{"id":30288,"date":"2021-05-07T07:41:11","date_gmt":"2021-05-07T13:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=30288"},"modified":"2021-05-07T09:15:06","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T15:15:06","slug":"resolution-on-perceived-federal-government-overreach-discussed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=30288","title":{"rendered":"Resolution on alleged federal government overreach discussed"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Executive Board heard testimony May 6 on a proposed resolution that would \u201creaffirm\u201d state senators\u2019 oath of office and outline legislative positions on a list of perceived threats posed to the U.S. Constitution by the federal government.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Mike Groene<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Introduced by North Platte Sen. Mike Groene, the proposal would request cooperation from a number of state and federal office holders in \u201cdefending\u201d the U.S. Constitution from what it characterizes as federal overreach into, among other matters, religious liberty, the right to bear arms, individual property rights and local control of elections.<\/p>\n

Groene said the proposal would affirm that policy decisions should be made at the state level rather than the national level whenever possible. Several states are considering similar resolutions, he said, and Nebraskans want reassurance that senators are protecting their rights.<\/p>\n

\u201c[This is] a document to memorialize to the federal government our grievances of perceived and known federal encroachments on sovereign rights reserved to the 50 individual states \u2026 and against assault by the federal government on the individual liberties of the people of Nebraska,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Hicks testified in support of the proposal, saying it\u2019s \u201cimperative\u201d that Nebraska senators go on the record in defense of the U.S. Constitution. She said President Biden\u2019s recent assertion that gun ownership is a public health crisis is an example of a threat to liberty.<\/p>\n

\u201cLR107 is necessary as a response to the clearly stated threats that have been posed to our Second Amendment rights,\u201d Hicks said.<\/p>\n

Also in support was Kathleen Kauth of Omaha. She said LR107 would help ensure the state\u2019s ability to control its own elections and bolster religious liberty.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis resolution is essentially a statement on where Nebraskans stand on the insidious erosion of our constitution by the Left,\u201d Kauth said.<\/p>\n

Ben Stangl of Fort Calhoun also testified in favor of the resolution, which he said would demonstrate \u201cunified support\u201d for the U.S. Constitution by Nebraska residents. Legitimate power at the federal level is derived only from consent of the governed, he said.<\/p>\n

Dr. Michelle Walsh, a Lincoln pediatrician testifying on behalf of the Nebraska Medical Association, expressed concern that the proposal could encourage vaccine hesitation in the state. The resolution contains a section stating that lawmakers \u201cexplicitly reject the idea of vaccine passports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walsh said the resolution could give the impression that the Legislature does not support existing school vaccine requirements in state law.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be unfortunate if the Legislature decides to further politicize public health,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mar Lee of OutNebraska also testified in opposition, saying that a section of the resolution seeking to protect \u201ctraditional religious beliefs\u201d regarding the \u201csanctity of life and sexual mores\u201d is especially problematic.<\/p>\n

\u201cNebraska, like the rest of the United States, is a pluralistic state and not a theocracy,\u201d Lee said. \u201cThere is not one religious tradition, but many \u2014 each with its own set of values. Whose traditional values do you purport to uphold?\u201d<\/p>\n

The committee took no immediate action on the proposal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Executive Board heard testimony May 6 on a proposed resolution that would \u201creaffirm\u201d state senators\u2019 oath of office and outline legislative positions on a list of perceived threats posed to the U.S. Constitution by the federal government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30280,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[142],"class_list":["post-30288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-executive-board","tag-sen-mike-groene"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/LR107Groene5-6-21a.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30288"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30293,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30288\/revisions\/30293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}