Nebraska lawmakers could be navigating a new filibuster over a new state prison included in the biannual budget proposal.
The new state prison would cost over $300 million dollars. This project has came up in passing throughout the session, drawing criticism mainly from Omaha Senators Justin Wayne and Terrell McKinney.
Wayne spoke of his willingness to filibuster the session on the unicameral floor, Wednesday. “I’m not going to try to hold up the budget and filibuster the entire budget…I’m probably going to make sure we don’t even get on the budget. I’m okay with the special session” said Wayne. The state constitution requires that lawmakers pass the biannual state budget. If this is accomplished before lawmakers adjourn for the year in June, Governor Jim Pillen would need to call a specials session over the summer.
Wayne is no stranger to critiquing Nebraska’s prison system. Its Wayne’s belief that this new prison project would do little to ease overcrowding. “When I look at the budget, I want to be clear about our prison system. Our prison system is overcrowded. We are going to spend over $360,000,000 to build a new prison…and nobody in this body can find me any data point that says that [new] prison will not be full the first day it’s open,” said the North Omaha representative.
2023 has already been a very unique session for Nebraska lawmakers. Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh and Sen. Megan Hunt lead the filibuster for the first few months of the session over abortion service and gender affirming care access. The state budget bill was often referenced over this time as a “bigger fish to fry.” These circumstances have birthed a new approach from Speaker John Arch. Often refereed to as “Christmas tree bills,” lawmakers have been deliberating over bills have have numerous other provisions and amendments attached to them. Just this week, Senators advanced 23 bills packaged together into one piece of legislation relating to education.
Offering wider critiques to the general budget bill, Lincoln Senator Danielle Conrad, “It’s full of pet projects, it’s full of prisons, It steals from the poor, and it plays games to prop up tax cuts for the rich and out of state corporations. It puts profit over people.”
Regarding the prison discussion, Sen. Steve Erdman made a suggestion that the root cause of prison overcrowding is illiteracy. “It’s not difficult to figure out there’s a direct relationship with those people who cannot read and those people who are in prison… We need to go back and look at why these people are incarcerated, and it’s because our school system doesn’t teach them to read,” said the Bayard representative.
Lawmakers are expected to debate the budget for the rest of the 71st legislative day.