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Nebraska Legislative Bill 367 (2015)

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Legislative Bill 367
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Legislature:Nebraska State Legislature
Text:LB 367
Sponsor(s):Sen. Mike Groene (42)
Legislative history
Introduced:January 15, 2015
State house:April 7, 2015[1]
State senate:April 7, 2015[1]
Governor:Gov. Pete Ricketts (R)
Signed:April 13, 2015
Legal environment
State law:Initiative and Referendum laws
Code:Elections code
Section:Section 32-630


Nebraska Legislative Bill 367 was introduced on January 15, 2015, by Sen. Mike Groene (R-42). On April 7, 2015, the state's unicameral legislature unanimously voted to approve the bill, and Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) signed it into law on April 13, 2015.

This bill eliminated the state's seven-year-old ban on paying signature petition circulators based on the number of signatures they collect.[2][3]

Supporters and sponsors

Sen. Mike Groene (42), author of LB 367

Sen. Mike Groene (R-42), who authored the bill, explained that the state lawmakers had been engaged in a "civil war" with the voters ever since voters passed term limits on the legislature. He said that the ban on paying signature gatherers according to signatures collected made initiative petitions much more expensive and had “really broken the back of people trying to take part in their government through the petition process.” Groene, who made this bill one of his priorities in his first term in the state senate, said, “It’s time for this body to call a truce.”[3]

Sen. Paul Schumacher (R-22), who also supported LB 367, condemned the bill that first imposed the circulator pay restrictions in 2008 as “reflective of a government that was afraid of its people.”[3]

A group called Citizens in Charge, which advocates for direct democracy on a national level, approved of LB 367.[3]

Related legislation

See also: Changes in 2015 to laws governing ballot measures in Nebraska

Sen. Schumacher sponsored another initiative-friendly law in Nebraska's 2015 legislative session, Legislative Bill 214, which was designed to allow electronic signatures to be used to qualify proposals for the ballot. This bill was referred to the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee on January 15, 2015, where it was abandoned.[4]

See also

Additional reading

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Nebraska has a unicameral legislature.
  2. ↑ Open States, "Nebraska Legislative Bill 367 (2015)," accessed April 23, 2015
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Citizens in Charge, "Nebraska Repeals Pay Ban, Not a Dissenting Vote," April 7, 2015
  4. ↑ Open States, "Legislative Bill 214," accessed April 7, 2015
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