Explicit comments made Monday night on the floor of Nebraska’s Unicameral are now the subject of a formal investigation into workplace harassment.
During debate over a bill that would remove an allowable defense from prosecution for employees in K-12 schools or public libraries for providing “obscene materials” to minors, Senator Steve Halloran of Hastings recited a violent rape scene from a novel and interjected the name of his colleague “Senator Cavanaugh” into the reading.
Wednesday morning, Chair of the Executive board senator Raymond Aguilar of Grand Island announced he self-initiated an investigation under the legislature’s workforce harassment policy at first chance.
“There have been numerous statements by both members of the public, and members of the legislature, that have painted an inaccurate picture of the legislature’s response to the incident,” Aguilar began is announcement.
The Nebraska unicameral does indeed have a written workplace harassment policy, as called into question by lawmakers on the floor. The policy requires any legislator or staff member who has firsthand knowledge of a situation involving harassment to immediately report the situation to the executive board.
Given the public nature of the comments made by Halloran during televised public debate, Aguilar said g certain confidentiality requirements had been effectively waived.
A special investigative panel, consisting of three members of the legislature chosen by the exec chair, will appoint an outside investigator to inspect the complaint.
“This formal investigation will be thorough and by-the-book,” said Aguilar.
A written report will be presented to the panel and findings will be made public and shared with Senator Halloran.
“The lack of public comment from the executive board has led to some unfortunate assertions that this incident was being swept under the rug. This could not be further from the case,” Aguilar added. “These complaints will be taken seriously and handled confidentially as provided under the policy.”