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HJR 619 2026
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
House Joint Resolution 1
A joint resolution proposing an amendment to Section 2
16 of Article III of the State Constitution to revise 3
reapportionment methods and revise upward the number 4
of Senate and House districts. 5
6
Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 7
8
That the following amendment to Section 16 of Article III 9
of the State Constitution is agreed to and shall be submitted to 10
the electors of this state for approval or rejection at the next 11
general election or at an earlier special election specifically 12
authorized by law for that purpose: 13
ARTICLE III 14
LEGISLATURE 15
SECTION 16. Legislative apportionment.— 16
(a) INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING COMMISSIONS. The state 17
shall be apportioned by three independent redistricting 18
commissions, one each for the senatorial, representative, and 19
congressional reapportionment process. 20
(1)a. Each redistricting commission will establish a 21
screening panel consisting of 37 members. The president of the 22
senate, speaker of the house of representatives, minority leader 23
of the house of representatives, and minority leader of the 24
senate shall each appoint nine members. The chief justice of the 25
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supreme court shall appoint one member. 26
b. To apply for the commissioner position, each applicant 27
must have voted in two out of the last three presidential 28
elections and two out of the last three gubernatorial elections. 29
The following persons may not apply for a commissioner position 30
or serve as commissioner: 31
1. Someone currently serving, or who has served, in an 32
office or position which is filled by vote of the electors. 33
2. Someone who, within the past 14 years, has been a party 34
officer, a registered lobbyist, paid while working as part of a 35
campaign staff, or has worked for the executive office of the 36
governor. 37
3. Someone who, within the past 18 years, has worked for 38
the Florida Legislature. 39
4. Any parent, spouse, child, sibling, parent-in-law, 40
child-in-law, or sibling-in-law of, or a cohabitating member of 41
a household, of those mentioned in sub-subparagraphs 1. through 42
3. 43
c. After review, the screening panel will select for 44
further consideration 15 applicants from each of the following 45
categories: 46
1. Applicants who are registered members of the political 47
party that received the most votes in the last statewide 48
election. 49
2. Applicants who are registered members of the political 50
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party that received the second-most votes in the last statewide 51
election. 52
3. Applicants who are registered as independent or minor 53
party affiliates. 54
55
The screening panel shall ensure the selected applicants are, as 56
a whole, representative of the racial, ethnic, geographic, and 57
gender diversity of the state. 58
(2)a. The president of the senate, the speaker of the 59
house of representatives, the minority leader of the house of 60
representatives, and the minority leader of the senate may each 61
strike two applicants from each of the categories described in 62
sub-subparagraphs (1)b.1. through 3. 63
b. The screening panel shall then randomly draw five 64
applicants from each of the categories described in sub-65
subparagraphs (1)b.1 through 3. to create each final independent 66
redistricting commission. 67
(3) The initial group of commissioners shall start their 68
terms in 2027. Each commissioner shall serve a 10-year term and 69
may not serve consecutive terms. A person running for office may 70
not have served on the commission that drew the district for 71
that office during their term or within 10 years after the 72
promulgation of those maps. 73
(4) A member of the commission shall receive compensation 74
fixed at the legislative per diem rate during commission travel 75
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and meetings and shall be allowed all reasonable and necessary 76
expenses incurred in the performance of their duties. 77
(5)a. All meetings shall take place in person and be 78
streamed on the Florida channel. 79
b. All records and documents of the commission, including 80
any individual or group performing delegated functions of the 81
commission or advising the commission, related to the 82
commission's work shall be considered public record. This 83
includes internal communications of the commission and 84
communications made to the commission. 85
c. Commissioners, staff of the commission, and any other 86
advisor or consultant to the commission may only communicate 87
with any person outside the commission about matters related to 88
reapportionment in a public meeting or hearing. This does not 89
include written public comments submitted to the commission, 90
staff of the commission, or any other advisor or consultant to 91
the commission. 92
(6) If the commission hires legal counsel the commission 93
as an entity shall be considered the client. 94
(7) The commission shall establish and maintain a public 95
