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 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.

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.

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’

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.