LINCOLN, Neb. (KMTV) — Tuesday was an intense day in the Unicameral, even before legislative bills even made it to the floor.
State Sen. Steve Erdman, who represents Bayard, found an unprecedented way to stop filibustering efforts of State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh. Erdman proposed a suspension of three rules pertaining to senators' abilities to file motions, offering a change to limit it to one motion on each bill per day in the same stage of the legislative process.
It was debated with fervor before passing an initial vote to adopt the change and withstood further pushback in a motion to reconsider, which wasn't adopted.
"You are voting to dismantle the Nebraska Legislature," said Cavanaugh. "Because you are not strong enough to be leaders. Because you are not strong enough to compromise. You are not strong enough to follow the rules, and do what needs to be done."
More than a handful of senators entered the queue to question whether the body could change a rule mid-session, for the rest of the session. Multiple broke out their orange rule books to scour sections, pointing out that even the Rules Committee seemed uncertain. Cavanaugh cut to the chase.
"You might just care about punishing me today, but I am telling you, that this is part of history. And what you do, and how you vote on this historic rules suspension and change, is part of history," said Cavanaugh, who represents District 10 in Omaha. "This does not fade quietly into the night."
The adamant filibustering began on Feb. 23 in response to LB626 — an abortion bill that has since passed out of committee into floor debate — in addition to LB574, a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors. Cavanaugh and Sen. Megan Hunt have not minced words about their staunch opposition to what they describe as an anti-trans bill.
In effect, the rule change prevents Cavanaugh from repeatedly introducing motions to the priority bills of other senators — whether that be to file an amendment, commit the bill, or postpone indefinitely. Erdman's amendment was perhaps even more limiting than a nearly-identical amendment submitted by Speaker John Arch, who proposed that each senator be limited to one motion, per bill, per day in the same stage.
Erdman didn't deflect that the rule change was in response to Cavanaugh's filibustering efforts.
"You're beginning to understand that those who've been supporting Senator Cavanaugh are totally upset, that we're going to take away one of their tools that they use to filibuster. And Senator (Wendy) DeBoer correctly stated that we will not cease to filibuster — opportunity, we will not do that."
The rule change isn't permanent, but it applies to the rest of the 108th Legislative Session.
It was immediately in effect, just minutes after the last vote. Its adoption allowed the next bill on the agenda, LB276 to "Adopt the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic Act" by State. Sen. Anna Wishart, to progress. A steady stream of withdrawn motions from Sen. Megan Hunt and Cavanaugh followed.
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