website or other equivalent electronic platform to share 96
information about the commission's activities. Prior to voting 97
on any proposed plan, the commission must publish the proposed 98
plan to the website. The website must: 99
a. Be capable of receiving comments and proposals by 100
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citizens of the state. 101
b. Include a public submission portal, for map drawing, 102
which shall open on the website on January 1st of the year 103
ending in one. 104
c. Include all data used by the commission in the drawing 105
of districts. Such data, including census data, precinct maps, 106
election results, and shapefiles, shall be posted to the website 107
within three days of receipt by the commission. 108
(b) DISTRICT MAPS. 109
(1) Each commission shall reapportion the state by 110
creating three district maps. Each map shall be drawn according 111
to Sections 20 and 21 of Article III. 112
(2) The commission shall adopt three final district maps. 113
The maps must be approved by at least two-thirds of the 114
commissioners, including at least 2 commissioners registered as 115
independent or minor party affiliates. 116
(3) Before adopting a final map, the commission must hold 117
at least 2 public hearings in each state appellate district and 118
at least 2 public hearings in each county with a population of 1 119
million or more to seek public input. All meetings and hearings 120
held by the commission shall be adequately advertised and 121
planned to ensure the public is able to attend and participate 122
fully. Meetings and hearings must have advertisements in, at 123
minimum, the following languages: English, Spanish, Haitian 124
Creole, and Portuguese. 125
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
(c)(a) SENATORIAL AND REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICTS. The 126
legislature at its regular session in the second year following 127
each decennial census, by joint resolution approved by a 128
majority vote of each chamber, shall adopt one of the maps 129
created by the commission to apportion the state in accordance 130
with the constitution of the state and of the United States into 131
not less than thirty nor more than sixty forty consecutively 132
numbered senatorial districts of either contiguous, overlapping 133
or identical territory, and into not less than eighty nor more 134
than one hundred eighty twenty consecutively numbered 135
representative districts of either contiguous, overlapping or 136
identical territory. A map from the commission may be amended by 137
the legislature, but only if the amendment is approved by a 138
three-quarters vote of each chamber. The legislature must adopt 139
a final map by the earlier of July 1st of a year ending in one 140
or 60 days after receipt of census data. The legislature shall 141
be barred from all other involvement. The legislature may 142
authorize an extension until December 15th in the event of an 143
extraordinary circumstance. As used in this subsection, an 144
"extraordinary circumstance" means an invasion of the state by a 145
hostile foreign power and recognized as such by an act of 146
Congress, a pandemic declared as such by the President of the 147
United States, or a natural disaster declared as such by the 148
President of the United States Should that session adjourn 149
without adopting such joint resolution, the governor by 150
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proclamation shall reconvene the legislature within thirty days 151
in special apportionment session which shall not exceed thirty 152
consecutive days, during which no other business shall be 153
transacted, and it shall be the mandatory duty of the 154
legislature to adopt a joint resolution of apportionment. 155
(d)(b) FAILURE OF LEGISLATURE TO APPORTION; JUDICIAL MAP 156
SELECTION REAPPORTIONMENT. In the event a special apportionment 157
session of the legislature fails to adopt finally adjourns 158
without adopting a joint resolution of apportionment, the 159
supreme court shall select the most compact map out of the three 160
submitted without amendment. The supreme court may hire up to 161
two special masters for assistance the attorney general shall, 162
within five days, petition the supreme court of the state to 163
make such apportionment. No later than the sixtieth day after 164
the filing of such petition, the supreme court shall file with 165
the custodian of state records an order making such 166
apportionment. 167
(e)(c) LEGAL CHALLENGES TO JUDICIAL REVIEW OF 168
APPORTIONMENT. Within fifteen days after the passage of the 169
joint resolution of apportionment, the attorney general shall 170
petition The supreme court of the state shall have original and 171
exclusive jurisdiction of any case for a declaratory judgment 172
determining the validity of the apportionment. The supreme 173
court, in accordance with its rules, shall permit adversary 174
interests to present their views and, within thirty days from 175
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the filing of the petition, shall enter its judgment. A justice 176
who has a close relationship with a member of the United States 177
