This morning, curiosity had piqued across the state, with Nebraskans eager to see how State Senators would set the tone on the first day of the 2024 legislative session, especially after a particularly rancorous 90-day session last year.
The 2024 legislative session will, at the very least, differ from last year with only 60-days for lawmakers to conduct business. Some procedural moves made today could likely resonate throughout the session.
Sen. Raymond Aguilar of District 35 was elected to serve as Chair of the Executive Board of the Legislative Council. This board supervises all legislative services and employees, and is responsible for processing legislation involving a variety of subject relating to lawmakers. Aguilar has previously served as vice-chair of the board, and has been acting-chair since the former Senator Tom Briese resigned to become Nebraska State Treasurer.
Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh ran, somewhat symbolically, to oppose Sen. Aguilar who is the longest tenured lawmaker in the legislature. Cavanaugh explained that candidates who run unopposed for committee seats are unanimously approved by default.
“While I do think that I have the qualifications to run for executive board and to be the chair of the executive board, I am purely nominating myself so that we actually have a vote for the chairmanship,” said Cavanaugh. “It is not because I don’t believe in Senator Aguilar’s qualifications. I just don’t believe in us continuing to vote for these critical positions without taking an actual vote.” Sen. Aguilar received the majority of the votes and was elected to the seat.
Next item on the agenda was to fill the vacancy of the Vice-Chair of the Executive Board. Sen. John Lowe of District 37 and Sen. Terrell McKinney of Omaha’s District 11 sought election to the seat. Lowe noted that he served on the executive board for the last three years in the legislature, and his service on the General Affairs Committee. Sen. McKinney, making a different appeal, said that board leadership ought to be regionally diverse, “If Senator Lowe was elected, the eastern side of the state wouldn’t have a voice as far as president and vice chair of the executive board,” McKinney said, “We should have diversity of voices, because a lot of those issues impact communities like mine more than others, disproportionately.”
Senator Justin Wayne of Omaha’s District 13 nominated himself for vice chair but withdrew his nomination after seizing an opportunity for light-hearted remarks. Playfully threatening to speak for an hour on his life story, he threw his support behind Sen. McKinney.
While a closer election than the one prior, Lowe received the majority of votes and was elected to vice chair.
Besides elections, Senators took time to introduce bills — of which 82 were brought to the table. Nine Senators (Jacobson, Conrad, Kauth, Arch, Brandt, Dungan, Hunt, Fredrickson, & Day) designated their priority bill for the session, of which every senator get to select one to prioritize for the session.
After these procedural openings, Speaker of the Legislature Sen. John Arch took the chance to address fellow lawmakers. Speaker Arch shot down any notion that this short session would be relaxed.
“I have been asked, what’s the difference between a long session and a short session? And I remember my first short session. I asked Senator [Sara] Howard, and she said, ‘You now have 60 days to complete, 90 days of work.’ And that’s what we’ll be doing. It’s a short session. We have a lot of work to do,” said Speaker Arch.
Arch also shared his hopes for this session, alluding to the high tensions of 2023. “My vision for this session: Seize the opportunities before us. We have 60 days to do that. Let’s work hard, build relationships, show respect for each other as we build a better Nebraska over the next 60 days,” said Sen. Arch. “Find out each other’s stories, learn about each other as human beings. Go sit with people that you wouldn’t normally relate to and welcome others when they come to sit with you.”