from public and private colleges and universities in Florida. The summit will educate students on political organizing and advocacy, developing their competency in political action. Students will collectively fulfill the following roles: political director, communications director, graphic designer, and research director. Thus, the group will require skills in public policy, political organizing, public relations, graphic design and event planning. EXPECTATIONS Conference members are responsible for providing: A conference schedule with appropriate speakers and structured discussion to inspire a student-run lobbying effort Educational materials to prepare conference members for an engaging experience before, during and after the summit Services for conference members, including food and lodging GOALS The Future of Florida Summit is the first of its kind, providing students with a comprehensive political education and the practical skills to practice their knowledge. Following its first two successful attempts, the Third Annual Future of Florida Public Policy Summit seeks to: Educate students on the functions of the Florida Legislature Teach students how to become political organizers and change agents within their communities Increase awareness of a timely and critical policy issue facing Florida and the nation CONFERENCE TIMELINE September: Conference organizing committee members will meet. They will assign tasks based on their strengths. A preliminary list of speakers will be created and students will gather resources for a background guide. October: Organizers will contact speakers and create the first draft of a background guide and a list of conference resources. They will develop an application, which will open at the end of the month. Organizers are responsible for advertising the application to participating institutions. 5

6 November: Organizers will have a complete draft of the conference schedule, speakers list, and resource/background guide. Before Thanksgiving break, organizers will meet and select conference participants. December: Students will release the summit background guide to conference participants and finalize the conference schedule. January: Organizers will promote the topic amongst their networks and push the issue of redistricting Florida. February: Organizers will print conference materials and prepare the logistics of hosting 100 students at the Graham Center. PROPOSED CONFERENCE SCHEDULE The conference schedule will mirror that of the second annual summit. Friday: Conference members will be introduced to the topic and given time to discuss it within small groups. Saturday: Conference members will hear lectures by legislators, experts in political organizing and public policy, and academics. In the evening, they will split into small groups for a case study. They will argue a solution to the complications of fair redistricting, and conference members will be given time to discuss the issue together. Sunday: Conference members will discuss collectively the solution to fair redistricting and create a plan for presenting their solution to the Constitutional Revision Committee. Conference members will break into small groups to refine their knowledge of political advocacy to successively learn how to organize their communities in support of policy action. PROPOSED SPEAKERS AND CONTRIBUTORS MARTHA BARNETT Martha W. Barnett is the former president of the American Bar Association and a Bob Graham Center Knight Fellow-in-residence. Barnett was appointed to the FL Constitutional Revision Commission by Gov. Chiles. JON L. MILLS 6

7 Jon L. Mills is the former Speaker of the Florida House and served on the FL Constitutional Revision Commission. He is the current Dean Emeritus of the University of Florida Levin College of Law. DANIEL SMITH Dr. Daniel Smith is a professor in the University of Florida s Department of Political Scientist. He is an expert on voting rights and redistricting in the United States, has authored many books and scholarly articles on the subject, and has provided expert testimony to Congress and the FL State Legislature. DEBORAH GIANOULIS-HEALD Deborah Gianoulis-Heald is the former anchor of WJTX-TV Jacksonville where she served for over twenty years. She has interacted with a number of elected officials and has observed Florida s changing political landscape and relationship to the press. Gianoulis-Head ran for State Senate in i Information taken from the Florida State University archives. A graphic of this schedule can be found at ii 7