Nebraska State Senator Steve Halloran of Hastings has been formally “reprimanded” following a third-party investigation into explicit comments he made last month, in which he inserted the name of a fellow senators into a graphic reading of a story depicting sexual assault.
Chair of the Legislature’s Executive Board Ray Aguilar of Grand Island convened a special investigative panel and appointed an outside investigator to inspect the the incident the morning after it occurred.
Wednesday morning, roughly two weeks later, Aguilar made public the results of the investigation. He noted, the report only covered the original incident and did not take into account an additional incident that occurred on March 26, in which Halloran joked off the mic — while debating a bill to require age verification to view pornographic websites — that Senator Machaela Cavanaugh would know about porn because she watches it.
The report found that while Senator Halloran’s remarks did not constitute a hostile work environment sexual harassment claim under state or federal law, his remarks constituted a violation of the legislatures workplace harassment policy.
Specifically, the report found that Senator Halloran’s remarks constituted three separate types of conduct defined as sexual harassment under the policy:
- Verbal abuse of a sexual nature
- Graphic verbal commentaries about sexual activity
- Sexually oriented discussion
“Pursuant to the findings of the outside investigator, the executive board met early this morning to approve a letter of reprimand condemning the conduct of Senator Halloran,” said Aguilar.
The report was read into the record by Unicameral Clerk Brandon Metzler. The letter can be viewed below.