ACLU Explains the Nebraska Legislative Process
By Samantha Aguilar
I spoke with Christopher “Spike” Eickholt, ACLU Lobbyist, about Nebraska’s legislative process. He outlined a number of bills regarding policing and racial equality up for debate and vote when the Nebraska Legislature reconvenes July 20th.
Legislative system overview:
Nebraska has a unicameral system with a single house legislative body that meets every year for 90 days during odd number years and 60 days during even number years.
During the first 10 days of each session, any senator can introduce a bill. Any law changes or new laws have to be introduced in those ten days and have a public hearing.
In years without a global pandemic, the legislative session would have already ended sometime in April or May, but COVID forced the legislature to pause their work in March. Now with only 17 days left in this year’s legislative cycle ending on August 13, Eickholt said it is going to be difficult to introduce a bill that goes farther than implicit bias training (see LB 924) for law enforcement officers.
The state senators of the legislature can buy themselves more time by requesting a special session. Any ten senators or the governor can request the legislature go into a special session to discuss criminal justice or policing reform, even though the regular legislative days are over.
Eickholt said a special session could be an appropriate measure given the unique circumstances. “We’ve had sustained protests nationwide on this issue. These protests were really singular and focused,” he said.
Bills/ Resolutions July-August 2020 NE Legislature:
LB: Legislative Bill
LR: Legislative Resolution
LB 924
Senator Ernie Chambers
Requires every law enforcement officer in the state to complete at least two hours of implicit bias training each year. According to existing rules in the state, every officer needs to have at least 20 hours a year of training over anything related to their duty as a police officer. This bill can be amended to do more beyond implicit bias training.
LB 1060
Senator Machaela Cavanaugh
Prohibits employers from discriminating against people because of their natural hairstyle. This typically affects African Americans, especially women. It is on the second round of debate on the Senate floor and Senator Cavanaugh has made it her priority bill.
LB 918
Senator Justin Wayne
Creates a 14-member commission in the state that would look at issues that are unique to African Americans with the goal of protection and advocacy. It is one vote away from being sent to Governor Ricketts.
LR 213
Senator Tony Vargas
Requires the legislature to include a racial impact assessment whenever they consider law changes. For context, when a bill is introduced, there is a fiscal note attached to assess the financial cost of the bill. LR 213 would do the same to bills that deal with issues that trend consistently against people of color.
LB 646
Senator Ernie Chambers
Eliminates cash bail bonds, appearance bonds, and related provisions. Cash bail is used to guarantee a defendant will return for a trial or hearing. The money is returned if the defendant makes all necessary court appearances but if they do not have the funds available, they must await trial in jail. Those held in pretrial detention are four times more likely to be sentenced to prison than those released prior to trial.
*Eickholt said these bills may face challenges because prosecutors and police departments regularly fight reform including sentencing reform, mandatory minimum reform, and drug reform.
“We do have people who are truly citizen legislators. They don’t get paid really anything. Almost all of them have full-time jobs otherwise,” Eickholt said. “They’re not there for any other reason other than to represent the constituents.”
Eickholt said he always suggests contacting your senator or attending a town hall to tell them what bills you want them to support and why because they will often listen to constituents before a lobbyist.
He also said recent protests and marches have had a tremendous impact on the legislators.
Senator Steve Lathrop, chair of the judiciary committee, brought the committee to listening sessions in Omaha and Lincoln to hear concerns from constituents about policing and racial equality. Eickholt said both sessions were full of hundreds of people at the time it ended.