Continuity Prevalent with New Nebraska Legislature

January 7, 2011 

The first regular session of the 102^nd Nebraska Legislature is on its journey. The ceremonies of the first day of a new Legislature were on display January 5 at the historic State Capitol. After opening day, ceremony becomes secondary to the main business of considering ideas for policy changes and making new laws.

The ceremonies included the swearing-in of 24 legislators—all having the title "senator," given Nebraska’s especially unique one-house system—who were elected last November. This number, in effect half of the total of 49 legislators, consisted of 19 incumbents and five new members. In addition, Senator Dave Bloomfield from Hoskins was appointed by the Governor last month to fill the District-17 seat vacated by an incumbent who resigned upon being elected to a county office. The new first-year class consists of Senators Burke Harr from Omaha, District 8; Jim Smith from Papillion, District 14; Lydia Brasch from Bancroft, District 16; Paul Schumacher from Columbus, District 22; and Tyson Larson from O’Neill, District 40.

Another first-day task for the new Legislature was election of leadership positions. More often than not over the years, these secret-ballot elections have had some competitive, tense moments and produced some drama. Not this year; the event was pretty much a snoozer. Almost all of the key positions were filled by the incumbent.

The post of Speaker was returned by unanimous acclaim to a proven leader, the skillful solon from Norfolk, Senator Mike Flood. Likewise, Senator John Wightman of Lexington was re-elected Chairman of the Legislature’s Executive Board. The standing committee chairpersons are almost exactly the same as they were last year. An exception is the Health and Human Services Committee. Senator Kathy Campbell of Lincoln was elected for the chair previously held by an incumbent who did not seek re-election.

While the impact of terms limits is still a discussed and debatable topic, this Legislature was not greatly affected, at least numbers-wise. Only one of last year’s legislators was term-limited. Overall, six new members is not a seismic turnover. This Legislature has a noteworthy amount of continuity.

The 102^nd Legislature, like its many predecessors, will deal with a myriad of difficult and challenging issues. At the top of this year’s list from the perspective of most observers and pundits are fixing the projected budget shortfall of nearly a billion dollars and determining new boundary lines for the congressional and legislative districts based upon 2010 census data. The budget challenge will be multi-faceted, drawing numerous other issues into debate and negotiation.

Another issue that has been attracting attention, probably more than it deserves, involves state- and local-level authority to enforce Federal immigration laws. At least one legislator has given several hints that he intends to introduce some form of legislation to help the federal government do its job, even though that job is tied to a broken system that Congress has failed to fix. He has claimed that what he proposes will vary from the infamous Arizona law and will protect against racial profiling. Given those self-directed parameters, it will be interesting to see what comes forth.

The legislators won’t be addressing the serious budget woes without preparation. In fact, the preparation has been unprecedented. Pursuant to Legislative Resolution 542, adopted last April 13, an ad hoc committee consisting of the Speaker, the Executive Board chairman and the chairpersons of the standing committees, has reviewed all programs of state government and each agency’s budget authority.

Each of the 14 standing committees was charged with a duty to identify potential cuts totaling 10 percent of the total general fund appropriation for all agencies within the respective committee’s jurisdiction. The result is a list of ideas—now called the "10% Options List"—that the committees believe need to be carefully considered in crafting a new budget that overcomes the projected $986 million shortfall. The ideas stem from programs and funding that may be amended, reduced or eliminated. All that careful consideration will take time, especially for options that require changes in statutes.

And finally….

A tip of the cap please toward Senators Ben Nelson and Mike Johanns for voting to ratify the New START treaty, which governs the nuclear arsenals of the U.S. and the Russian Federation. While this might not have been a hugely relevant or significant matter in the "big picture," Senator Nelson was on target with his observation that there was no good reason not to support the nuclear arms reduction treaty.

On the flip side of the Congressional coin, the fact that all five members of Nebraska’s delegation failed to support the Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act—the DREAM Act—was disappointing, to say the least. They refused to take even a modest, reasonable step toward fixing the broken immigration system. While all five probably would acknowledge the obvious need for comprehensive immigration reform, including border security, what efforts have they made to meet that need? So far, like a lot of their colleagues, they’ve been more a part of the problem than a solution.