2020 Nebraska legislative session
For a full list of changes, visit: Changes to state legislative session dates in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020.
Nebraska: The Nebraska State Legislature suspended its session, effective March 16, 2020, through July 20, 2020. It adjourned on August 13, 2020.
| Nebraska State Senate | |
 | |
| General Information | |
| Party control: | Republican |
| Session start: | January 8, 2020 |
| Term length: | 4 years |
| Term limits: | 2 terms (8 years) |
| Redistricting: | Legislative control |
| Salary: | $12,000/year + per diem |
| Members | |
| Total: | 49 |
| Democrats: | 18 |
| Republicans: | 30 |
| Other: | 1 (Independent) |
| Leadership | |
| President: | Jim Scheer (R) |
| Elections | |
| Last election: | November 6, 2018 |
| Next election: | November 3, 2020 |
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In 2020, the Nebraska State Legislature was scheduled to convene on January 8 and adjourn on August 13.
Several state legislatures suspended their sessions or otherwise limited legislative activity in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The Nebraska State Legislature suspended its session, effective March 16, 2020, through July 20, 2020. The legislature adjourned on August 13, 2020.[1][2]
Republicans had a veto-proof supermajority this legislative session, just as they did in 2019. Following the 2018 election, Republicans had a 30-18 supermajority over Democrats and one independent member in the Senate. The party also controlled the governorship, creating a Republican state government trifecta.
Click the links to read more about the 2020 state Senate elections.
Click the links to read more about the 2018 state Senate elections.
Partisan control in 2020
- See also: State government trifectas
Nebraska was one of 21 Republican state government trifectas at the start of 2020 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.
Nebraska was also one of 22 state legislatures where one party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.
The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Nebraska State Legislature in the 2020 legislative session.
Nebraska State Senate
| Party | As of January 2020 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 18 | |
| Republican Party | 30 | |
| Independent | 1 | |
| Total | 49 | |
In 1934, Nebraska voters approved a constitutional amendment that transformed Nebraska's bicameral, or two-chamber, state legislature into a unicameral, or single-chamber, Nebraska State Senate. The amendment also established the state legislature as a nonpartisan body. The new unicameral Legislature met for the first time in 1937 and is the only nonpartisan legislature in the United States.[3]
While Nebraska's Unicameral is officially nonpartisan, most of its lawmakers are affiliated with the state affiliate of either the Democratic or the Republican Party. In 2015, Ballotpedia began to identify the party affiliation of the Legislature's 49 members. Ballotpedia assigned party affiliation based on voter registration, member lists provided by the Nebraska Democratic Party and Nebraska Republican Party, as well as information provided by nonprofit organizations.
Prior to the 2018 elections, Republicans controlled the Legislature by a 30-16 majority with one Libertarian member, one independent member, and one vacancy. Republicans maintained control of the chamber in the 2018 elections. The table below shows the partisan history of the Nebraska State Senate following the 2014 general election. In presidential elections between 1868 and 2016, Nebraska voted Republican 82 percent of the time and Democratic 18 percent of the time. In the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016, Nebraska voted Republican all five times.[4]
Nebraska State Senate election results: 2014-2018
| Party | 14 | 16 | 18 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Democrats | 12 | 15 | 18 |
| Republicans | 35 | 32 | 30 |
| Other | 2 | 2 | 1 |
Leadership in 2020
Nebraska State Senate
- Senate president: Jim Scheer (R)
Regular session
The following widget shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2020 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation met these criteria in 2020. This information is provided by BillTrack50.
Standing legislative committees
A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.
At the beginning of the 2020 legislative session, there were 14 standing committees in Nebraska's state government.
- Agriculture
- Appropriations
- Banking, Commerce and Insurance
- Business and Labor
- Education
- General Affairs
- Government, Military and Veterans Affairs
- Health and Human Services
- Judiciary
- Natural Resources
- Nebraska Retirement Systems
- Revenue
- Transportation and Telecommunications
- Urban Affairs
Legislatively referred constitutional amendments
In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.
The methods by which the Nebraska Constitution can be amended:
| Nebraska Constitution |
|---|
|
| Preamble |
| Articles |
| I • II • III • IV • V • VI • VII • VIII • IX • X • XI • XII • XIII • XIV • XV • XVI • XVII • XVIII |
Nebraska offers three different paths to amending its constitution:
- The legislature can propose legislatively referred constitutional amendments, which are defined in Section 1 of Article XVI.
- Sixty percent of the members of the state legislature must vote for the proposed amendment.
- The legislature can call a special statewide election to present the proposed amendment to the voters if 80 percent of the members of the state legislature vote for any such special election.
- If no special election is called, the proposed amendment must go on the next general election ballot that includes elections for members of the state legislature.
- The amendment becomes part of the constitution if a majority of those voting on the measure vote for it and if it wins favorable votes from at least 35 percent of those voting in the election for any office.
- A constitutional convention can be held to "revise, amend, or change" the constitution if 60 percent of Nebraska's legislators agree to put a question about whether to have such a convention before the state's voters.
- A convention is held if the question wins by a majority vote as long as those voting in favor equal at least 35 percent of those voting in the election.
- Voters must ratify amendments or revisions proposed by the convention.
- An initiated constitutional amendment can be used by the state's citizens to propose constitutional amendments.
- The rules for this are set out in Sections 2 and 4 of Article III.
- The number of signatures required to qualify an amendment for the ballot is 10 percent of the state's registered voters.
Historical context:
Between 1996 and 2018, the following occurred:
- Ballots featured 73 ballot measures.
- An average of six measures appeared on statewide general election ballots in Nebraska.
- An average of one citizen-initiated measure appeared on statewide general election ballots in Nebraska.
- Voters approved 53 percent (39 of 73) and rejected 47 percent (34 of 73) of the ballot measures.
- Voters approved 47 percent (8 of 17) and rejected 53 percent (9 of 17) of initiated amendments and initiated statutes.
- Voters upheld 0 percent (0 of 2) of the bills put on the ballot through the veto referendum process.
- Voters approved 57 percent (31 of 54) and rejected 46 percent (23 of 54) of legislatively referred constitutional amendments.
| Ballot measures in Nebraska, 1996-2018 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Total number | Approved | Percent approved | Defeated | Percent defeated | Average | Median | Minimum | Maximum | |
| All measures | 73 | 39 | 53.42% | 34 | 46.58% | 6.1 | 3.5 | 1 | 19 | |
| Initiatives | 17 | 8 | 47.06% | 9 | 52.94% | 1.4 | 1.0 | 0 | 4 | |
| Veto referendums | 2 | 0 | 0.00% | 2 | 100.00% | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Legislative amendments | 54 | 31 | 57.4% | 23 | 46.3% | 4.5 | 3.5 | 0 | 17 | |
Historical partisan control
The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Nebraska.
Nebraska Party Control: 1992-2024
Seven years of Democratic trifectas • Twenty-seven years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
See also
| Elections | Nebraska State Government | State Legislatures | State Politics |
|---|---|---|---|
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External links
Footnotes
