Statehouse Series: Legislative Rules Changes

Last week, the Nebraska Legislature’s Rules Committee advanced a series of proposed new rules that determine how the body functions. Among them: a proposal to weaken cloture rules from the current two-thirds of the body (33 votes) to a bare majority (as few as 25 votes). Another proposal would eliminate the practice of senators casting private ballots for their colleagues’ committee assignments.

These rule changes go too far. Instead of working on policies that will help Nebraskans, senators are trying to change the rules to make it easier to pass extreme legislation and severely damage our Legislature’s nonpartisan guardrails.

What can Nebraskans do to help preserve our Legislature’s tried-and-true traditions? At 7 pm CST / 6 pm MST on Monday, Jan. 15, we’re hosting a Zoom discussion and Q+A on these and other proposed rules changes, which the Legislature will debate later this week.