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Civic Nebraska @ the Statehouse: proposed rules changes

Dear voting rights advocates,

The 108th Nebraska Legislature is underway. The good news is that we didn’t see some of the hyper-partisan attempts to change the rules of the Legislature on Day 1, which some members had threatened to pursue.
The bad news is that an attempt to do away with private ballots for internal leadership positions in the Legislature is still in the works. State Sen. Steve Halloran has sent such a proposal for the Rules Committee to consider this week. Keeping these ballots private enables senators to vote for who they truly believe will do the job best, rather than whichever candidate is a member of the same party. This rule is a critical piece of the Legislature’s 90-year tradition of nonpartisanship.
The Rules Committee meets at 1:30 pm CST this Thursday, Jan. 12, in Hearing Room 1525 at the State Capitol to consider this and dozens of other rules change proposals. These range from making redistricting nonpartisan and providing videos of legislative proceedings available online (which Civic Nebraska supports), to keeping the media from covering executive sessions of legislative committees.
As always, you – as a member of the Legislature’s “Second House” – are encouraged to attend the hearing and testify on any or all of the changes. Meanwhile, we’ll be keeping tabs on the hearing and will let everyone know if significant or notable rule changes gain traction.
You can follow all of the bills Civic Nebraska is tracking and our legislative priorities on our Nebraska Legislature Bill Tracker page. Thanks for all that you do to create a more modern and robust democracy for all Nebraskans!
Best,
Heidi Uhing
Director of Public Policy