LINCOLN — The fate of some conservative priorities, such as changing how Nebraska allocates its votes for president or adding a “women’s bill of rights” to state law, could depend on whether Republicans succeed this week in making Democrats a minority on every legislative committee but one.

The leading point of contention Wednesday revolved around the makeup of the eight-member Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. By the end of the first day of the session, Government was set to have five Democrats and three Republicans, including its chair.

The group deciding is the Legislature’s 13-member Committee on Committees, which includes a chair and four representatives each from three legislative “caucuses,” which roughly mirror the state’s three congressional districts to reflect statewide representation.

“Me personally, and I’m one vote, I’m not representing any caucus in this,” State Sen. Christy Armendariz of Omaha, the Committee on Committees chair, said. “I think that the committee assignments should be representative of the makeup of the entire state.”

‘They’ve chosen their party’

While the Legislature is officially nonpartisan, Armendariz, a first-time member of the committee, said all 13 members know what is going on: a fight over partisan balance, which impacts all Nebraskans.  

The Committee on Committees consists of eight Republicans, four Democrats and one nonpartisan independent. There are 33 Republicans in the Legislature, 15 Democrats and one nonpartisan progressive.

“They’ve chosen their party,” Armendariz said of Nebraska voters. “I don’t think it’s fair to exclude anybody in the state from representation on the committee.”

First day of 2025 Nebraska Legislature underscores conservative stronghold

The Committee on Committees met after Republicans in the Legislature swept leadership positions for all but one committee. They left the Urban Affairs Committee in the hands of State Sen. Terrell McKinney of Omaha, a Democrat who chaired the committee the past two years.

Under a set of unofficial, tentative placements discussed Wednesday evening, Republicans would maintain membership leads on all but the Government Committee and Urban Affairs Committee, which would still become more conservative.

Conservatives would grow their numbers on the previously deadlocked Judiciary Committee as well as on the Business and Labor, Health and Human Services and Natural Resources Committees.

All other daily committees will be led by Republicans, as will the Rules Committee and Executive Board.

‘This was a fantasy’

Wednesday’s Committee on Committees meeting began with representatives from the 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts having already penciled in where the members of their caucuses should be placed on each of the daily committees. Those caucus representatives filled in names of where senators from the 2nd Congressional District might fall, which they defended as merely “placeholders.” 

The 2nd District Caucus, which is led by three Democrats and one independent, immediately rejected that suggestion and said the other caucuses had overstepped.

State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha, the progressive independent who has served on the Committee on Committees before, described the behavior as unprecedented.

“This was a fantasy for y’all, but that’s not the reality that we were ever going to be working in,” she said.

State Sen. Mike Jacobson of North Platte responded: “We understand that. I think we just, truly, we’re just trying to figure out what we can live with, in terms of how we want to end up.”

Hunt told Republicans on the committee to ask themselves, “Have you won enough?” The question came after the 2nd District Caucus agreed to swap freshman Omaha State Sens. Dunixi Guereca, a Democrat, and Bob Andersen, a Republican, on the Government Committee.

If accepted, the committee then would be evenly split between progressives and conservatives, 4-4, which State Sen. Rita Sanders of Bellevue, the newly elected chair, said would be better. She did not return a call after the meeting requesting further comment.

A line in the sand

Other conservatives drew lines in the sand seeking to shift the Government Committee to leaning Republican 5-3, as they had in the framework put forward by senators from the 1st and 3rd District Caucuses.

Bills stuck in a deadlocked committee can still be moved to the full Legislature with 25 votes. If the Government Committee stayed 5-3 for Democrats, and the majority killed a bill they didn’t like, the introducer could still advance the bill to the floor with 30 votes from the full Legislature.

Such bills would likely be filibustered, meaning they would need 33 votes to pass, anyway.

“I don’t see any losers on this sheet,” Hunt said of the initial committee assignments. “If you take the Government [Committee] deal — I know you want a majority, that’s what this is about, but we’re not going to get there. And I don’t think that’s a loss.”

Hunt and the 2nd District Caucus moved to advance the report with the 4-4 Government Committee. The motion failed 7-6.

Sanders voted with the 2nd District Caucus and Democratic State Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln to accept the evenly balanced committee and advance the amended report.

‘An attack on the nonpartisan Unicameral’

Part of the contention comes two days after the 2nd District Caucus met in Omaha and progressives secured all four spots on the Committee on Committees, as well as two coveted spots on the Executive Board, which manages the day-to-day operations of the legislative branch. (The full 2nd District Caucus consists of eight Democrats, eight Republicans and one progressive independent.)

That meant kicking off Republican State Sens. Brad von Gillern of Omaha from the Committee on Committees and Merv Riepe of Ralston from the Executive Board. 

