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2020 Florida legislative session

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Some states made changes to 2020 state legislative sessions and legislative activity in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
For a full list of changes, visit: Changes to state legislative session dates in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020.
Florida: No changes impacting state legislative activities were made.
Florida State Legislature

Seal of Florida.svg.png
General information
Type:   State legislature
Term limits:   2 terms (8 years) in Senate, 4 terms (8 years) in House
Session start:   January 14, 2020
Website:   Official Legislature Page
Leadership
Senate President:  
Wilton Simpson (R)
House Speaker:  Jose Oliva (R)
Majority Leader:   Senate: Kathleen Passidomo (R)
House: Dane Eagle (R)
Minority Leader:   Senate: Audrey Gibson (D)
House: Kionne McGhee (D)
Structure
Members:  40 (Senate), 120 (House)
Length of term:   4 years (Senate), 2 years (House)
Authority:   Art I, Section 1, Florida Constitution
Salary:   $29,697/year + per diem
Elections
Last election:  November 6, 2018
Next election:  November 3, 2020
Redistricting:  Florida Legislature has control

In 2020, the Florida State Legislature was scheduled to convene on January 14 and adjourn on March 19.

Several state legislatures suspended their sessions or otherwise limited legislative activity in response to the coronavirus pandemic. No modifications to state legislative activity in Florida were made.

At the start of the 2020, Florida was one of 28 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Following the 2018 election, Republicans had a 23-17 majority in the Senate and a 73-47 majority in the House. The party also controlled the governorship, creating a Republican state government trifecta.

At the beginning of the 2020 legislative session:
  • Republicans held a majority in the Florida state House and state Senate.
  • Florida was one of 21 Republican state government trifectas.
  • Florida's governor was Republican Ron DeSantis.

    • Black.png Click the links to read more about the 2020 state Senate and state House elections.
    Black.png Click the links to read more about the 2018 state Senate and state House elections.

    Partisan control in 2020

    See also: State government trifectas

    Florida was one of 21 Republican state government trifectas at the start of 2020 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.

    Florida was also one of 28 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.

    The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Florida State Legislature in the 2020 legislative session.

    Florida State Senate

    Party As of January 2020
         Democratic Party 17
         Republican Party 23
    Total 40

    From 1992 to 2020, the Florida State Senate was mostly under Republican control. This was new for the chamber because prior to 1992 it was under solid Democratic control (like most southern state legislatures). The partisan change in the chamber coincided with the American South's shift from nearly 175 years of Democratic dominance to being solid Republican by the early 21st century. The table below shows the partisan history of the Florida State Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2018. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

    Florida State Senate election results: 1992-2018

    Year '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18
    Democrats 20* 19 17 15 15 14 14 14 14 12 14 14 15 17
    Republicans 20* 21 23 25 25 26 26 26 26 28 26 26 25 23
    *The two parties adopted a power-sharing agreement to accommodate the 20-20 tie in the chamber.

    Before 1992, Democrats had controlled the Florida State Senate since the 1876 elections, which came in the aftermath of the Civil War and Reconstruction. After 1876, Democrats enjoyed large majorities in the chamber, much like they did in other southern legislatures. From 1894 to 1965, Republicans never controlled more than two seats. By the 1970s and 1980s, Republicans had established themselves as a formidable minority party, but they still could not win control of the chamber. In the late 1980s, they narrowed the Democratic majority to just a few seats and were within reach of a majority. In 1992 they won half of the chamber's seats and gained partial control of the chamber through a power-sharing agreement with Democrats.[1]

    Starting in 1994, Republicans took complete control of the Florida State Senate. By 1998 they controlled 25 of the chamber's seats and did fall below that threshold through the 2016 elections. Six of the nine elections between 2002 and 2018 left the chamber with a 26-14 Republican advantage. Republicans briefly expanded beyond that number in 2010 when they took control of 28 seats.

    Prior to the 2016 elections, there was a court-ordered redrawing of the state Senate districts. The map was redrawn due to a lawsuit filed by the League of Women Voters of Florida. They claimed that the state Senate district maps that were passed in March 2012 violated a 2010 constitutional amendment prohibiting the drawing of district lines to create a partisan advantage or deny racial or language minorities "the equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect representatives of their choice." The amendment also required that districts be contiguous and use existing political boundaries, such as city and county lines, when possible.

    In December 2015, Circuit Court Judge George Reynolds approved a new map that was used in the 2016 elections. Because of the redistricting, all 40 seats in the chamber were up and the Republican majority dropped to 25-15 (in a normal election, only 20 of 40 seats are up for election). In a special election held September 26, 2017, Democrats flipped a seat previously held by a Republican, and the party gained a seat in the 2018 election, bringing the chamber's partisan breakdown to 23-17, the closest margin since the 1996 elections.

    Florida House of Representatives

    Party As of January 2020
         Democratic Party 47
         Republican Party 73
    Total 120

    From 1992 to 2020, the Florida House of Representatives flipped from Democratic control to a Republican majority, with the chamber changing hands in the 1996 elections. Prior to 1996, the chamber had been under solid Democratic control since the years immediately following the Civil War. The partisan change in the chamber coincided with the American South's shift from nearly 175 years of Democratic dominance to being solid Republican by the early 21st century. The table below shows the partisan history of the Florida House of Representatives following every general election from 1992 to 2018. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

    Florida House of Representatives election results: 1992-2018

    Year '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18
    Democrats 71 63 59 48 43 39 36 41 44 39 46 37 41 47
    Republicans 49 57 61 72 77 81 84 79 76 81 74 82 79 73

    Before 1996, Democrats had controlled the Florida House of Representatives since the 1874 elections, which came in the aftermath of the Civil War and Reconstruction. After 1874, Democrats enjoyed large majorities in the chamber, much like they did in other southern legislatures. From 1890 to 1960, Republicans never controlled more than seven seats in the chamber. From 1962 to 1986, they added to their numbers, averaging 30 to 40 seats, and broke Democrats' two-thirds supermajority (80 members) four times. In 1986, Republicans won 45 seats and began putting themselves in a position to take control of the chamber.

