TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A invoice that may enable Lee County voters to resolve whether or not county commissioners must be elected by the voters of their respective districts — relatively than by all county residents— handed 94-11 on the Home flooring Thursday.
What it does: The invoice locations a referendum on the county poll, asking if voters need the county fee to shift from 5 at-large seats to 5 single-member districts.
- Presently, whereas every commissioner represents a particular district, all county voters are eligible to elect commissioners, regardless the place they stay.
Opposition: Rep. Jenna Individuals-Mulicka — the spouse of Lee County Commissioner David Mulicka — voted towards the invoice, siding with eight Democrats and two Republican: Reps. Anne Gerwig and Patt Maney.
- Individuals-Mulicka mentioned she voted towards the invoice “as a result of it’s an area invoice with out native assist.” Nonetheless, the Lee County Legislative Delegation beforehand voted in favor of the native invoice in January.
Sponsor: Republican Rep. Mike Giallombardo is sponsoring the invoice, HB 4001.
Giallombardo advised Florida’s Voice, ““For practically twenty years, the query of how Lee County elects its commissioners has been debated, with native authorities persistently denying voters the chance to resolve for themselves,” Giallombardo mentioned.
“I’m happy that we’re lastly placing this vital situation on the poll, giving residents the prospect to have their voices heard. That is the folks’s authorities, and so they deserve the proper to find out the way it’s structured—one thing they’ve been denied for much too lengthy,” he mentioned.
Subsequent steps: The native invoice now should move the Senate and be signed by the governor earlier than it seems on the 2026 election poll.
