As we prepare for the special session which will begin on Thursday, I want to share some scheduling and procedural information with you. My goal is to facilitate the best use of our time during the special session to allow the body to fully consider the issues of the call which are property tax reductions for Nebraskans and the identification of funds to achieve that policy.

Prior to the start of the special session, no one can predict the length of the session, the number of bills to be introduced, the number of public hearings to be held, or the length of floor debate. Because of these uncertainties, I have asked senators to remain open with their outside commitments during the weekday and weekday evenings through at least the middle of August.

In addition to processing bills and constitutional amendments germane to the Governor’s special session proclamation, the Legislature will be confirming gubernatorial appointments, an action considered administrative in nature. The Governor has made a series of appointments since the Legislature adjourned sine die in April. It is my understanding that the appointments will fall within the jurisdiction of seven of our standing committees (Agriculture Committee, Business and Labor Committee, General Affairs Committee, Health and Human Services Committee, Natural Resources Committee, Revenue Committee, and the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee.) 

Governor Pillen’s Special Session Proclamation calls for the Legislature to convene on Thursday, July 25th at 10:00 a.m. in the morning. I intend to schedule the second and third days of the special session on Friday and Saturday at 10:00 a.m. each day. Rule 9 of the Rules of the Nebraska Legislature (rule governing special sessions) limits bill introduction to the first three days of a special session. By meeting Saturday, we will be able to complete the three days of bill introduction, allowing committees to schedule and hold public hearings the following week.

In general, it is my intention to ask committees to conduct public hearings beginning Monday next week. The number of bills introduced and the total number of days committees need for public hearings ultimately will influence the schedule and we may need to devote a full week for all-day hearings. I will be better able to assess that once bill introduction and referencing has concluded and I have spoken to the affected committee chairs.

Because of the unknowns of the special session described above, I am unable to provide much scheduling guidance beyond the first six days of session. I will announce additional scheduling information beyond July 30th, as we progress. In general, other than meeting on Saturday, July 27, I do not intend to schedule session days on any additional Saturdays. “Late Nights” will be scheduled if I believe it necessary to advance debate.

Following is the scheduling information I can provide at this time:

Thursday, July 25
• Convene at 10:00 a.m.
• Bill Introduction

Friday, July 26
• 9:00 a.m. – deadline to submit a bill request to the Revisor’s Office to guarantee a 3-part prior to adjournment on Saturday
• Convene at 10:00 a.m.
• Bill Introduction
• Stand at ease while Referencing Committee meets and then files referencing report

Saturday, July 27
• Convene at 10:00 a.m.
• Last day of Bill Introduction
• Stand at ease until Revisor’s Office has returned to senators all bill requests submitted to their office by 9:00 a.m. on Friday

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday July 29-31
• Convene at 9:00 a.m.
• Check-in Days
• Public Hearings begin at 9:30 a.m.

In addition to scheduling information, I want to share some specific legislative floor procedures I will be following during the special session. With respect to cloture motions on bills and resolutions, in general I intend to follow the same guidelines utilized during the 2024 regular session, as outlined in my January 22, 2024 memo. I will be following a “full and fair debate” guideline that a cloture motion is in order after 8 hours of debate on general file, 4 hours of debate on select file, and 2 hours of debate on final reading unless I discern that full and fair debate has occurred sooner, in which case I will entertain a motion for cloture earlier than the 8-4-2-time thresholds. I will make that determination in consultation with the principal introducer and members of the Legislature in opposition to the bill based on the quality of the debate and the number of members participating in the debate.

The “full and fair debate” guideline for appropriation bills accompanying substantive bills (“A” bills) will be 30 minutes of debate at each stage of consideration unless in my estimation additional time is needed to debate a substantive issue with the “A” bill, in which case the time for “full and fair debate” will be 1 hour. Conversely, if I discern that “full and fair debate” has occurred sooner than 30 minutes on “A” bills, I will entertain a motion for cloture earlier than 30 minutes of debate completion.
For the legislative appropriation bill funding the expenses of the special session—a narrow bill within the call of the special session—a motion for cloture will be in order after 1 hour at each stage of debate.

Please note, at this time I do not intend to deviate from the 8-4-2-hour threshold, or the “A” bill 30 minute/1 hour threshold in determining “full and fair debate” for purposes of cloture. The objective determination of “full and fair debate” by following the respective time thresholds will be my default decision, I hope, for the entire special session. However, I have provided myself flexibility with respect to determining “full and fair debate” for invoking a cloture motion, if necessary.

