Posted by Shellinda
As a couple of Americans who have spent too much time focused on Washington, D.C. and not enough within our state (but making an effort to change this), we wonder whether the maneuvers regarding a certain piece of legislation introduced last session is common practice in the Nebraska Unicameral. We suspect it may well be. This time, though, there were at least a few more people paying attention. If you missed out, or if the details have faded from your memory with the passage of time, read along and follow us for a stroll down Memory Lane — a path we’ll wager more than a few people are hoping becomes overgrown with weeds from lack of use.
LB 1110, a measure intended to fund prenatal care previously paid for by Medicaid for recipients deemed ineligible for the program by the federal Department of Health and Human Services, was conceived by Senator Kathy Campbell past the deadline for new bills. To be introduced, it required a suspension of the rules vote on the Unicameral floor. 36 out of 49 Nebraska Senators voted “yay” on its introduction. While the focus of this article is on the conduct of our legislators, it is important to note that this bill should likely not have seen the light of day. It is important to note the circumstances under which it was able to gain any traction at all. The Unicameral entered session with all Senators aware the State budget was in trouble; a special session to deal with the immediate problems was convened in November 2009. Senators knew spending would have to be cut while dealing with the annual budget bill, so legislation they introduced essentially could not call for any new spending. For politicians eager to spend other people’s money, apparently there was a desire to spend in search of a crisis.
It is difficult to find other plausible explanations for LB 1110′s introduction. Perhaps some could argue that a vote to allow introduction does not constitute support for its passage. That argument sounds too similar to Senator Ben Nelson’s explanation for his cloture vote on the health care bill in December 2009. Introduction of the bill took up valuable legislative time while other matters ranging from action on protecting Nebraskans from implementing the looming health care law and seriously cutting the budget to untether Nebraska from its dependence on federal funding went by the wayside.
While 36 Senators believed the bill at least deserved introduction, several Senators, including Kathy Campbell, Cap Dierks, and Brad Ashford, and several others believed it was so important, “extraordinary” action was called for. At least two Nebraska newspapers believed they needed to help out.
