After media reports suggesting several Florida lawmakers might live outside the districts they represent, Senate President Don Gaetz has made it a priority to define residency in the 2014 session.
During a Monday evening briefing of senators on the Ethics and Elections Committee, staff attorney Dan Carlton said, to the question of whether a lawmaker lives in his district, the answer is not a simple yes or no.
“It is undefined in the constitution and it is undefined in the statutes," he said.
He said, without a new legislative rule-- like Gaetz has called for—it’s been up to the courts.
“Here’s what the courts have looked at: whether you’ve sold your prior domicile, whether you’ve moved your banking accounts to a local bank, where your spouse resides," he said.
He said other factors courts have used include where a lawmaker votes, what his driver’s license says and whether the address listed is actually a house and not another structure or a post office box.
Gaetz has called for a proposed guideline to be submitted well before the legislative session starts in March.