Additionally, with the 2024 rule change to Rule 7, Sec. 10 allowing the cloture motion to apply to more than bills and constitutional amendments (i.e. procedural motions, committee reports, and other items of business other than the adoption of rules) I intend to allow a cloture motion if debate on such matters becomes exceedingly obstructive. I will provide the body with notice if such an occasion occurs.

As for other procedural practices, I intend to follow the practices implemented in the last special session by the former speaker to allow the rules to dictate when a bill is considered completed. Unlike a regular session where we have up to 108 priorities bills competing for floor time and many of which do not need to pass, a special session is called for a specific purpose with the goal of achieving a policy outcome. Past practices of myself and former speakers during regular sessions treated legislation that was bracketed, failed a cloture motion, or failed to advance from general file or select file as done for the session. These regular session floor practices are intended to provide time for all priorities to have floor time.

In the upcoming special session, my role is to facilitate full and fair debate of property tax reduction proposals to allow the body to pass a plan agreed to by a majority of the Legislature. To that end, if any legislative components of the plan fails to receive the required 33 votes to adopt a cloture motion, it will not be considered done for the session. Instead, I will be following the practice outlined in Rule 7, Sec 10 which directs the debate on the bill to end for the day but allows the bill to be rescheduled. In such an instance, per the rule, a cloture motion will be in order after two additional hours of debate (at any stage of debate).

Bills failing to advance from general file or select file may be rescheduled unless they have been indefinitely postponed due to failing to advance three times from general file or two times from select file pursuant to Rule 6, Sec 3(i) and Rule 6, Sec 5(e). Additionally, any bill bracketed may be rescheduled for debate either when eligible for rescheduling in the case of bracketing to a date certain or after a motion to unbracket the bill has been filed.

At the beginning of the session, I asked members to keep their evenings open on session days beginning March 13 through the end of the session for evening debate. Below you will find the specific dates that we will be working into the evening.

Please reserve the following dates for the Legislature to work during the early evening hours:

Monday, March 18;
Tuesday, March 19;
Wednesday, March 20;
Monday, March 25;
Tuesday, March 26;
Wednesday, March 27;
Tuesday, April 2;
Wednesday, April 3;
Thursday, April 4; and
Tuesday, April 9.

The adjournment time for a scheduled “late night” will be around 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. or later (potentially as late as 11:59 p.m.). The specific adjournment time each evening will be dependent upon the Body’s progress on that day’s agenda. We will have a half-hour recess for dinner around 6:00 p.m. each scheduled late night.

These dates are “reserved late nights” some of which I may cancel. I will provide members with as much notice as possible of such a cancellation. However, a cancelled “late night” may still mean working through the dinner hour and then adjourning sometime early evening.

I have decided to continue with a 10:00 a.m. start time for the first day of our work week. On the last day of our work week (March 15, 21, 28, and April 5) we will work through the lunch hour and adjourn between 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. dependent upon our progress that day.

Before we begin floor debate on legislation, I want to announce how I will be handling certain procedural motions under our current rules.

With respect to cloture motions on bills and resolutions, I intend to follow a “full and fair debate” guideline that a cloture motion is in order after 8 hours of debate on general file, 4 hours of debate on select file, and 2 hours of debate on final reading unless I discern that full and fair debate has occurred sooner, in which case I will entertain a motion for cloture earlier than the 8-4-2-time thresholds. I will make that determination in consultation with the principal introducer and members of the Legislature in opposition to the bill based on the quality of the debate and the number of members participating in the debate.

The “full and fair debate” guideline for appropriation bills accompanying substantive bills (“A” bills) will be 30 minutes of debate at each stage of consideration unless in my estimation additional time is needed to debate a substantive issue with the “A” bill, in which case the time for “full and fair debate” will be 1 hour. Conversely, if I discern that “full and fair debate” has occurred sooner than 30 minutes on “A” bills, I will entertain a motion for cloture earlier than 30 minutes of debate completion.

Please note, at this time I do not intend to deviate from the 8-4-2-hour threshold, or the “A” bill 30 minute/1 hour threshold in determining “full and fair debate” for purposes of cloture. The objective determination of “full and fair debate” by following the respective time thresholds will be my default decision, I hope, for the entire session. However, I have provided myself flexibility with respect to determining “full and fair debate” for invoking a cloture motion, if necessary.

If a motion to invoke cloture on legislation fails, I will consider the bill finished for the year, unless the bill is not a 2024 priority bill and is subsequently designated as such.