Von Gillern called the move “the most intentionally partisan thing I’ve experienced since I was sworn in two years ago” and “an attack on the nonpartisan Unicameral Legislature by those who typically wave that flag harder than anyone else.”

He said the decision doesn’t set a “constructive tone” ahead of conversations like winner-take-all when progressives make “such a partisan act.”

“Votes on important issues often fall on party line, but this was not issue-driven and did nothing to improve their vote count on the overall Committee on Committees,” von Gillern said in a text. “There will still be a Republican majority there. There is no discernible strategy that I can see.”

State Sen. John Fredrickson of Omaha, who got a spot on both the Executive Board and Committee on Committees, said: “That’s where the votes landed.”

A cautionary tale

At one point, Jacobson suggested that a path forward might include the 2nd District senators accepting the pre-slated committee assignments from the 1st and 3rd District Caucuses.

Clerk of the Legislature Brandon Metzler cautioned that if the committee chose to cross that threshold, “you’re not coming back.”

“I think that’s dangerous for not only CD 2, but I think it’s dangerous for CD 3, from an urban-rural split,” Metzler said. “The caucus system is inherently political. We have never had a choice made for a caucus that they were not, as a caucus, on board with. But that’s the determination of this committee to decide.”

Factors in committee assignments

State Sen. Mike Moser of Columbus said there are multiple factors to crafting committee assignments, such as:

• Incumbency — Not kicking senators off of committees they most recently served on.
• Senator preference — Lawmakers typically provide first and second choice for assignments.
• Caucus balance — The Committee on Committees usually weighs this by giving each caucus a set number of seats on a committee, based on who the chair is and proceeding through the caucuses in order after (such as 1-2-3).

Moser said there is another important consideration: partisan balance.

Hunt asked him: “Should all committees be 2:1, Republican to Democrat?”

“That’s what the average of — since there’s 66% Republicans and 33% Democrats — that’s about what it should reflect on all the committees,” Moser responded.

A path forward?

Lawmakers said if the Omaha-area lawmakers wouldn’t budge, they could find other solutions, which Jacobson and Moser said would require more deliberation.

“If the Second District is locked in where they’re at, then there may be some actions in response that other caucuses make,” Moser said. “Maybe they’re not going to be pleasant, but we’re going to think about that overnight, talk about it a little bit and come back tomorrow.”

Asked whether that meant some 1st or 3rd District Caucus members might lose committee positions they previously held, or not get their top preferences, Armendariz said that’s up to the districts.

“They get to make their own decisions,” Armendariz said. “I would never want to get in the middle of that, if that’s what they choose to do.”

Committee assignments will ultimately be kicked out to the full Legislature in a preliminary report. The Legislature would then vote to accept, or reject, the placements after the Committee on Committees advances a final report.

However, preliminary reports often become final committee placements.

The Committee on Committees reconvenes shortly after 10 a.m. on Thursday.

LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) – State senators convened at the capitol on Wednesday to get the 109th Legislative Session under way.

With a number of new faces to get acquainted with in addition to swearing in all the state senators for a new term, there was only one piece of legislation introduced on Day 1: Resolution LR1 was filed to “recognize, honor, and thank Former President Carter for his service to the United States of America and the people of the world.”

The other order of business was the election of committee chairs.

On Thursday, things will get underway in earnest as senators begin with the first round of bill introductions, giving Nebraskans a first look at what lawmakers will consider debating in the coming weeks.

A proposal involving women’s college athletics is expected to come together: Gov. Jim Pillen will address the Legislature on Thursday morning alongside university athletes on a proposal he requested.

The governor will return to the Unicameral next week for his State of the State address, when he will share his priorities for the session.

Copyright 2025 WOWT. All rights reserved.

Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. #20 Michigan State Spartans

Wednesday, January 8, 2025, 7 p.m. (CT)

Pinnacle Bank Arena – Lincoln, Nebraska

Tickets: Huskers.com / 1-800-8-BIG-RED

Special Event: Youth Sports NightT

elevision/Live Stream: NPM/B1G+ Larry Punteney (PBP), Kara Graham (Analyst)

Live Radio: Huskers Radio Network (6:30 p.m.)Matt Coatney (PBP), Jeff Griesch (Analyst)Lincoln (107.3 FM), Omaha (590 AM), Huskers.com, Huskers App

Live Stats: Huskers.com (statbroadcast – public)

Nebraska Cornhuskers (11-4, 2-2 Big Ten)

