Proposal would return Nebraska to two-house legislature

Nebraska no longer would be the nation’s only one-house legislative system under a proposed constitutional amendment considered March 9 by the Executive Board.

LR2CA, introduced by Bayard Sen. Steve Erdman, would create a House of Representatives and a Senate within the Nebraska Legislature, beginning with the January 2027 legislative session. If approved by 30 senators, LR2CA would be placed on the ballot for voter approval at the November 2024 general election.

Membership in the proposed House of Representatives would be capped at 63 members and the Senate would contain 31 members. Each Senate district would comprise three contiguous counties.

Erdman said the current lawmaking system isn’t working and that states similar to Nebraska with two-house legislatures have better tax systems and other policy outcomes.

The addition of a second chamber with membership based on geography rather than population would more fairly reflect the interests of the rural parts of the state, he said. Due to population shifts to the east, he said, Douglas, Sarpy and Lancaster counties currently contain 58 percent of Nebraska’s population.

“I believe, as with all things we do in the Legislature, once in a while you need to take a review of what you’ve accomplished and [see] if it is doing what you expected it to do,” Erdman said.

He brought an amendment to the hearing that would require state senators to be selected by an “appointment committee” rather than elected to their seats. Each three-member appointment committee would be made up of one individual from each county in a three-county district, selected to serve by the county board.

Jeanne Greisen was the lone testifier in support of the proposal. The state legislature is “failing” Nebraskans, she said, by not being responsive to voters’ priorities.

“We’ve seen how this system works; it no longer works for the people,” Greisen said.

Chloe Fowler, associate executive director of Nonpartisan Nebraska, testified against the measure on her own behalf. A former college page at the Legislature, Fowler said she felt compelled to join a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the Unicameral after witnessing lawmakers work together across party lines.

“While I was a page … I learned so much about Nebraska, how the policy process functions and, ultimately, human connection,” she said.

Citing concerns that LR2CA would “punish” urban residents by overrepresenting rural interests, Tyler Sondag of Omaha opposed the measure. Under the proposal, he said, Douglas, Sarpy and Dodge counties could be combined into one district in which more than 40 percent of Nebraska’s population would be represented by one state senator.

League of Women Voters representative Sheri St. Clair also testified in opposition, saying the current system’s rules and procedures are easy for Nebraskans to follow and allow for greater public access and awareness. A one-house system is simpler and more efficient, she said, and comes at a lower cost to taxpayers.

“Arguments made by George Norris in the [1930s] produced a government that’s responsive to the will of the people,” St. Clair said.

The committee took no immediate action on the proposal.