The Nebraska Legislature closed its 2023 session last week, making major changes to the state’s social and economic policies. Take a look at what the senators have done this year.
Republican Gov. Jim Pillen stood in front of the colorful Legislature at the Nebraska State Capitol last week and thanked lawmakers for their hard work.
“I am deeply honored to be with you in this incredible chamber as we mark the conclusion of one of the most influential sessions in the history of this organization,” said Pillen. .
Senators entered the session with a record budget surplus, buoyed by a strong economy during the pandemic and federal stimulus. Sen. John Arch, the Republican chairman of the officially independent chamber, said Congress responded well.
“I think this session was historic…The big question we had going into this session was what to do with the extra money. They had to spend billions of dollars, determined by income and wealth tax cuts, and by investments in education through a $1 billion fund established for public education. And it was an investment in the community,” Arch said.
Apart from these decisions, the list of important bills passed by senators is long.
These include tax-credit scholarships for private and religious schools and the authorization of floating bonds for highway construction.
The senators allowed people to carry concealed weapons without a permit and ride motorcycles without a helmet.
They approved construction of a new prison and secured funding for a canal to bring water from the South Platte River in Colorado to Nebraska.
It passed legislation that would ban most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy and restrict gender-affirming health care for transgender youth.
These medical issues caused some of the fiercest battles of the session. Sen. Makaela Kavanaugh, one of the outnumbered Democrats, called the experience “uncomfortable. Very, very unpleasant.”
Kavanaugh led the fight against transgender medical restrictions. Her tactic has been to prolong consideration of nearly every other bill, aimed at pressuring senators to withdraw support for medical restrictions for transgender people. She has mixed feelings about whether the tactic is worth it, she said.
“Yes and no. It wasn’t worth it in that it didn’t succeed. But it showed the targeted communities that they were worth fighting for, and that they stood up and fought for them and for their right to exist. It was valuable in that it showed that there are people willing to fight – not just me but others – ,” she said.
Republican Sen. Kathleen Kaus, who supports transgender health restrictions, suggested just before the end of the session that her opponents’ filibuster tactic had backfired.
“When you saw the filibuster happening, know that there were conversations happening on both sides, everywhere, with all the other senators. We’ve worked on all the issues that are going to be addressed. We’ve ignored the filibuster and continued our work. And I think that’s important for everyone to remember,” Kaus said. .
Delay tactics did reduce the number of bills passed. But sometimes what passed was a combination of 20 or 30 notes. Arch said 291 bills were ultimately passed, compared to 281 in the previous 90-day session two years ago.
He said competing questions need to be balanced to overcome the filibuster.
“How do we get the job done? And at the same time, don’t stop the dissent, don’t stop the minority voices? I think we’ve pretty much accomplished that. Democracy and representative forms of government are messy. It’s a tedious process. And we certainly proved that. But nevertheless, we got our job done,” he said.
Not everyone approved of the work. On the day senators passed restrictions on abortion and transgender health care, protesters packed the Capitol rotunda and denounced the vote, chanting “Shame! Shame!” shame! shame! “
Democratic Sen. Daniel Conrad, who is on the losing side of the fight over the bill, says the fight over this and other issues is far from over.
“Rarely do we have the last word in politics. Our system has an elegant design to ensure there are pivot points and other checks and balances if the Legislature makes the wrong decision.” It has a lot of different components in it,” Conrad said.
Already, family planning organizations have filed lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of restrictions on abortion and gender-affirming care. And efforts are underway to repeal the tax credit scholarship law by referendum.
How these efforts will develop, and what impact other laws passed this year will have, should become clearer by the time Congress reconvenes in January.