With respect to the Legislature’s adoption of the rule change to Rule 7, Sec. 10 allowing the cloture motion to apply to committee reports, non-CA resolutions, procedural motions, and other items of business (other than the adoption of rules), I intend to allow a cloture motion only if debate on such matters becomes exceedingly obstructive. I will provide the body with notice if such an occasion occurs.

As for other procedural practices, I intend to continue, in general, the practice of our recent speakers not to reschedule any bill that fails to advance from general file or from select file, unless the bill is subsequently designated as a priority bill.

This same general rule of not rescheduling a bill will apply to any bill successfully bracketed during debate (to a date certain or without a specified date) and any bill for which the principal introducer chooses to lay the bill over following the filing of a motion to indefinitely postpone pursuant to Rule 7, Section 3(a) and Section 6. In other words, if a principal introducer chooses to lay over their bill in the midst of debate due to the filing of a motion to indefinitely postpone the bill, I will not reschedule the bill on the agenda without subsequent designation of the bill as a priority bill. A bracketed bill may also be rescheduled if subsequently designated as a priority bill.

Please find below scheduling information for the first few weeks of session and several key session dates thereafter. 

January 3
• Convene at 10:00 a.m.
• Bill Introduction
• Election of Executive Board Chair (and other offices if necessary)
• Adjourn by noon or when introduced bills have been processed by the Clerk’s office

January 4, 5, and 8
• Convene at 10:00 a.m.
• Bill Introduction
• Adjourn by noon or when introduced bills have been processed by the Clerk’s office

January 9
• Convene at 1:30 p.m.
• Bill Introduction
• Adjourn around 3:00 p.m. or when introduced bills have been processed by the Clerk’s office

January 10 and 11
• Convene at 9:00 a.m.
• Bill Introduction
• Debate of amendments to the permanent rules
• Recess at noon and reconvene at 1:30 p.m. to continue debate; Adjourn around 4:00-5:00 p.m.

January 12
• Convene at 9:00 a.m.
• Bill Introduction
• Continue debate of rules
• Work through lunch and adjourn mid-afternoon
• (Tentative) Last day to submit bill requests to the Revisor of Statutes/Bill Drafting Office (by noon)

January 16
• Convene at 10:00 a.m.
• Bill Introduction
• Continue debate of rules, if necessary
• When the debate of rules is completed, debate of carry-over legislation will begin
• Recess at noon and reconvene at 1:30 p.m. to continue debate; Adjourn around 4:00-5:00 p.m.

January 17
• Convene at 9:00 a.m.
• Last day of Bill Introduction
• Continue debate rules/legislation
• Recess at noon and reconvene at 1:30 p.m. to continue debate; Adjourn around 4:00-5:00 p.m.

January 18
• Convene at 9:30 a.m.
• 10:00 a.m. — Governor Pillen’s State of the State Address
• Continue debate rules/legislation
• Recess at noon and reconvene at 1:30 p.m. to continue debate; Adjourn around 4:00-5:00 p.m.

January 19
• Convene at 9:00 a.m.
• Continue debate rules/legislation
• Work through lunch and adjourn mid-afternoon

January 22
• Convene at 10:00 a.m.
• Floor debate
• Adjourn by noon
• Public Hearings begin at 1:30 p.m.

January 25
• Convene at 9:00 a.m.
• 10:00 a.m. — Chief Justice Heavican’s State of the Judiciary Address

February 14, Prior to Adjournment
• Last day to submit a letter to the Speaker requesting the designation of a bill as a 2024 speaker priority bill
February 15, Prior to Adjournment
• Deadline for designation of committee and senator priority bills

February 20, Prior to Adjournment
• Speaker will announce remaining 2024 speaker priority bills

February 29
• Final day of public hearings

March 4
• Full Day floor debate begins

March 7
• Appropriations Committee’s mid-biennium budget bills placed on general file

March 12-26
• Debate and passage of the mid-biennium budget bills package

March 18-April 9
• Senators are requested to keep their session day evenings open beginning March 18 and throughout the remainder of the session for extended floor debate.

2024 Amendments to the Permanent Rules
I have asked Senator Erdman as chair of the Rules Committee to hold a public hearing on all of the proposed rule changes to the permanent rules that are filed with the Clerk for printing in the Journal by the end of day 2, Thursday, January 4th.

The Thursday deadline will allow Senator Erdman to announce the public hearing on Friday for a Monday hearing, providing the members and the public with three days notice as required by our rules.

