Unicameral Youth Conference

The Unicameral Youth Conference was developed in Nebraska in the year 1996 by members of the Nebraska Legislature Clerk's office. It was created to enable high school students to learn about the legislative process and how a bill becomes law. The 2007 session began on June 11th with the election of committee chairpersons and the Speaker of the Legislature. During the 2007 session of the Unicameral Youth Conference in Lincoln at the State Capitol, twenty students participated in learning the works and laws of the Unicameral. The Unicameral Legislature of Nebraska is non-partisan and acted in the same way during the Unicameral Youth Conference.

Elected members

At the beginning of the session of the Unicameral Youth Conference, members of the body were elected to fill positions on committees and in the entire legislature. Presiding over the body of the legislature before the speaker was elected was Dani Whitney of Minden. Ms. Whitney acted as Madam Lt. Governor during the conference. Ronald Forsell of Norfolk acted as Governor.

In the race for the Speaker, Senator John Holtz of Omaha and Senator Jordan Martin of Orchard ran against each other. Senator Holtz boasted his third year here at the UYC while Senator Martin could only admit that this was his second term. However, the vote did not reflect greater experience. Sen. Martin was elected as Speaker of the Legislature with the majority of the vote.

Following the election of the speaker, Senator Martin presided as the body proceeded to the election of the Appropriations chair. Senator Holtz ran again as this committees chair but found himself up against two formidable candidates. Senator Natalie Schnieder of Omaha (sister of Senator Christoper Schneider) and Senator Benton Whaley of Lincoln (both freshmen senators) challenged Senator Holtz. As the first votes drew to a close eight votes were for Senator Natalie Schneider, eight votes were for Senator Whaley, but only three votes could be found for the veteran Omaha senator. The Speaker did not vote. A second ballot was cast with Senator Holtz withdrawing his nomination. This resulted in a ten to ten tie. The Lt. Governor asked for one more vote before making a decision on who would become Chair. In the third election for the Chair of the Appropriations committee, the results showed Senator Whaley winning the vote with a thirteen to seven vote.

The following elections were not as exciting. Senator Anne Taylor of Neligh, a freshman senator, won the Judiciary chair unopposed. Senator Alex Henry of Arapahoe, another freshman senator, found unanimous victory in her election to the Agriculture chair. Senator Rudy Moran (a freshman senator) from Norfolk was unopposed in his bid for the Transportation chair.

Other members of the Legislature included Senator Levi Brown of Stapleton, Senator JoLisa Turner of Omaha, Senator Rosangela Godinez of Lexington, Senator Logan Hoyt of Culbertson, Senator Estefani Jacobo of Lexington, Senator Callie Johnson of Nickerson, Senator Mark Lutkemeir of Bladen, Senator Rachal Muehlich of Rogers, Senator Karla Orozco of Lexington, Senator Simon Pena of Glenwood, Iowa, Senator Ben Schoeneberger of Lincoln, and Senator Allison Siekman of Bennington. Senator Robert Freeze of Alliance was not present.

Bills

Legislative Bill 1- An Appropriations bill on funding

Legislative Bill 2- An Appropriations bill on taxation

Legislative Bill 3- A Judiciary bill to abolish the death penalty (Sponsor: Sen. Pena)

Legislative Bill 4- A Transportation bill to permit the use of all-terrain vehicles on public highways (Sponsor: Sen. Brown)

Legislative Bill 5- An Ag & Natural Resources bill to make it mandatory for hybrid animals to receive vaccinations (Sponsor: Sen. Godinez)

Legislative Bill 6- A Judiciary bill making social hosts responsible for any accidents of drunk driving (Sponsor: Sen. Siekman)

Legislative Bill 7- An Ag & Natural Resources bill to help with the current water debt to Kansas (Sponsor: Sen. Hoyt)

Legislative Bill 8- A Judiciary bill requiring marriage counseling (Sponsor: Sen. Chris Schneider)