12 – Jessica Petrie – 6’2 – So. – F – 4.5 ppg, 2.9 rpg

40 – Alexis Markowski – 6’3 – Sr. – C/F – 13.5 ppg, 8.0 rpg

2 – Logan Nissley – 6’0 – So. – G – 6.9 ppg, 1.6 rpg

14 – Callin Hake – 5’8 – Jr. – G – 7.9 ppg, 3.3 rpg

23 – Britt Prince – 5’11 – Fr. – G – 12.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg

Off the Bench

5 – Alberte Rimdal – 5’9 – Sr. – G – 6.7 ppg, 2.1 rpg

44 – Petra Bozan – 6’3 – Fr. – F/C – 5.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg

33 – Amiah Hargrove – 6’2 – Fr. – F – 4.6 ppg, 3.0 rpg

15 – Kendall Moriarty – 6’1 – Sr. – G – 3.7 ppg, 1.7 rpg

3 – Allison Weidner – 5’10 – RJr. – G – 3.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg

32 – Kendall Coley – 6’2 – Gr. – F/G – 2.9 ppg, 1.3 rpg

22 – Natalie Potts [Out] – 6’2 – So. – F – 14.4 ppg, 7.4 rpg

4 – Kennadi Williams – 5’4 – Fr. – G – Redshirt

Head Coach: Amy Williams (Nebraska, 1998) Ninth Season at Nebraska (148-115); 18th Season Overall (341-224)

Michigan State Spartans (12-2, 2-1 Big Ten)

40 – Julia Ayrault – 6’2 – Gr. – F – 16.2 ppg, 7.8 rpg

15 – Ines Sotelo – 6’3 – Fr. – C – 5.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg

1 – Jaddan Simmons – 5’9 – Gr. – G – 7.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg

4 – Theryn Hallock – 5’10 – Jr. – G – 12.1 ppg, 1.9 rpg

11 – Jocelyn Tate – 5’10 – Jr. – G/F – 8.4 ppg, 5.1 rpg

Off the Bench

14 – Grace VanSlooten – 6’3 – Jr. – F – 13.5 ppg, 7.2 rpg

33 – Juliann Woodard – 6’0 – Fr. – F – 6.5 ppg, 1.8 rpg

35 – Kennedy Blair – 5’9 – RFr. – G – 5.4 ppg, 2.2 rpg

5 – Emma Shumate – 6’1 – Jr. – F – 4.7 ppg, 1.4 rpg

22 – Nyla Hampton – 5’7 – Gr. – G – 4.6 ppg, 1.7 rpg

2 – Abbey Kimball – 5’10 – Jr. – G – 4.0 ppg, 1.6 rpg

Head Coach: Robyn Fralick (Davidson, 2004) Second Season at Michigan State (34-11); 11th Season Overall (226-87)

Scouting the Spartans

#20 Michigan State comes into Lincoln with a 12-2 record, including a 2-1 start to Big Ten play. In Robyn Fralick’s second year as the Spartans coach, she has developed an aggressive defense that ranks #7 nationally in turnovers forced (25.8 pg) and eighth in turnover margin (+20).

The Spartans also carry a plus 4.9 rebound margin on the season. Through three Big Ten games, MSU has maintained a plus 10.7 turnover margin, but have been beat on the boards by 4.3 rebounds a game. On the season, Michigan State is averaging 83.6 points per game while holding opponents to 56.8 points per game. In conference play, those numbers have fallen to 70.3-65.7.

In the first three conference games, MSU is hitting 36.1 percent from the floor, including 25.7 percent from three, also knocking down just 65.7 percent of their free throws. These numbers are quite a bit lower than it’s overall field goal (45.0%), 3pg (33.4%), and free throw (70.6%) on the season.

Julia Ayrault leads the Spartans averaging team bests of 16.2 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, including 17 three pointers.

Junior guards Theryn Hallock (12.1 ppg) and Jocelyn Tate (8.4 ppg) offer some experience for MSU. Tate has been efficient in scoring early this season as the only Michigan State player to start all 14 games. Hallock leads the Spartans with 3.1 assists and ranks third on the team with 16 threes.

Oregan transfer, Grace VanSlooten ranks second on the team in scoring (13.5 ppg) and rebounding (7.2), while leading MSU with 18 blocks. Arizona State transfer Jaddan Simmons has contributed 7.0 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 2.1 steals per game.

Two more transfers in Emma Shumate (Ohio State) and Nyla Hampton (Bowling Green/Ball State) have added threats as well. Shumate leads the Spartans with 18 made threes while starting seven games and averaging 4.7 points per game. Hampton, has tallied 4.6 points per games.

Nebraska leads the all-time series with MSU 12-6, the Huskers won both meetings a year ago. A Big Ten opener with the Spartans (80-74) and a 73-61 win in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. Michigan State has never won a game a road game over Nebraska.