Nebraska

Republicans grab majority on all but one Nebraska legislative committee • Nebraska Examiner

Published

11 months ago

January 9, 2025

Republicans grab majority on all but one Nebraska legislative committee • Nebraska Examiner

LINCOLN — Conservatives in the Nebraska Legislature appear poised to wrest a partisan advantage on all but one legislative committee for the next two years, moving two Lincoln Democrats off a key committee on which they previously served.

The Committee on Committees, which sets committee assignments for state senators, voted 12-1 on Thursday to advance a preliminary slate of committee placements. It came after the placement committee stalled in its deliberations Wednesday evening, primarily over whether the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee would lean left or right, or have a 4-4 split.

Partisan fight continues over committee assignments in Nebraska Legislature

As of late Wednesday, the eight-member Government Committee was set to have three Republicans and five members that leaned left — four Democrats and one nonpartisan progressive. Under the new slate, Republicans will hold five seats, which they desired as the minimum end result of deliberations.

Of 13 other standing committees, all but one will be led by a Republican chair with a GOP advantage behind them. Urban Affairs will be led by Democratic State Sen. Terrell McKinney of Omaha, set to be split 4-3 to Democrats.

The Legislature is officially nonpartisan, though all but one of the 49 members are either Republican or Democrat, and they sometimes split along party on contentious issues.

Importance of majority

State Sens. Mike Jacobson of North Platte and Mike Moser of Columbus said that the breakdown better mirrors the state’s party registration data. As of Jan. 1, Nebraska had 1.27 million registered voters: 49% Republican, 27% Democrats, 22% nonpartisan and 2% Libertarians or Legal Marijuana NOW registrants.

“I don’t know why, on those key committees, we would not continue to have a Republican majority on those,” Jacobson said.

The geographic breakdown of Nebraska’s three congressional districts. (Courtesy of the Legislative Research Office)

The committee assignment process considers the state’s geography, as the state’s 49 lawmakers are divided into three caucuses, roughly mirroring Nebraska’s three congressional districts.

Moser said committee assignments are made based on a few key factors, including committee incumbency, senators’ assignment preferences, caucus balance and partisan balance.

Incumbent Democratic State Sens. Danielle Conrad and Jane Raybould, both of Lincoln, will no longer serve on the Government Committee, where they sat for the past two years.

The two senators will swap with freshman Republican State Sens. Dave “Woody” Wordekemper of Fremont and Stan Clouse of Kearney on the Natural Resources Committee.

Clouse is in the 3rd Congressional District, while the others who were moved are in the 1st Congressional District.

Nine of the 10 Lincoln and Lancaster County state lawmakers joined for a town hall at Union College on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023, in Lincoln. Back row, from left, are State Sens. Beau Ballard, Carolyn Bosn, Eliot Bostar, Myron Dorn, George Dungan and Lincoln Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Jason Ball. Front row, from left, are State Sens. Jane Raybould, Anna Wishart, Danielle Conrad and Tom Brandt. Not pictured: Sen. Rob Clements. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

Jacobson said the “irony” of the move is that his 3rd District Caucus gave up a seat on the Natural Resources Committee, where many proposed bills will likely impact the 3rd District. The sprawling 3rd Congressional District is the state’s largest geographically.

Jacobson said part of the consideration isn’t just about potential 2025 bills, but also 2026. Jacobson said he considers the Government Committee as important as tax- or budget-focused committees.

Other trades proposed

State Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln, the lone Democratic representative from the 1st District Caucus on the Committee on Committees and the Legislature’s Executive Board, said he preferred a contingent offer the night before that would have made the Government Committee a 4-4 split.

The 2nd District Caucus, led on the Committee on Committees by three Democrats and one nonpartisan progressive, offered to flip freshman Omaha State Sens. Dunixi Guereca, a Democrat, and Bob Andersen, a Republican, between the Government and Natural Resources Committees.

“I thought that distribution, not everyone would love it, but it was acceptable,” Bostar said. “I think that with kicking folks off of Government from the 1st Caucus, it becomes problematic to me.”

Republicans drew their line in the sand for a 5-3, GOP-led Government Committee, and they rejected, by a 7-6 vote, advancing the 4-4 split.

State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha reads the Nebraska Legislature’s rule book. July 25, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

The 2nd District Caucus representatives offered a different trade if a 5-3 Government Committee was non-negotiable: to swap Democratic State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha on the Government Committee with Republican State Sen. Rick Holdcroft of Bellevue on the Judiciary Committee.