If the Rules Committee advances any proposed rule changes to the floor on Tuesday, January 9th (and it is my expectation that they will) I will be scheduling all day debate on proposed rule changes beginning Wednesday, January 10.

On Tuesday, January 9, we will convene at 1:30 p.m. to allow the Rules Committee to meet that morning if necessary.

I have asked the Clerk to formalize the past informal practice of requiring all proposed rule changes to be drafted by the Clerk, similar to the manner in which all bills must be drafted by the Bill Drafter’s office. To have a proposed rule change introduced and printed in the journal, it must first be drafted in final form by the Clerk, Brandon Metzler, with help from Assistant Clerk Dick Brown.

Priority Bills
I have made the decision to not recognize the priority status for 2023 priority bills with respect to scheduling. The priority bills which were not adopted last session will need to be reprioritized as a 2024 priority bill, if senators so choose, for scheduling in the 2024 session.

Cloture
I will be providing members with my 2024 cloture policy prior to debate of the first bill in the 2024 session.

Colleagues, the first session of this 108th Legislature is coming to an end and I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that it has certainly been an unusual and very difficult session for everyone. This session has tested the legislature on every level. Relationships, processes, rules, and our individual commitment to the goal of passing good legislation to govern our state. I stand here today to tell you and those listening, we have done the work we were sent to do in spite of all of the challenges before us.

The messaging I heard from the beginning of this session and throughout it was that the Legislature isn’t accomplishing anything. That perception could not be further from reality. The hard work and long hours on the part of all of you, the members of the Legislature and all of the legislative staff, has resulted in historic accomplishments. We have done what we were sent here to do and together we have passed transformative legislation in many areas that will positively impact generations to come. All of you, Senators and legislative staff, should feel a sense of satisfaction for the results produced by your very hard and determined work.

For example, we made major commitments to education with LB 583, introduced by Senator Sanders. With passage of Senator Linehan’s LB 754 and Senator Briese’s LB 243, we delivered significant tax relief to Nebraskans. We passed Senator Wishart’s LB 276, which will change the way we deliver behavioral health services across the state by adopting the Certified Community Behavioral Health model. We moved the Economic Recovery Act forward to effectuate real change in North and South Omaha with the passage of Senator McKinney’s LB 531. We were able to address justice reform with Senator Wayne’s bill, LB 50. We passed the implementation bill for the Voter ID ballot initiative. And of course, under the leadership of Senator Clements, we adopted a fiscally responsible budget that provides for the ongoing funding of our state government.

At the beginning of this session, I believe the largest question before us was how best to utilize the excess money in our General Fund and in our Cash Reserve Fund. This Legislature answered with a one billion dollar investment in education, significant tax relief, and transformative investment in communities throughout the state. Our decisions will have a lasting impact for many years to come.

While we weren’t able to have a consent calendar, we utilized a different strategy this year and that was the committee packages. My guidance to the chairs of each standing committee was to identify those bills that had committee member consensus, that had high impact, were non-controversial, and had a low fiscal note. Each committee presented its package to the legislature with those bills they believed fit that criteria. If you take a look at these committee packages and who sponsored the bills in those packages, you will not see any partisan trend, but you will see senators from all over our state putting forth good ideas–good governance bills. These packages all passed with broad support.

Thank you to all of the committees, their members and their staff. Thank you for working hard to bring forth legislative packages that were nonpartisan, that were well-worked and broadly supported. Thank you for the personal sacrifices you made to be present and engaged for long hours.

In all, out of the over 800 different measures introduced at the beginning of the session, when you consider both individual bills and bills amended into the packages, we have passed a total of 291 bills. This is essentially the same number of bills passed compared to the average long session. In 2019, 322 bills were passed and in 2021, 281 bills were passed. This session’s number includes 72 out of the 107 personal, committee and Speaker priority bills. That’s nearly two-thirds of priority bills passed. And this session’s bills were passed with significant consensus and bipartisan support. Only seven bills passed with fewer than 40 votes. In fact, a majority of the bills we passed had the support of no less than 44 supporters and several with many more. With all of the bills passed, including several large, transformative bills, I believe that this was one of the most productive sessions and will have a longer lasting impact than any session in modern history. That is a tribute to you–your hard work and your long hours.

A majority of the session was embroiled in extreme rancor and division, but if you look at what we have accomplished, particularly during these last few days of the session, you can get a glimpse of what we can do when we work together. I hope we can build on that, on the robust debate we’ve had these last few days, as we consider the direction we take next session in January 2024.

