TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday delayed a planned special session on redistricting by one week, while simultaneously expanding the agenda to include a revived push for artificial intelligence regulations and vaccine discussions.

In a proclamation issued Wednesday evening, DeSantis said he was pushing back the special session’s start date — originally a five-day planned to begin April 20 — to April 28.

He also said the session “can extend no later than” May 1 — meaning the governor is giving lawmakers one less day to debate new congressional maps and address two surprise items from his policy wishlist.

The delay caps an uncertain stretch for DeSantis’ push for mid-decade redistricting, which began last summer as President Donald Trump and his administration levied pressure on Texas and other red states to redraw their maps to protect the congressional GOP’s majority.

DeSantis first called for a special session to address the matter in January.

But he has yet to release tentative maps for lawmakers to think over before they return to Tallahassee, and Senate President Ben Albritton said Wednesday that he’s deferring to the governor to draw the map.

“The Senate is not drafting or producing a map for introduction during the special session,” he said in a statement. Instead, Albritton said he expects the governor’s office to submit a proposal for Senate consideration.

The Florida House created a special committee for congressional redistricting last August, but after holding two meetings where they spoke generally about the process at the end of last year, the committee went quiet. House Speaker Daniel Perez — who has feuded with the governor — did not put out a statement like Albritton’s regarding the new special session call.

Unlike many other states, Florida’s constitution bans partisan gerrymandering. In 2010, more than 60% of voters supported the Fair Districts Amendment to prohibit that.

As DeSantis has talked about the need for Florida to redistrict, he has been cautious to not discuss partisanship.

Instead, he says the need is based on a pending U.S. Supreme Court ruling that looks at how race factors into redistricting and a 2025 Florida Supreme Court case on a similar topic.

DeSantis has previously said he believes the U.S. Supreme Court will rule “racial gerrymandering” unconstitutional, saying that could impact potentially two districts in Florida. The court has not yet ruled in that case.

The Florida Supreme Court upheld the state’s congressional map last July. That map was created — atypically — by the governor’s office and favored Republicans for 20 out of 28 seats.

Groups challenging the governor’s maps said it reduced Black voting power. But the state’s high court sided with DeSantis, saying that the old district was an unconstitutional race-based gerrymander.

After their decision, DeSantis said the plan his office drafted was “always the constitutionally correct map.”

If Florida does ultimately pass new maps in the coming weeks, it could mean those districts will be in effect for the 2026 election, regardless of any legal fight. In 2012, for example, lawmakers redrew the maps as part of the standard process based on new census numbers. Two election cycles passed before the Florida Supreme Court struck down those maps.

Some members of the state’s congressional Republican delegation have warned lawmakers about the risk of redrawing maps. In Florida’s recent special elections, two Democrats flipped red seats. U.S. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries has also said that if Florida moves forward with redistricting, they will “create prime pick-up opportunities for Democrats.”

Vaccine exemptions, AI added to agenda

The governor’s revised call also broadens the scope of the session, layering in two politically charged issues that have already faced resistance in the Legislature.

One is an “AI Bill of Rights,” a proposal championed by DeSantis that was previously rejected by the Florida House. House leaders had signaled alignment with Trump and congressional Republicans who favor reserving AI regulation largely to the government.

The other is a vaccine measure that would expand the exemptions parents can use to opt their children out of school-immunization requirements, a proposal likely to reignite interchamber debate over public health and parental rights.

The House legislation was more punitive than the Senate’s; it could have made doctors lose their license for refusing to see unvaccinated patients. That bill died in the House without a hearing.

The upper chamber’s proposal would also have required health care workers to show parents information created by the state medical board about a vaccine’s risks, benefits, safety and efficacy.

It would also allow pharmacists to sell ivermectin — a drug that became popular among people skeptical of mainstream COVID treatments — to adults without them needing a prescription.

Albritton said on Thursday that his chamber planned to address both issues, and that senators would refile versions of their already-passed “AI Bill of Rights” and “Medical Freedom Act.” It remains unclear whether House Republicans will take up the additional items.

Democrats, meanwhile, continue to strongly oppose the redistricting effort. Earlier Wednesday, chairperson Nikki Fried said that redistricting right now would be “illegal, expensive, unnecessary and anti-Democratic.”

Fried said redrawing the maps was “simply about placating Donald Trump and protecting GOP power,” and called it a “Ron DeSantis vanity project.”

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