Nebraska had only been a state for seventy years when the very first session of the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature was held in January 1937. Every school kid in Nebraska is taught about our one-of-a-kind system of State government. Most of them also tour the capitol building at this time of year. As another mob of school kids trooped past our office door, the inevitable always happens. They see the buffalo head I have displayed in our office. Much to the frustration of their chaperons, they all want to see “Buffy” and our office is suddenly filled with wide-eyed fourth-graders brimming with questions. This has to be the most photographed buffalo mount in the state. They make you forget the often vulgar nature of politics, and remind you that we do things here that are going to out-live us. They inspire me, so I decided to write about them today.

We have a Unicameral Legislature in Nebraska because Nebraska is one of only twenty-six states that have a constitution that grants the power of “initiative and referendum” to the people. The Unicameral idea was a ballot initiative in Nebraska. The first one in 1923 did not collect enough signatures. In 1933 a second ballot initiative was launched. U.S. Senator George W. Norris of Nebraska was instrumental in the initiative’s success. He agreed to promote the idea only after the initiative organizers agreed to ensure the plan created a “non-partisan” Unicameral (not organized around the political party with the most senators in the body).

Three ballot initiatives put questions on the ballot in the 1934 election; changing to a unicameral, ratifying the 21st Amendment (ending prohibition), and a measure to legalize pari-mutuel betting (a style of betting used in horse racing) Nebraska historians have argued that the unicameral question being on the same ballot with questions about alcohol and gambling, in the middle of The Great Depression, was very lucky political timing. It’s worth noting the voters passed the gambling measure along with the Unicameral idea, but Nebraska was one of the eight states that did not ratify the 21st Amendment.

The first Unicameral had forty-three senators and has grown to forty-nine along with the population. Initially the terms for Senators were two years long, changing to four years in 1962. The legislature only met in the odd-numbered years until 1970 when the long (90 days) and short (60 day) sessions constitutional amendment was adopted. This was about the time Senators were given full-time staff as well. I’ll be writing more about our Unicameral in the weeks to come. 

Inspiration for this weekly update, and many facts in this writing are taken from the brilliant work found in “A History of the Nebraska Legislature” by Dr. Michael Dulaney.