    In 1994, the Democratic majority narrowed to 63-57. In 1996, Republicans picked up four more seats and took a 61-59 lead in the chamber. In the next four elections, they added 23 seats to their majority and held a two-thirds supermajority from 2003 through 2006. Democrats gained some ground back in the 2006 and 2008 elections and brought the Republicans down to 76 seats, less than a two-thirds majority.

    Elections from 2010 to 2018 often decided whether Republicans would hold a supermajority in the chamber. The 2010 election put the Republicans back into supermajority status with 81 seats. They lost seven seats in 2012 but then regained a supermajority in 2014 when they captured 82 seats. Democrats made gains in 2016 and 2018 which brought Republicans back down to 73 seats. Although neither party's numbers changed much during the elections from 2010 to 2018, the Democrats' inability to capture a significant share of seats was in line with a national trend toward Republican state legislatures during the presidency of Barack Obama (D). From 2009 to 2017, Democrats experienced losses in state legislative elections, totaling 968 seats altogether.

    Leadership in 2020

    Florida State Senate

    Florida House of Representatives

    Regular session

    The following widget shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2020 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation met these criteria in 2020. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

    Standing legislative committees

    See also: Standing committee and List of committees in Florida state government


    A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.

    At the beginning of the 2020 legislative session, there were 32 standing committees in Florida's state government, including five joint legislative committees, 19 state Senate committees, and nine state House committees.

    Joint legislative committees


    Senate committees


    House committees


    Legislatively referred constitutional amendments

    In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.

    The methods by which the Florida Constitution can be amended:

    See also: Article XI of the Florida Constitution and Laws governing ballot measures in Florida

    The Florida Constitution provides five mechanisms for amending the state's constitution—a citizen-initiated process, a legislative process, a state constitutional convention process, and a commission-referral process with two commissions that have the power to refer amendments. Florida requires 60% supermajority vote for voters to approve constitutional amendments.

    Article XI of the Florida Constitution provides for amendments to the constitution.

    Initiative

    See also: Initiated constitutional amendment

    An initiated constitutional amendment is a citizen-initiated ballot measure that amends a state's constitution. Eighteen (18) states allow citizens to initiate constitutional amendments.

    In Florida, the number of signatures required for an initiated constitutional amendment is equal to 8% of the votes cast in the last presidential election. Proponents must obtain signatures equaling at least 8% of the district-wide vote in the most recent presidential election in at least half (14) of the state's 27 congressional districts. A 60% vote is required for voter approval. In 2006, voters passed an amendment for the 60% vote requirement.

    Legislature

    See also: Legislatively referred constitutional amendment

    A 60% vote is required during one legislative session for the Florida State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 72 votes in the Florida House of Representatives and 24 votes in the Florida State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot. Amendments on the ballot must be approved by 60% of voters to pass.

    Convention

    See also: Convention-referred constitutional amendment

    According to Section 4 of Article XI of the Florida Constitution, a constitutional convention can be called through an initiative petition. Proponents must collect signatures equal to 15% of the total number of votes cast in the last presidential election.

    Commission-referred constitutional amendments

    See also: Commission-referred ballot measure

    According to Article XI of the Florida Constitution, the Florida Constitution Revision Commission can refer constitutional amendments to the ballot. The Constitution Revision Commission convenes every 20 years, beginning in 1977. The Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission is also empowered to refer constitutional amendments related to taxation and the state budget to the ballot. The Taxation and Budget Reform Commission convenes every 20 years beginning in 2007. Florida is the only state with commissions empowered to refer constitutional amendments to the ballot.



    Historical context:

    • A total of 91 measures appeared on the statewide ballot between 1996 and 2018.
    • From 1996 to 2018, an average of between seven and eight measures appeared on the ballot during even-numbered years in Florida.
    • The number of measures appearing on the even-year statewide ballot between 1996 and 2018 ranged from three to 13.
    • Between 1996 and 2018, 75.82% (69 of 91) of statewide measures were approved by voters and 24.18% (22 of 91) were defeated.
    • In 2006, Florida Amendment 3 raised the requirement for approving a constitutional amendment to 60 percent. Between 2008 and 2018, four measures were approved by a simple majority, but failed to meet the supermajority requirement and thus were defeated. One 2018 measure, Florida Amendment 1, received a simple majority of yes votes (58 percent) but failed to reach the supermajority requirement and thus was defeated.
    Florida statewide ballot measures, 1996-2018
    Years Total number Approved Percent approved Defeated Percent defeated Annual average Annual median Annual minimum Annual maximum
    1996-2018 91 69 75.82% 22 24.18% 7.58 7.0 3 13


    Historical partisan control

    The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Florida.

    Florida Party Control: 1992-2024
    One year of a Democratic trifecta  •  Twenty-six years of Republican trifectas
    Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

    Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
    Governor D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R I R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
    Senate D S S R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
    House D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

    See also

    Elections Florida State Government State Legislatures State Politics
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    External links

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "In Case of a Tie....," accessed September 27, 2017
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