1 day Ago By CHRIS DUNKER Lincoln Journal Star
All eyes will be on the George W. Norris Legislative Chamber this week as state senators return to Lincoln for the start of the 109th Nebraska Legislature. This week marks the start of the long session for the 49 lawmakers — nearly one-third of whom will be brand-new to the position — making up Nebraska's unique unicameral legislative system.
Over the next five months, the Legislature will be asked to wrangle a massive $432 million budget shortfall while also delivering on campaign promises to further reduce property tax bills for homeowners. Quentin Shaw, assistant coordinator of legislative services, changes the nameplates in the Norris Chamber Friday. Senators return to the Capitol for the first session of the 109th Nebraska Legislature on Wednesday.
They will also consider legislation changing how Nebraska's K-12 schools are funded, expanding the development of broadband internet, and broadening housing and child care options across the state. Senators will also likely tackle a growing list of culture war issues that have become intense flashpoints at the Capitol in recent years. Among those hot-button topics are how Nebraska should allocate its Electoral College votes and whether or not to enact further restrictions on abortion or limitations on transgender youth participating in school activities.
As the gavel drops at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, here's what the Journal Star will be watching for to get a glimpse at how the 90-day session may unfold.
As has become commonplace since 2006, when the term limits era began, roughly one-third of senators will be brand new to the Legislature this year. Gone will be a close-knit class of senators, several of whom had big personalities and were often at the center of debate. Quentin Shaw, assistant coordinator of legislative services, changes the nameplates at the Norris Chamber on Friday.
Senators return to the Capitol for the first session of the 109th Nebraska Legislature on Wednesday. Lawmakers like Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn spearheaded efforts to cut Nebraska's income, corporate and property taxes, while Sen.
Steve Erdman of Bayard, an outspoken conservative, often staked out positions farthest to the political right in the body. Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon was behind the Legislature passing a law allowing Nebraskans to carry concealed weapons without a permit, and Omaha Sen.
Mike McDonnell, who flipped from Democrat to Republican after being censured by the Democratic Party for a vote to enact abortion restrictions, was a key vote against changing Nebraska to a winner-take-all system. Other legislators, like Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston, drove attempts to restrict abortion in Nebraska, while Omaha Sen.
Justin Wayne alternated between playing dealmaker and using the Legislature's rules to further his own goals. A total of 16 new lawmakers, as well as former Sen. Dan Quick of Grand Island, who returns to Lincoln after defeating Sen.
Ray Aguilar's reelection bid, will take their place after being administered the oath of office by new Chief Justice Jeffrey Funke early on Day 1. November's election, at least on paper, maintained Republicans' filibuster-proof majority of 33 senators, but how that plays out in the officially nonpartisan Legislature remains to be seen. Veteran lawmakers and other legislative observers have said the incoming class appears to be more politically moderate on many issues than the lawmakers they will replace.
A lack of experience among some of the incoming senators -- although some have served as city mayors or on county boards, many have no or limited experience as an elected official -- could result in more bridges being built than burned down as well. Quentin Shaw, assistant coordinator of legislative services, installs the nameplate of incoming Sen. Jason Prokop of Lincoln inside the Norris Chamber on Friday.
Prokop is one of 16 new senators who will take the oath of office on Wednesday, Day 1 of the legislative session. The neophytes will need to quickly absorb the lessons from their orientation or lean on more experienced lawmakers for advice in how to navigate the sometimes grueling committee process and ins and outs of floor debate. Those kind of conversations can result in relationships that cross partisan boundaries, and may lead the Legislature to look different than what close watchers have come to expect in recent years.
Ultimately, the constitutionally required turnover inside the Capitol will create new centers of power, as well as new alliances among senators, which could either pave the way for some bills to succeed, or stymie others. Speaker John Arch is expected to once again be the person responsible for setting the Legislature's agenda and triaging problems in the chamber as they arise. Speaker John Arch of La Vista watches debate from the side of the chamber during the legislative special session at the Capitol on Aug.
13. The La Vista senator, who will be starting his seventh year in the Legislature, is likely to become speaker through acclamation when elections take place on Wednesday. Sen.
Ben Hansen of Blair is seeking to become chair of the Executive Board, according to an unofficial list of nominees maintained by legislative staff members, which would put him in charge of the committee responsible for governing the Legislature itself. Sen. Teresa Ibach of Sumner, who will start her third year, is seeking the vice chair position on the Executive Board.
Who lawmakers choose for other leadership positions within the Legislature — all but three of the 15 standing and special committees will have new chairs, as well as staff doing all the behind-the-scenes work — could signify the tone and tenor of debate over the next two years. The Health and Human Services Committee — which has been the working group with jurisdiction over some of the most controversial legislation to be introduced in recent years — will be led by a Republican for the next two years. But observers say they are watching to see whether Sen.
Brian Hardin, a business consultant from Gering, or Sen. Merv Riepe, a former hospital administrator from Ralston, gets the nod during Wednesday's elections. Hardin has supported bills restricting abortion and certain health care for transgender youth, while Riepe, who led the committee in a previous term at the Capitol, has broken with Gov.
Jim Pillen and others in his party over both issues. Another chair election to watch includes leadership of the Rules Committee, which is responsible for determining the process and procedure used by lawmakers as they set policy for the state. Sen.
Loren Lippincott of Central City, one of the more conservative lawmakers in the Legislature, and Sen. Wendy DeBoer of Bennington, a Democrat with deep experience on the committee, are both running for the position. How senators choose committee leaders and decide the roster for the Legislature's working groups could bring its own drama early in the 90-day session.
