LINCOLN- On Thursday, following a contentious debate, a rules proposal aimed at making committee leadership votes public in the Nebraska Legislature failed to secure the thirty votes it needed to be adopted, preserving an institutional mainstay. Five Republicans joined eleven Democrats in denying the change to the rules, many of whom argued that it's important to keep outside influence away from committee leadership votes.

Sen. Jana Hughes, a Republican, took to the microphone during the debate to read a statement from then-Sen. Mike Flood during his own 2021 fight against an identical rules change. Flood, back then, argued that ending secret balloting for the election of committee leadership risked making the Nebraska Legislature more partisan.

Most of the Republicans in the body backed the proposal, which was introduced by Sen. Erdman, including Sen. Lou Ann Linehan. Linehan said during the debate that this change was about enforcing party discipline by Republicans on Republicans, and was not about keeping Democrats out of these influential positions. Others, including Erdman, argued that the change would simply bring more transparency to the Nebraska Legislature.

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