Congress or of the legislature has a conflict of interest in the 178
case and may not participate in any hearing or decision related 179
to a case brought under this paragraph. As used in this 180
paragraph, "close relationship means" a parent, spouse, child, 181
sibling, parent-in-law, child-in-law, or sibling-in-law of, or a 182
cohabitating member of a household with a member of the United 183
States Congress or of the legislature. 184
(f)(d) EFFECT OF JUDGMENT IN APPORTIONMENT; EXTRAORDINARY 185
APPORTIONMENT SESSION. A judgment of the supreme court of the 186
state determining the apportionment to be valid shall be binding 187
upon all the citizens of the state. Should the supreme court 188
determine that the apportionment made by the legislature is 189
invalid, the governor by proclamation shall reconvene the 190
independent redistricting commissions to determine and propose a 191
reapportionment plan to remedy the unlawful or unconstitutional 192
district in a manner that minimally interferes with other 193
districts legislature within five days thereafter in 194
extraordinary apportionment session which shall not exceed 195
fifteen days, during which the legislature shall adopt a joint 196
resolution of apportionment conforming to the judgment of the 197
supreme court. 198
(e) EXTRAORDINARY APPORTIONMENT SESSION; REVIEW OF 199
APPORTIONMENT. Within fifteen days after the adjournment of an 200
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extraordinary apportionment session, the attorney general shall 201
file a petition in the supreme court of the state setting forth 202
the apportionment resolution adopted by the legislature, or if 203
none has been adopted reporting that fact to the court. 204
Consideration of the validity of a joint resolution of 205
apportionment shall be had as provided for in cases of such 206
joint resolution adopted at a regular or special apportionment 207
session. 208
(f) JUDICIAL REAPPORTIONMENT. Should an extraordinary 209
apportionment session fail to adopt a resolution of 210
apportionment or should the supreme court determine that the 211
apportionment made is invalid, the court shall, not later than 212
sixty days after receiving the petition of the attorney general, 213
file with the custodian of state records an order making such 214
apportionment. 215
216
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the following statement be 217
placed on the ballot: 218
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT 219
ARTICLE III, SECTION 16 220
STATE REAPPORTIONMENT.—Proposing an amendment to the State 221
Constitution to revise reapportionment methods by creating three 222
independent redistricting commissions, for the House of 223
Representatives, Senate, and congressional reapportionment 224
process, respectively, require the legislature to approve a map 225
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created by such commission, revise upward the number of Senate 226
districts, from 40 to 60, and House districts, from 120 to 180, 227
and establish procedures for when the legislature fails to 228
select a district map. 229
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the following statement be 230
placed on the ballot if a court declares the preceding statement 231
defective and the decision of the court is not reversed: 232
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT 233
ARTICLE III, SECTION 16 234
STATE REAPPORTIONMENT.—Proposing an amendment to the State 235
Constitution to revise the reapportionment process by creating 236
three independent redistricting commissions: one for the House 237
of Representatives, one for the Senate, and one for 238
congressional districts; establish a screening panel and 239
procedure to review commission applicants; providing that 240
commissioners will be compensated at the legislative per diem 241
rate; providing commission meeting requirements and 242
responsibilities; providing that if a commission hires an 243
attorney, the commission shall be considered the client; 244
requiring at least 15 public hearings be held across the state; 245
requiring each commission to draw district maps based solely on 246
constitutional provisions; requiring that three final maps be 247
approved by at least a two-thirds supermajority, including votes 248
from at least two independent or minor party affiliates; 249
requiring the Legislature to select one map from the three 250
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submitted, by a majority vote, not subject to a gubernatorial 251
veto; providing that the Supreme Court shall have original and 252
exclusive jurisdiction over any litigation related to a district 253
map; increasing the number of Senate districts from 40 to 60 and 254
House of Representative districts from 120 to 180; providing 255
requirements for the adoption of the final maps; providing that 256
if the Legislature fails to adopt a joint resolution, the 257
Supreme Court shall select the most compact map from the three 258
submitted, but may not amend any map; providing that if the 259
Supreme Court finds the Legislature's adopted map invalid, the 260
Governor shall reconvene the commissions to create a lawful 261
replacement. 262