If accepted, the proposed 5-3 GOP-led Judiciary Committee would be split evenly instead, mirroring a partisan split from the past two years that bottled up many bills in a committee that typically considers the most bills each year.

Conrad, who said she knew her 1st District caucus might not honor her seniority, which is the most in the current Legislature in her 11th year, said she’ll be honored to serve on Natural Resources, or wherever she ends up.

“It’s an honor to serve in the Nebraska Legislature and no matter what petty scores are settled over personalities or partisanship, I’m gonna work hard all day, every day in good faith with anybody at any time,” Conrad said in a text.

‘The nuclear option’

Sixteen new state senators walk the halls of the Nebraska Legislature for the first time in January 2025. (Photos courtesy of the candidates; Capitol photo by Rebecca Gratz for the Nebraska Examiner)

Moser said it isn’t in the best interest of Nebraskans “to allow one party to dominate a community by — not manipulating the rules, but kind of using the nuclear option,” referencing the push by Democrats and progressives to take over the 2nd District Caucus slots on the Committee on Committees.

“It’s a political maneuver on their part to try to dominate as many committees as they can with the minority members they have,” he continued. “They can control their own caucus, but they can’t control the 1st or 3rd.”

Democrats have little control in the 49-member body, where Republicans maintain 33 seats, enough to break filibusters and pass conservative priorities if all vote in lockstep. The 13-member Committee on Committees is split 8-5 between Republicans and Democrats and a progressive nonpartisan.

State Sen. John Fredrickson of Omaha, from the 2nd District Caucus, said that he and his fellow caucus members are proud of the work they did in setting committee assignments for their members.

The Committee on Committees will meet one more time to prepare a final report, which isn’t expected to deviate from the preliminary report. The full Legislature will consider the assignments next week.

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Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule. / Matthew O’Haren-Imagn Images

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Let’s Have an Honest Conversation About Nebraska Football

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2 days ago

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Adam Carriker speaks off the cuff/Gut Reaction style about Nebraska, Matt Rhule, Emmett Johnson, TJ Lateef & Husker football in this unique episode of the Carriker Chronicles. Carriker always prepares a lot, but he doesn’t use many notes in this raw and candid show! Nebraska football has to get better and do so very soon.

Big Ten football & college football fans…Let’s talk Huskers & about what’s happened! Adam Carriker does a position by position analysis of what’s taken place so far this year. What does he see between Dylan Raiola and TJ Lateef at quarterback? What does Adam see when it comes to Lateef playing versus Iowa, and what may happen during the off-season, also who may be being overlooked in that quarterback room right now?

When it comes to the running back, Adam points out absolutely amazing stats about Emmett Johnson. One is good and one is also concerning for Nebraska as a team. It also must be addressed at some point who is the true backup as well.

The wide receivers have done something this year that Adam couldn’t be more happy about, but that being said, they also need to improve in a drastic area as well, and Carriker addresses that too. Why does Adam feel the tight ends have been under-utilized when it comes to not only Luke Lindenmeyer, but Henrich Haarberg as well? Tune in to hear Adam‘s thoughts on this specifically!

Has Nebraska been playing six-on-11 football this year at times when it comes to the offensive line? Maybe that’s a bit unfair, but it is pretty obvious that Dana Holgorsen has completely changed how he calls games due to what he believes the offensive line’s limitations are.

Let’s also chat about the defensive line and why, while nobody knew for sure what was gonna happen up front defensively this year, Adam Carriker mentioned that some of this may have been a little easy to predict — even easier than Husker fans may have liked to admit.

The second level of the defense has had some ups and downs. Let’s chat about that and what the future looks like there as well! The defensive secondary has been elite, or has it? And finally, Adam points out some absolutely amazing statistics about Nebraska special teams. Also, what has been the one thing that’s been a little bit underwhelming to this point?

Adam gives us summation of Matt Rhule’s approach to rebuilding Nebraska football, and he compares it to Curt Cignetti, Deion Sanders and other college coaches as well. Why does Matt Rhule not mind taking a couple of steps backward in order to go forward? And the ultimate question, will Nebraska ultimately take those big steps forward that Matt Rhule is hoping for?! This is a can’t-miss episode of the Carriker Chronicles!

Go Big Red and always remember to Throw The Bones!

☛ Get more Carriker Chronicles here on Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, at Adam’s website and on YouTube.

Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.

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