With regards to that division – I want you to know that my commitment to the institution guided my decision making throughout this session. I know there were some of you, from across the political spectrum, who did not always agree with my decisions. As speaker, I worked diligently this session to provide guidance and to influence the culture of our nonpartisan institution. I personally made every attempt to not give in to the temptation to make major changes as a result of the challenges. I was asked (at times begged) on numerous occasions to change the rules in the middle of the session or to find a new interpretation of existing rules, with the rationale “because we can.” Except for one rule change which did aid us to address substantive issues, I consistently said no, much to the frustration of many. I did not want to make changes to precedent, adopt a new interpretation of rules, nor suppress dissent by the use of my powers. I did not accept that as a strategy, because I hoped that this year would be an aberration, not a predictor of the future. There will be time to consider how we want to govern ourselves in the future, but I believed then and continue to believe it should not occur in the middle of the session in the midst of turmoil. That is not the time for good decision-making. As speaker, I attempted to hold to the course, and I think that was largely accomplished.

But the speaker alone does not comprise the Nebraska Legislature – clearly it will be up to all the members of the Legislature to determine what kind of Legislature we want going forward. A Unicameral Legislature that is focused on approaching governance with a solution-focused, problem-solving mindset will only happen if you want that. We are 49 out of two million residents of Nebraska who have been elected to represent their interests. It is a privilege, but also a huge responsibility. My commitment to this institution and to the members of this body will be to work with you over the interim to assess the lessons – both good and bad – of this session, learn from them, and move forward as we define not only what we do, but how we do it.

The 108th Legislature, First Session, will adjourn sine die on Thursday, June 1, 2023.

Speaker Arch announced today that the members of the Legislature are asked to please reserve the following dates for the body to work during the evening:

Tuesday, March 28;
Wednesday, March 29;
Monday, April 3;
Tuesday, April 4;
Tuesday, April 11;
Wednesday, April 12;
Thursday, April 13;
Monday, April 17;
Tuesday, April 18;
Wednesday, April 19;
Tuesday, April 25;
Wednesday, April 26;
Tuesday, May 2;
Wednesday, May 3;
Thursday, May 4;
Friday, May 5;
Monday, May 8;
Tuesday, May 9;
Wednesday, May 10;
Thursday, May 11;
Tuesday, May 16;
Wednesday, May 17;
Thursday, May 18;
Monday, May 22;
Tuesday, May 23;
Wednesday, May 24;
Tuesday, May 30;
Wednesday, May 31; and
Thursday, June 1.

The adjournment time for a scheduled “late night” will be around 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. or later (potentially as late as 11:59 p.m.). The specific adjournment time each evening will be dependent upon the Body’s progress on that day’s agenda.

We will have a half-hour recess for dinner. The one hour recess for lunch will continue throughout the remainder of the session unless otherwise announced.

These dates are “reserved late nights” some of which I may cancel. I will provide the members with as much notice as possible of such a cancellation. However, a canceled “late night” may still mean working through the dinner hour and then adjourning sometime early evening. (Although listed as a late night, April 3 will be an adjournment around 7:00 p.m. with no dinner break provided.)

For the last day of the work week, if not a scheduled late night, we will work through lunch and adjourn sometime between 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

On Monday we will convene at 9:00 a.m. and that will be the start time every morning, including the first day of the work week, unless otherwise announced. Daily adjournment times next week will continue to be somewhere in the 12:15 to 12:30 time range.

We will continue debate of LB 376 through its conclusion on Monday. Following that debate, we will take up the second General Affairs committee priority bill, LB 775, a bill that redefines a term under the Nebraska Racetrack Gaming Act and changes and provides powers and duties for the State Racing and Gaming Commission. The committee amendment incorporates three additional bills heard by the committee.

Once the body concludes the general file debate of LB 775, we will move onto additional committee and senator priority bills.

On Monday we will convene at 9:00 a.m. Additionally, please plan on a daily adjournment around 12:30 as opposed to noon. I’m not sure it will be every day, but it is my intention to pick up a little extra time each week.

We will begin next week with debate of Senator Linehan’s priority bill, LB 753, the bill to adopt the Opportunity Scholarships Act and provide tax credits. After LB 753, we will return to the debate of the General Affairs Committee priority bill, LB 376.

A reminder that next Thursday, March 9, is the deadline for a senator to submit to me a letter requesting a speaker priority designation. All letters must be hand-delivered to my office prior to adjournment that day.

The deadline for the designation of senator and committee priority bills is Tuesday, March 14, prior to adjournment.