Nebraska Amendment 2, Changes to Impeachment Procedure Measure (1986)
| Nebraska Amendment 2 | |
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| Election date |
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| Topic Impeachment rules |
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| Status |
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| Type Legislatively referred constitutional amendment |
Origin |
Nebraska Amendment 2 was on the ballot as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment in Nebraska on November 4, 1986. It was approved.
A "yes" vote supported changing the legislature's impeachment procedures to allow proceedings to begin in a regular or special session, requiring that impeachment resolutions give notice of acts or omissions alleged to constitute the impeachments, and changing the time in which the chief justice has to convene the supreme court to try the case from 10 days to "in an expeditious fashion." |
A "no" vote opposed changing the legislature's impeachment procedures to allow proceedings to begin in a regular or special session, requiring that impeachment resolutions give notice of acts or omissions alleged to constitute the impeachments, and changing the time in which the chief justice has to convene the supreme court to try the case from 10 days to "in an expeditious fashion." |
Election results
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Nebraska Amendment 2 |
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| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
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257,398 | 59.77% | ||
| No | 173,281 | 40.23% | ||
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title for Amendment 2 was as follows:
| “ | A constitutional amendment to provide changes in the impeachment procedure. [ ] For [ ] Against | ” |
Ballot summary
The ballot summary for this measure was:
| “ |
A vote FOR this proposal will make several changes in and additions to the Legislature’s impeachment procedure as follows: (1) add a provision that such proceedings may be initiated in either a regular or special session; (2) add a requirement that impeachment resolutions give reasonable notice of acts or omissions alleged to constitute impeachable offenses; (3) change from 10 days to “in an expeditious fashion” the time within which the Chief Justice is to convene the Supreme Court to try the case after receiving notice of the adoption of an impeachment resolution (for other than a judge of said court); (4) notice of impeachment of Chief Justice or member of Supreme Court served on clerk (instead of any judge) of Lancaster County district court who will choose at random 7 district judges from the state to meet in Lincoln within 30 days to sit as court to try the impeachment (rather than having 1 judge of the Lancaster county district court notify all district judges in the state to convene for this purpose); (5) add a provision that an impeachment case is to be brought in the name of the Legislature, be managed by 2 senators, be tried as a civil proceeding, and generally disallowing invocation of the privilege against self-incrimination; (6) adding a provision that an impeachment conviction must be based only on clear and convincing evidence indicating guilt of an impeachable offense; and (7) repealing the current provision stating that drunkenness shall be a cause of impeachment and removal from office. A vote AGAINST this proposal will mean that the above described changes in and additions to the present provisions relating to the Legislature's impeachment power and procedure will not be made and they will remain as presently written. | ” |
Full Text
The full text of this measure is available here.
Path to the ballot
- See also: Amending the Nebraska Constitution
A 60% supermajority vote is required during one legislative session for the Nebraska State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 30 votes in the unicameral legislature, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot. A simple majority vote is required for voter approval. However, the number of affirmative votes cast for the measure must be greater than 35% of the total votes cast in the election. This also applies to citizen initiatives.
See also
External links
Footnotes
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State of Nebraska Lincoln (capital) |
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