LINCOLN — In Nebraska we have a unicameral legislature.
Other states have a house and a senate but here its just one body of 49 senators to represent the entire state.
But there is a second house, the people of Nebraska.
“There are times when the will of the people override what the legislature is doing, and that is accepted,” said Speaker of the Legislature John Arch.
This year we saw a significant gap between what the legislature supported and what the people voted for.
One issue in particular that saw strong support from lawmakers and significant opposition from voters, school choice.
“Does it feel like you dropped the ball on school choice with the people of Nebraska showing they aren’t supporting it the same way lawmakers are?”
“I wouldn’t put it that way. I think part of the process of any of these controversial issues is the period of education where people understand what the issue is….this particular issue is a bit of a philosophical issue I would call it. It is, what right should the child have to choose? That takes a while to educate and debate in the public,” said Arch
Despite voters rejecting public funding for private schools the issue still might not be settled yet.
Supporters in the legislature said before the election that they would keep fighting for school choice regardless of the elections outcome.
Arch told me that if a senator makes School Choice their priority bill, he will make sure it gets scheduled just like other priority bills.
“My goal is to schedule that and all of the other priority bills. I don’t sit on the agenda and decide what the agenda is gonna be. It is determined by the individual senators who represent very diverse populations cross the state,” said Arch.
The other issue where lawmakers and voters didn’t line up, medical cannabis.
Because it was passed as a constitutional amendment lawmakers can’t usurp the voters and pass a bill to make medicinal cannabis illegal but they will have to work through the process of regulating it, even if they personally wouldn’t support it.
“We have a responsibility to consider the whole state, in addition to our local district. Sometimes that can conflict and you may vote one way if you are considering the whole state, and another way if you are just considering your district,” said Arch.
