LINCOLN- Nebraska senators adopted permanent rules for the 108th legislative session after a nine-hour committee hearing last week sorting through 58 proposed changes. The committee chairman, Senator Erdman, said, "I believe the rule committee treated every introducer, every testifier with respect. I hope that was the case, that was our intent. A lot of those rules had a lot of thought and input and I believe they all deserved to be heard and we did that.”

Out of the more than 50 ideas, Erdman brought just seven changes out of committee to the full body. The list didn’t include any of the more controversial changes discussed in committee, like a proposal to make senator's votes for committees public instead of by secret ballot and a change that would ban media from attending executive sessions. Instead, what was brought were largely administrative changes that were nearly unanimously agreed on.

The most debated bill on the list of seven that survived the rules committee changed the speaking order after a motion to indefinitely postpone a bill is made. This type of motion suspends all further activity on a bill, unless it can survive a supermajority vote. In previous rules, the senator who makes this motion is able to speak on the bill before the bill’s proponent has a chance to introduce the bill. Many of the legislature’s more conservative members supported this change, saying senators have used the motions too often. Senator Lou Ann Linehan said she’s had bills fall victim to IPP motions, including bills she has worked on for years.

For the full article click HERE