By Kyle LoJacono
State Rep. Will Weatherford (R-Wesley Chapel) has been named the redistricting committee chairman. The committee is responsible for redrawing the boundaries for the state’s legislative and congressional districts.
Weatherford was named to the position by House Speaker-Designate Dean Cannon (R-Winter Park).
“It’s a tremendous honor,” said Weatherford, who just won re-election for House District 61. “I’m happy Speaker-Designate Cannon put his faith in me. It’s a long process that is very complicated, but I’m up for it.”
Weatherford said he understands how important redistricting is to all of Florida’s elections and will make the process something its citizens can be proud of. Florida voters this year approved a pair of constitutional amendments that require districts to be drawn without favoring any particular candidate or party.
“My goal is to have the most open and transparent redistricting process ever,” Weatherford said. “We are looking for a lot of our citizens’ input while obviously following the law and constitution.”
The redistricting job recently got a little more complicated with the release of U.S. Census numbers that pushed Florida’s U.S. House seats to 27, the same number as New York. The Sunshine State now how 29 electoral votes.
Weatherford, who will become the next Speaker-Designate at a ceremony in March, is in the process of creating a website where people can get information on the redistricting, give opinions and even create their own district maps.
“It’s going to be very interactive,” Weatherford said. “We may get some very interesting looking maps by the end, but it will allow us to really see what the people are looking for and where their concerns are.”
District 61 currently covers Land O’ Lakes, Odessa, Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills, Dade City, San Antonio and the rest of east Pasco County along with portions of northern Hillsborough County.
Every 10 years after the federal census, the Florida Legislature redraws the state’s legislative and congressional districts. This redistricting will happen during the 2012 session after two years of hearing public testimony about the district lines.
“In addition to passing the budget, redistricting is the only other constitutional mandate the members of the Legislature must pass,” Cannon said. “Representative Weatherford’s hard work and proven leadership abilities make him a perfect fit for this important, but very challenging assignment.”
Along with redistricting, one of Weatherford’s main focuses in the future is to create an environment for jobs to come to Florida.
“We’re doing a lot of prep work for the coming months,” Weatherford said. “Creating jobs is going to be the key to making Florida more prosperous and we’ll be doing everything we can to do that.”
