TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Minutes after returning to the floor after an unprecedented sit-in protest from Black Democratic lawmakers, the Florida House voted in quick succession to approve Gov. Ron DeSantis’ congressional maps, dissolve Walt Disney World’s Reedy Creek special district and remove a carve-out created last year for Disney in the “Big Tech” law.
The Black lawmakers had staged a sit-in on the floor of the Florida House chamber Thursday, disrupting debate on a congressional redistricting plan by DeSantis that would cut Black representation in half.
A little over an hour after the protests began and the House chamber was cleared, Speaker Chris Sprowls, a Palm Harbor Republican, and the rest of the members returned to the floor, suspended any further debate and voted out the bills over loud chants from Democrats still sitting on the carpet in front of the dais.
The House voted 68-38 to approve the congressional redistricting maps, and 70-38 to dissolve Reedy Creek and five other pre-1968 special districts and remove the Disney tech carve-out.
The protest took place immediately after Democratic state Rep. Yvonne Hayes Hinson’s mic was cut off after she continued talking after she was told her allotted debate time had expired.
Led by Democratic state Reps. Travaris McCurdy of Orlando and Angie Nixon of Jacksonville, who both wore “Stop the Black Attack” T-shirts under their street clothes, members of the Black delegation joined by several other Democratic members marched to the front of the house chanting, “This is good trouble. This is necessary trouble.”
Nixon said later that she and other members had discussed the sit-in ahead of time, “because something needed to be done” to stop the vote from taking place on a bill that would strip Blacks of two out of four seats in Congress.
The group joined in a chorus of “We Shall Overcome” and gave speeches as as other members looked on from the sidelines.
Meanwhile, Republican leaders called a recess and cleared the House of other members.
State Rep. Spencer Roach, a Republican from Fort Myers who first suggested abolishing Reedy Creek, tweeted that House Democrats staged an insurrection “to obstruct the Democratic process. Shameful.”
Sprowls said the Democratic members had their chance to debate the bills during the truncated, three-day special session. “Today a group of Representatives decided to hijack the legislative process, violating House Rules and interfering with the rights of their fellow elected colleagues to debate important legislation before the body,” he said in a prepared statement.
Democratic state Rep. Carlos Gulliermo Smith of Orlando said in return that the Republicans were violating the Constitution by approving the governor’s map.
Protest leaders said Democratic leaders were backstage in “the bubble” discussing the situation with Republican leaders.
“We want the old maps back,” state Rep. Michele K. Rayner, a St. Petersburg Democrat, said when asked by reporters what they wanted to see happen to end the occupation of the House. They were referring to the congressional maps originally approved by the Legislature during regular session.
Asked how long they planned to occupy the House, Smith said, “As long as it takes.”
But in the end, Republican Florida lawmakers backed all of DeSantis’ agenda for this week’s special session. The bills were sent to DeSantis’ desk for his signature Thursday afternoon. He has until May 6 to take action on them.
While they didn’t achieve their first goal to get new maps, Nixon said, they did raise awareness among their constituents.
Lawmakers originally came to Tallahassee on Tuesday to take up a congressional map drawn by DeSantis’ office after he vetoed two maps approved by the Legislature during the regular session.
But less than an hour before the special session began, he expanded it to include a bill dissolving Reedy Creek, which independently governs the Orlando resort, and another bill retracting a special carve-out that protected Disney from liability in the so-called Big Tech law from 2021.
Wednesday, the Senate voted 23-16 to dissolve Reedy Creek, with state Sen. Jeff Brandes of Pinellas Park the only Republican to vote against Fleming Island Republican Sen. Jennifer Bradley’s bill. The Senate voted 24-15 along party lines to approve Bradley’s bill retracting the Disney carve-out, which was found unconstitutional by a federal judge.
When Democratic lawmakers asked where the language for those bills originated, the sponsor dodged the question, and leaders told them the questions went beyond the scope of the bills.
Senators, who passed the congressional redistricting district map by a 24-15 vote, conceded the issue was going to wind up in court.
The map DeSantis introduced achieves his stated goal to eliminate the minority-majority District 5 that sprawls across North Florida from Jacksonville to Tallahassee and replaces it with a district that is only 12% Black. It also diminishes the Black voting population in District 10 in Orlando, moving a large number into the Republican-friendly District 11. The map reduces predominantly Black districts from four to two.
His map also achieves a goal to increase Republican-friendly congressional seats from 16 to 20, and reducing the number of Democratic-leaning seats to eight. The maps approved by the Legislature created an 18-10 split.
The Senate bill includes $1 million for legal fees, as well as language that requires that state court actions challenging the state’s congressional districts shall be brought only in Leon County. All actions challenging the state’s congressional districts on state constitutional or state law grounds will also be brought exclusively in state court.
The bill dissolving Reedy Creek targets five other independent special improvement districts, all of which were created before a 1968 constitutional amendment. When DeSantis signs the bill as expected, all six will be dissolved on June 1, 2023, but given a chance to be reestablished.
Farmer estimated that Reedy Creek had about a $1.5 billion to $2 billion combined debt load and other obligations, which would translate to about a $2,400 tax bill for every family of four in Orange and Osceola counties.
Orange County Tax Collector Scott Randolph tweeted that he couldn’t confirm those numbers, but raised several issues about the tax burden that would be placed on Orange County residents.
“I haven’t been able to confirm the $2 billion in bonds referenced, BUT if it is accurate, the county can only raise revenue through property taxes and there are about 438,000 parcels, so about $4,500 per parcel,” he tweeted.
He also said if Reedy Creek goes away, Orange County will inherit all debt and obligations with no extra funds — $53 million in debt obligations and $105 million in general revenue for a total $163 million a year.
Pam Marsh, Executive Director of the First Amendment Foundation, noted that Randolph’s tweets were the only fiscal analysis provided, since legislative staff offered none.
She also said the “lack of transparency was stunning,” and denounced the Legislature’s “last-minute consideration of bills during a special session with minimal public participation or notice.”
Lawmakers also had little time to understand the effects of the bills and learn constituents’ positions, she said.
“The special districts affected by this bill are located across Florida, ranging from 70 miles to 450 miles away from Tallahassee,” Marsh said. “With such lack of notice, there is no way for Floridians’ voices to be heard. This is an obvious abuse of process to allow politicians to get revenge on Disney for standing up for LGBTQ rights, while trampling upon our rights to participate and be heard.”
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