Nebraska Legislature

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Nebraska Legislature
Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
Speaker	Mike Flood,   since January 3, 2007
Structure
Members	49
Political groups	Nonpartisan
Election
Last election	November 7, 2006
Meeting place
Nebraska State Capitol, Lincoln, Nebraska
Web site
http://www.leg.ne.gov/

The Nebraska Legislature is the supreme legislative body of the State of Nebraska, in the Great Plains region of the United States. The Legislature meets at the Nebraska State Capitol in the City of Lincoln, Lancaster County.

Nebraska's Legislature is unique in that it is unicameral and nonpartisan. No other state in the U.S. has a single-chamber legislative body, although the legislatures of two U.S. territories--the Virgin Islands and Legislature of Guam--are unicameral, as is the Council of the District of Columbia.

Contents 1 History 2 Selection, composition and operation 2.1 General powers 3 Membership 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] History

The First Nebraska Territorial Legislature met in Omaha in 1855, staying there until statehood was granted in 1867.^[1] Nebraska originally operated under a bicameral legislature. Over time, defects in the bicameral system became apparent. Bills were lost because the two houses could not agree on a single version, and conference committees that were created to reconcile different versions of bills often met in secret, and were thus unaccountable for their actions. After a trip to Australia in 1931,[1] George Norris campaigned for reform, arguing that the bicameral system was based on the inherently undemocratic British House of Lords, and that it was pointless to have two bodies of people doing the same thing and hence wasting money. He specifically pointed to the example of the Australian state of Queensland, which had adopted a unicameral parliament nearly ten years earlier.[2] In 1934, voters approved a constitutional amendment which dissolved the House of Representatives and granted its powers to the Senate.

Campaigns to consolidate the Nebraska Legislature into a single chamber date back as early as 1913, meeting with mixed success^[2]. Many possible reasons for the 1934 amendment's victory have been advanced: the popularity of Nebraska's U.S. Sen. George Norris, a fervent proponent of single-chamber government; the Depression-era desire to cut costs; public dissatisfaction with the previous year's legislature; or even the fact that, by chance, it was on the ballot in the same year as an amendment to legalize parimutuel betting on horse races^[3]. This latter coincidence may have aided the measure's passage in Omaha, where the unicameral issue was not a pressing one but horse racing was. (Gambling interests campaigned for "yes" votes on all amendments in hopes of assuring the horse-racing amendment's passage.)

The new unicameral Legislature met for the first time in 1937. Though the name of the body is formally the "Nebraska Legislature", its members are commonly referred to as "Senators". In Nebraska, the Legislature is also often known as "The Unicameral" or simply "The Unicam".

[edit] Selection, composition and operation

The Legislature is composed of forty-nine members, chosen by a single-member district or constituency. Senators are chosen for four-year terms, with one-half of the seats up for election every second year. No person may be a senator unless he or she is a qualified voter, over the age of twenty-one, and a resident of his or her district for at least one year. Currently, senators are limited by law to two terms. Senators earn $12,000 a year.

Members are selected in nonpartisan elections. Rather than separate primaries held to choose Republican, Democratic, and other partisan contenders for a seat, Nebraska uses a single nonpartisan primary election, in which the top two vote-getters are entitled to run in the general election. There are no formal party alignments or groups within the Legislature. Coalitions tend to form issue by issue based on a member's philosophy of government, geographic background, and constituency. However, almost all the members of the legislature are affiliated with the state affiliate of either the Democratic or the Republican party and both parties explicitly endorse candidates for legislative seats. The unofficial partisan makeup of the Nebraska Legislature is 31 Republicans, 15 Democrats, and 3 Independents

Sessions of the Nebraska Legislature last for 90 working days in odd-numbered years and 60 working days in even-numbered years. The Speaker presides over the Legislature in the absence of the Lieutenant Governor, but the day-to-day matters of the body are dealt with by the Executive Board. The Board includes the Speaker, a chairperson, a vice-chairperson, and six other senators. The chairperson and vice-chairperson are chosen for two-year terms by the Legislature as a whole. Senators are classified into three geographically-based "caucuses"; each caucus elects two board members. Finally, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee serves, but cannot vote on any matter, and can only speak on fiscal matters.

[edit] General powers

The Legislature is responsible for law-making in the state, but the Governor has the power to veto any bill. The Legislature may override the governor's veto by a vote of three-fifths (30) of its members. The Legislature also has the power, by a three-fifths vote, to propose constitutional amendments to the voters, who then decide upon it through a referendum.

[edit] Membership

Note: The Nebraska Legislature is nonpartisan; members' party affiliations are for informational purposes only.

Affiliation		Members
	Republican Party	31
	Democratic Party	15
	Independent	3
Total		49
Majority		16

Each member represents about 35,000 people.

	District	Senator	Home
	1	Lavon Heidemann	Elk Creek
	2	Dave Pankonin	Louisville
	3	Gail Kopplin	Gretna
	4	Pete Pirsch	Omaha
	5	Don Preister	Bellevue
	6	John E. Nelson	Omaha
	7	John Synowiecki	Omaha
	8	Tom White	Omaha
	9	Gwen Howard	Omaha
	10	Mike Friend	Omaha
	11	Ernie Chambers	Omaha
	12	Steve Lathrop	Omaha
	13	Lowen Kruse	Omaha
	14	Tim Gay	Papillion
	15	Ray Janssen	Nickerson
	16	Kent Rogert	Tekamah
	17	L. Patrick Engel	South Sioux City
	18	Scott Lautenbaugh	Omaha
	19	Mike Flood*	Norfolk
	20	Brad Ashford	Omaha
	21	Carol Hudkins	Malcolm
	22	Arnie Stuthman	Platte Center
	23	Chris Langemeier	Schuyler
	24	Greg L. Adams	York
	25	Ron Raikes	Lincoln
	26	Amanda McGill	Lincoln
	27	DiAnna Schimek	Lincoln
	28	Bill Avery	Lincoln
	29	Tony Fulton	Lincoln
	30	Norm Wallman	Cortland
	31	Rich Pahls	Omaha
	32	Russ Karpisek	Wilber
	33	Carroll Burling	Kenesaw
	34	Annette M. Dubas	Fullerton
	35	Ray Aguilar	Grand Island
	36	John Wightman	Lexington
	37	Joel T. Johnson	Kearney
	38	Tom Carlson	Holdrege
	39	Dwite Pedersen	Omaha
	40	Cap Dierks	Ewing
	41	Vickie D. McDonald	St. Paul
	42	Tom Hansen	North Platte
	43	Deb Fischer	Valentine
	44	Mark R. Christensen	Imperial
	45	Abbie Cornett	Bellevue
	46	Danielle Nantkes	Lincoln
	47	Philip Erdman	Bayard
	48	John N. Harms	Scottsbluff
	49	LeRoy J. Louden	Ellsworth

*Speaker of the Nebraska Legislature

[edit] See also

• History of Nebraska

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Unicameral Votes Online: Supporting Transparency in the Nebraska Unicameral since 2008.
• The official site of the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature
  • History of the Nebraska Unicameral
• Project Vote Smart - State Senate of Nebraska

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