Gov. Ron DeSantis called lawmakers in for a special session to pass three of his priorities this week: a new congressional map, artificial intelligence regulations and a school vaccine exemption expansion.
But, within minutes of the session's start on Tuesday, the House threw out two of them.
That kills the so-called "AI Bill of Rights" and "medical freedom" legislation DeSantis wanted — legislation the Senate even passed in the regular session earlier in the year.
ALSO READ: House won't consider vaccine exemptions, AI guidelines during special session
House Speaker Daniel Perez said his chamber would only take up redistricting and would vote on the map Wednesday.
"All of you will be free to return home tomorrow afternoon," Perez told his members.
The Senate will also vote on the map Wednesday.
Committees in both the Senate and House approved the proposed map on Tuesday despite loud objections from Democrats and voting rights advocates.
About AI regulations: "We want to protect children too," Perez said during a press briefing. "The president of the United States issued an executive order stating that the federal government should take handle of the AI policies of this country, that this is a national security concern, that this is bigger than just one state."
About increasing vaccine exemptions: "There is some concern here on my behalf of children being in school without measles and mumps and polio and chickenpox vaccines that have been working for decades."
The Senate went ahead and passed the AI bill but postponed consideration of the vaccine bill.
Meanwhile, DeSantis wasn't happy with the House, calling the House speaker's decision "political shenanigans."
So what's up with redistricting?
Redistricting has historically happened at the beginning of every decade, after the U.S. Census.
There was no chatter about changing Florida's congressional map until Texas did it.
President Donald Trump pushed Republican lawmakers there to add five red-leaning districts, and they did. Other states have followed suit in a battle for the U.S. House majority, with big implications for the Trump administration's agenda post-midterms.
Most recently, Virginia voters approved a map adding four Democratic-leaning districts, giving congressional Democrats a possible edge in the redistricting contest.
Florida's map isn't going through a public vote. That power is given to the Legislature, which usually leads the map-making process in an open process.
ALSO READ: Florida's DeSantis unveils a voting map that could add to Trump's GOP redistricting
But, this time around, the governor's office made the map behind closed doors then sent it to legislative leadership — but not until after announcing it through Fox News.
The map would add four red-leaning districts. Currently, the state sends 20 Republicans to the House and only eight Democrats, cutting the minority party's representation in half.
The map removes Tampa Bay's only Democratic representative. Central Florida also loses one blue seat and South Florida loses two.
But, when a reporter asked on Tuesday whether the proposed map was designed to help the GOP in the midterms, Perez pushed back.
"I know that would be the easy headline, and that is what people want to write about," he said. "That is not the position that we're in. The governor drew a map, and it is our job to entertain that map, to debate it, to converse it, and to eventually vote on it."
Another reporter asked whether the map was being introduced so late in the year so there wouldn't be enough time for the courts to overturn: "No, that's not the strategy," he said.
But DeSantis is reportedly in part banking on the Purcell Principle, a U.S. Supreme Court precedent discouraging courts from ordering changes to election law shortly before an election.
And there are a lot of other legal arguments at play.
The largest used by opponents is how, unlike other states that have recently passed maps, the Florida Constitution explicitly prevents districts from being drawn with "the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent." In 2010, Florida voters approved the "Fair Districts" amendment making this the case.
"We will not be able to argue against partisan intent," said Rep. Kevin Chambliss, D-Homestead, when the map appeared before the House redistricting committee. "I don't think any judge would agree with it. So we know that lawsuits are pending and are ready and that is a waste of taxpayer dollars."
In a memo sent to lawmakers, DeSantis' office argued the amendment should be knocked down because he argues one part of it is unconstitutional: "There's little reason to think that voters would have approved the remaining parts by themselves," wrote David Axelman, his general counsel.
The governor and his team have also argued that some districts in the current map, which DeSantis strong-armed through the Legislature in 2022, were drawn with racial considerations in mind — something they say conflicts with recent court rulings and could be undermined by a pending U.S. Supreme Court decision.
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This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
