The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-04-20
Several viii Be introduced
at This Session of the
Legislature.
REPRESENTATIVE sTRINeER IN
TRoDUcEs A JOINT REsoLU-
TIoN WHICH PROVIDES FOR A
REPRESENTATIVE FOR EVERY
10000 POPULATION, AND WHICH
WOULD GIVE EscAMsIA FOUR
REPRESENTATIVES.
BY J. n. Reese.


Tailahassee, April 1s.-There will be
several Feapportionment measures
presented at this session, II the fore
casts prove correct. It is reasonable
that there should be. There has been
need for q reapportionment Of the
representation in the legislature for
several years, but in some way 1t has
never yet come to passage. There
are at least two ways of arriving at
the question. The constitution Of the
state provides that the house of rep
resentatfves shall consist of sixty
eight members and the senate Of thir-
ty-two, making a hundred members
IN an This number shall compose
the general assembly of the state.
Ever since the admission Of st. Lucie
county the house has been composed
of more than the constitutional limit
Of representatives. The admission Of
Palm Beach county created the need
for another representative, and hence
the house is now composed of seventy
members and the senate remains at
thirty-two 50 we have at this time
two more representatives than the
constitution provides for,
Representative Watson of Dade will
offer q measure cutting down the
number of representatives to sixty
eight, the constitutional limit. Repre-
sentative Stringer has offered a joint
resolution which provides for a repre-
sentative for every ten thousand Of
population or a majority of that num-
Der in each county. According to his
scheme, there win be at least "a rep
resentatives- II Is provided in his reso-
luton that there shall not be more
than four representatives from each
caunfys n0r shall there be less. than
ouss Elsg increase OF the number Of
counties IL provided for in the String
er resolution, which seems to be ia
vored rather generally. The resolu-
ton provides that there. shall be one
senator from each OF the counties, also
which would bring the number Of rep
resentatives in the legislature even at
the present time up to 121, as against
an even hundred at present. II is also
provided that the legislature shall 'au-
thorize census to be taken in Florida
every ten years
- It IS further provided that the terms
Of the senators elected in 1912 from
the following Sc ntorial districts as
they now exist shall be as follows:
srd. 5th, eth, 18th, 18th, 25th, eth and
2Sth, composed Of the following coun-
ties: Walton and Holmes; Liberty
and Franklin and waukulla; Herman
do, Citrus and Pasco; Dade, Brevard,
ST Lucie and Palm Beach; Orange
and Osceola; Washington and Cal
houn; Manatee and DeSoto: Clay and
Baker, shall expire on the first Tues
day after the first Monday in Novem-
= ber 1914, and those elected in the fol-
lowing counties: Jackson, Gadsden,
Leon. Madison, Taylor, Lafayette, Co
iurnbia, Nassau, Jefferson, Lee, Mon
roe, Putnam, Volusia, Hamilton, Ala
chua, Marion, Sumter, Santa Rosa,
Polk Bradford, Suwanee, Levy, Lake
and ST. Johns shall have their terms to
expire on the first Tuesday after the
first Monday in November 1916. The
resolution continues: After 1914 all
senator's shall be elected for a term of
four years, except that when a new
county is created the legislature shall
at that time fix the length of the term
q OF the first senator to be elected there
from at two or four years with the
end in view Of keeping the old sena-
tors In q balance with the number of
the new"
s--- The resolution further provides that
the next legislature. that is the ses-
sion OF 1918, shall apportion the rep
resentation in the house of represen-
tatives which shall be based on the
last census enumeration taken by the
United States government and the leg
islature that shall meet in 1917 and
those that shall meet every ten years
thereafter shall apportion the repre-
sentation in the manner provided.
which means one representative for
ever ten thousand Of population in the
several counties or the majority frac-
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