LINCOLN- The predicted population shifts from the U.S. Census are making it likely that metro areas will get two more state senators and the 2nd District will shrink, moving it to Sarpy County and the more rural 1st District. The redistricting job is usually highly contentious. It is likely that lawmakers will need to have a special session to complete the task.

“This is not the kind of thing that just happens at the drop of your hat,” said Drozd, an authority on Nebraska census data.

The Legislature filed nominations for the nine-member special committee. The rule is that there can be no more than five members can come from the same political party and there must be three members from each Congressional District. There is then a chair and vice chair elected. The committee includes Sens. Blood, Briese, Brewer, Geist, Lathrop, Linehan, Lowe, Morfeld and Wayne. The chair and vice chair have not yet been elected.

In the past, Gov. Ricketts blocked a bill that would have allowed an independent commission to handle redistricting. A similar initiative was planned last year but was then called off due to the pandemic.

Another bill by Sen. McCollister, LB107, would require a two-thirds vote of the committee, instead of a simple majority, to elect the chair and vice chair. A similar bill failed last session. Senator Hughes, Chairman of the Executive Board says he does not know when states will receive their census numbers. Redistricting, Hughes said, “is not nonpartisan. This is politics to the core.”

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