This week, Senators will be convening at the University of Nebraska Innovation Campus for the annual Legislative Council meeting. This meeting will be the first gathering of the entire legislature since the session adjourned on June 1. The primary purpose of the meeting is to let the Speaker address his agenda for the coming session and to allow members of the Legislature to discuss issues they may have before the session begins on January 3, 2024. The meeting is intended to be informational and allow for a more private social setting for members to get reacquainted.

One of the items on the agenda will likely be to discuss some of the rule changes proposed by Senator Erdman, who serves as chair of the Rules Committee. I appreciate the time Senator Erdman has spent developing these potential rule changes and look forward to working with him and the rest of my colleagues through the process. Although the details of the rule changes are significant, I will outline the major rule changes proposed and the impact that these changes could have.

The first proposed rule change would deal with motions for cloture. A motion for cloture is a motion to end debate and proceed to a vote on the pending item before the body. It requires 33 votes to pass, and may only be brought after “full and fair” debate. Currently, motions and amendments are taken in the order in which they are offered, and prior amendments and motions must be resolved before the next can be considered. Moreover, no amendments can be offered once a cloture motion is passed. The proposed change would make it possible for the introducer of the bill under debate to file amendments that move forward in the queue and to prevent meaningful amendments from being blocked by the opposition to prohibit improvements to the bill that gain support for the modified measure. The proposed change, if adopted, would also allow for a cloture motion to be offered without waiting for a specified number of hours of debate to occur first. These would be welcome changes to our rules.

Another proposed rule change would address the rules for “dilatory” motions and amendments. The rule book currently addresses dilatory rules but does not sufficiently address how to recognize and deal with a motion that is intended to simply waste time. The proposed rule would require the Speaker to agree that a motion is worthy of debate before the motion or amendment can be filed with the Clerk. Introducing non-substantive motions and amendments is a common filibuster tactic. A Senator who introduces a motion or amendment is given 10 minutes to open on the proposal, may speak three times for five minutes, and is then allowed a 5-minute close. In short, you could waste 30 minutes for each motion or amendment you introduce, even if no one else participates in the debate. The rule change would still allow for filibustering with substantive motions and amendments while eliminating time-wasting tactics.

Another proposed rule that caught my attention is a proposal to close executive sessions to the press. Currently, all committee hearings are open to the public, and every bill introduced is guaranteed a hearing. However, after all the “public” hearings are completed, the committee chair will call executive sessions to allow committee members to debate the various bills and vote on bills they wish to advance to General File. Currently, only the committee members and the press are allowed to attend these meetings. Many believe that if no other Senators are allowed to attend these meetings, the press should also be excluded. This would allow committee members to be more candid and confidentially debate bills before their committee. Members would certainly be allowed to discuss the issues raised in the closed session after the meeting, but there would be no press in the room during the debate.

Since these proposed rules have been distributed to all the Senators, I expect that there will be some interesting discussions at the Legislative Council meeting later this week.

I look forward to continuing to hear from you regarding issues that are important to you. It is a privilege to serve as your State Senator, and I will continue to give my full effort to make a positive difference for the District and the State. You can reach me at mjacobson@leg.ne.gov or by calling my legislative office at 402-471-2729.