In 2017, at the start of the 105th Legislature, former Sen. John Kuehn of Heartwell requested a voice vote for the chairperson of the Rules Committee, which he said was required by the state constitution but was in contrast to the longstanding secret ballot procedure. Lincoln Sen.
Adam Morfeld asked the presiding officer, then-Lt. Gov. Mike Foley, whether a request for a vote "viva voce" was in order.
Foley ruled that it was, but Morfeld was able to muster enough votes to overrule that decision . The battle over whether or not lawmakers could choose leaders using secret ballots — a practice that started when Nebraska switched to the unicameral system in 1937 — continued another two months because there is no mechanism in the rules to end a filibuster of a proposed rules change. Proponents of the change, which boils up every two years or so , said it would make the Legislature more transparent to Nebraska voters, while opponents of the voice vote say it keeps the body free from partisan influence.
Recently, former gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster and his Nebraska First political action committee have pushed to end the secret ballot practice, asking senators to sign a pledge to do so, but the effort has failed to gain traction. On Wednesday, the Legislature's Committee on Committees will also assign senators to the committees responsible for hearing and considering which bills should be debated. The Committee on Committees includes four senators from each of Nebraska's three congressional districts.
Sen. Christy Armendariz of Omaha has announced her intention to become chairwoman of the committee. Two years ago, Democratic senators on the committee accused their Republican colleagues of ignoring precedent and past practice in favor of partisan politics when they slotted lawmakers onto various committees.
At times, the discussion during the committee's meeting got heated and even spilled out into the hallway. After the committee sent its report to the floor, the committee assignments became the focus of a two-day filibuster with a threat from Arch to suspend the rules before it finally was adopted, becoming something of a harbinger for the rancorous session to come. During the last 90-day session in 2023, Nebraska lawmakers introduced more than 800 bills and proposed constitutional amendments, each of which received its own public hearing.
Bill introduction is scheduled to begin Thursday, Jan. 9 (Day 2), and conclude on Wednesday, Jan. 22 (Day 10), with committee hearings set to begin sometime in mid-January and likely continue well into March.
The number of bills, as well as which measures are given priority status, will be key in understanding how the session will unfold in the coming months. Any legislation introduced early is likely to get earlier committee hearings, which could put those bills on track to reach the floor before the Legislature takes up the state budget — a time-consuming process in years where tax receipts are tracking positively. That won't be the case this year.
The need to find an estimated $432 million in cuts will be a lengthy process for the Legislature's Appropriations Committee — which will once again be led by Sen. Rob Clements of Elmwood — even before it arrives on the floor for debate. The looming tax and spending debates could play a role in when certain bills, particularly those sure to generate fierce opposition on the floor and in the gallery, are also brought to the floor.
Two years ago, a weekslong filibuster over a bill limiting certain medical treatment for transgender youths, when combined with a lengthy budget debate, prevented some bills from getting consideration by the full Legislature. Drawing from the previous years' experience, Arch in 2024 scheduled bills addressing culture war issues, including the so-called "Sports and Spaces Act" limiting which bathrooms and locker rooms transgender youth can use in schools, late in the session after less controversial matters were concluded. Several legislative observers told the Journal Star they expect the Legislature will tread a similar path this year with social issues, though that will be up to lawmakers.
* A handful of lawmakers in recent years cautioned against aggressive income and corporate tax cuts, as well as efforts to use cash funds maintained by the state to funnel money into property tax relief or other expenditures. Now, staring down the barrel of a massive budget shortfall, the Legislature will be asked to find savings or new sources of revenue in order to balance the budget, which is required by the state constitution. One lobbyist told the Journal Star the budget debate will likely "suck all the air out of the room" this session.
* A handful of lawmakers, as well as the Nebraska Farm Bureau, have also signaled a desire to pay property owners for a rebate for taxes paid to local schools they missed out on when the Legislature changed the timing of when that credit is processed. Homeowners who did not pay their 2023 property taxes last year will not receive the 30% return on money paid to support their local school districts. The credit will show up on their tax statements for 2024, however, and all subsequent years, but critics of the policy say the Legislature created a "gap year" during the special session.
Making taxpayers whole would cost an estimated $750 million. The Legislature's need to find hundreds of millions in savings lessens the chance an effort to pay the lost credit will succeed. * With voters' approval of Initiative 434 in November, the constitutional amendment banning abortions after about 12 weeks, observers anticipate the Legislature will likely avoid enacting further restrictions this year.
Riepe, who previously voted against a six-week abortion ban, is expected to also stand as an impediment to any attempt by Nebraska lawmakers to pass a more-restrictive law. But, observers say bills setting health and safety standards for abortion clinics, requiring certain information to be provided to women and families seeking an abortion, and similar measures could instead become the focal point. * Pillen signaled his openness to Nebraska legalizing online sports betting during discussions over property tax relief last year , though a bill introduced and considered by committee in the special session did not come up for floor debate.
Several lobbyists and others said they expect the measure could get new legs in 2025 as the state's existing gaming groups plan a petition drive to put a constitutional amendment before voters in 2026. * The governor's other legislative priorities include the "Sports and Spaces Act," likely to be reintroduced this session by Omaha Sen. Kathleen Kauth, as well as banning the sale of lab-grown meat in Nebraska, reexamining the K-12 school funding formula, and moving Nebraska to a winner-take-all system for awarding presidential electors.
Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or [email protected] . On Bluesky @chrisdunker.
bsky.social The team bringing Lincoln Journal Star readers legislative news includes: * Chris Dunker has covered the Nebraska Legislature since 2018. Contact him at 402-473-7120, cdunker@journalstar.
com or find him on Bluesky @chrisdunker.bsky.social.
* Andrew Wegley is covering his second legislative session. He can be contacted at 402-473-7223 or [email protected].
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