The Nebraska Legislature convenes on Jan. 8 with a whopping 17 new senators joining the body, with State Sen. Dan Quick of Grand Island returning after serving from 2017 to 2021. They’ll all be sworn into office by the Chief Justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court, Hon. Jeffrey Funke, newly appointed by Gov. Jim Pillen last October.
The new body will then elect its new leadership, including the Speaker and committee chairperson roles. This agenda for Day 1 is a good tool to use if you’re tracking these internal elections. We’ll also see the retirement of Richard Brown, who has served as assistant clerk of the Nebraska Legislature since 1978.
Speaker Arch has released a revised session calendar, with an earlier June 9 anticipated adjournment date. In odd-numbered years like this one, the Legislature convenes for a “long” session, meaning it can last up to 90 legislative days. (In even-numbered years, it can meet for just 60.) The more extended session is designed to allow additional time for debate of the two-year state budget, which is the only bill the Legislature is constitutionally required to pass.
Senators will start the session with a projected $432 million budget shortfall they will need to address, causing challenges for further discussion of property tax reduction as promised after last August’s special session.
In the months since the special session, Pillen has continued to beat the drum on changing to a winner-take-all presidential electoral vote, so sign up here to get updates on how you can help protect our split electoral vote. We continue to hold that our split vote is fairer for Nebraska voters, fosters voter engagement, and brings the attention of presidential candidates to our state in ways that otherwise would not happen. We should not bend to partisan pressure to change this long-standing tradition from politicians outside our state.
As this and other bills relevant to voting and elections are introduced in the first 10 days of the session, we’ll update our bill tracker with details.
As always, thanks for helping us advocate for free and fair elections and the voting rights of all Nebraskans.
Happy New Year,
Heidi Uhing
Director of Public Policy
