Senator Tom Brewer
43rd District
2-7-2020

My priority bill to take stolen guns out of the hands of criminals and off the street (LB 582) was sent to the Governor this week. It should be signed into law very soon.

In other news, I recently introduced a resolution in the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. LR283CA is a proposed constitutional amendment to change one word in our state constitution.

Article VI, section 1 currently says: “EVERY citizen of the United States who has attained the age of eighteen years on or before the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November and has resided within the state and the county and voting precinct for the terms provided by law shall, except as provided in section 2 of this article, be an elector for the calendar year in which such citizen has attained the age of eighteen years and for all succeeding calendar years.”

My resolution changes the word EVERY to read “ONLY A.”

Several states have language in their constitutions that either read word-for-word the same as Nebraska, or have language that is very similar. In some of these states, similar language has been interpreted as not excluding those who are not citizens of the United States. Non-citizens, even some who are present in the country unlawfully, are voting in elections in the United States. So far it is only legal in places like California and Maryland, but non-citizen voting has been proposed in state legislatures in more than a dozen states. I do not want to see this same interpretation of this constitutional language creep into Nebraska.

Unfortunately, some of my colleagues on the Government Committee do not share my feelings on this. There are eight senators on the committee. A bill or resolution like this needs at least five votes to advance out of committee. The vote failed.

Along with Senators La Grone, Hilgers, and Lowe, I voted “yes” to advance the bill. Senator Hunt was a “no” vote, and Senators Blood, Hansen, and Kolowski were “present, not voting” which caused the bill to fail to advance.

My resolution is very simple. It only changes a single word in the constitution. It protects what is already the legal standard in Nebraska. Right now today you must be 18 years old on Election Day, be a resident of Nebraska, and be a lawful citizen of the United States in order to vote. My resolution does not change any of those requirements. It simply tries to protect them from the impassioned mischief that may be brought by future legislators, or city councils, or county boards who, for example, may decide 16 year olds should have the right to vote, let alone illegal aliens.

I was surprised and disappointed my colleagues didn’t join me in trying to safeguard the integrity of our elections in Nebraska.

Please contact my office with any comments, questions or concerns. Email me at; tbrewer@leg.ne.gov. Mail a letter to; Sen. Tom Brewer, Room #1101, P.O. Box 94604, Lincoln, NE 68509 or call us at (402) 471-2628.