KEARNEY- Legislative leaders are embracing potential changes to state law meant to reinforce their oversight role after Nebraska’s top prosecutor last year questioned the constitutional scope of two legislatively empowered investigators.

The in-progress proposal, sitting at about 126 pages, would create a formal legislative division of oversight over the state’s other branches of government. It would cement the Legislature’s watchdogs for child welfare and corrections, the “inspectors general” of the two areas, underneath sections of law governing general legislative authority. The changes were outlined Friday at a retreat for the full Legislature in Kearney before lawmakers reconvene Jan. 8 for a 90-day session.

The watchdogs investigate incidents or complaints about cases largely handled by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, such as allegations of child sexual abuse or deaths of inmates in state care.

“This is like the beginning,” State Sen. John Arch of La Vista, speaker of the Legislature, said Friday. “We’re trying to lay out some foundational blocks and reorganize for the future.”

For more on this article click HERE