Legislative Bill 9- A Transportation bill also known as the "cell phone bill" (Sponsor: Sen. Johnson)

The Group of Thirteen

While unofficial and not sponsored by the Unicameral Youth Conference, the Group of Thirteen was the informal name for a group of senators who were trying to rally a filibuster against LB 3. At first the group only sought seven members as seven was the magic number required to block a cloture attempt. It is rumored that Governor Forsell, who was entirely against the bill, worked with the Speaker and Sen. Hoyt to attempt a filibuster to make sure that the bill would not be passed. After the success of the filibuster, the members of the group dispersed. A threat came about that all other bills would be filibustered in the wake of the amusing, "crush-induced" filibuster. Supposedly by the urging Sens. Lutkemeir, Martin, and Hoyt, the group was re-created to rally 14 members to their side to invoke cloture on whichever bill they feared a filibuster was coming on (Thirteen was one number shy of the number they needed). The threat, however, was non-existent, but the Group of Thirteen was now considered the majority party of the Unicameral Youth Conference (It is believed that the Group of Thirteen actually had enough members to invoke cloture). The group was in strong support of LB 1, LB 2, LB 4, LB 6, LB 7, and LB 8. The group was split on LB 5.

The Fantastic Two

Also unofficial and unsponsored by the Unicameral Youth Conference, the Fantastic Two consisted of Sen. Pena and Sen. Schoeneberger. The vague filibuster threat against all the other bills was given by the Fantastic Two, and though the threat was not to be taken seriously, it apparently created a panic in Group Thirteen, much to the amusement of the Fantastic Two. It was Sen. Pena and Sen. Schoeneberger who proposed the many amendments to LB 4, and while they dispersed after said bill, Sen. Pena went on to propose multiple amendments to LB 6.

Appropriations

LB1 and LB2 were appropriations bills and were sponsored by Sen. Whaley. While LB1 received little distraction at all on being passed (despite changes made in a committee hearing), LB2 received some hackling when Governor Forsell lobbied for an amendment to lower the sales tax yet raise the income tax. Sen. Moran took up his amendment but found his amendment defeated by a vast majority. LB1 and LB2 were then advanced through final reading and sent before the governor. In frustration of what had not happened in LB2, the governor vetoed both bills and sent them back to the Unicameral. The governor soon found himself facing the wrath of the entire legislature when two consecutive 20-0 votes where recorded to override the governor's veto.

Legislative Bill Three

Perhaps the most interesting of all the bills to be discussed before the entire legislature, LB3 was discussed in a committee hearing where Sen. Martin proposed an amendment that changed the bill to stating that the new capital punishment should be lethal injection. When brought before the legislature, Speaker Martin saw his amendment fall and Sen. Pena worked to press the advantage. He proposed a highly-popular amendment that would abolish the death penalty and force Class I offenders to serve life in solitary confinement without parole. Discussion began on this amendment until another blocked it for a short period of time. Speaker Martin rallied together a group of senators to aid in blocking the bill and sending as many amendments as possible to the floor. Sen. Martin, himself, included an amendment to change the Sen. Pena amendment to state lethal injection or solitary confinement without parole by choice of the justice system. It's first attempt was defeated by a 10-10 vote, and Sen. Pena's amendment was discussed until Sen. Moran (at the prompting of Governor Forsell) motioned to reconsider his vote. This time the amendment was successful by a 13-7 vote. By this time, however, time was running out due to the fact that Speaker Martin had strategically placed LB3 at the very end of the list of bills, thus giving it the least amount of time to be discussed. After the reconsider vote had been taken, there were less than ten minutes remaining to discuss the bill. Sen. Pena, knowing that he didn't have enough time to reach a desirable outcome and knowing that Governor Forsell and Speaker Martin would not allow more discussion time, asked for cloture and the speaker granted his request. However, this was only a ploy so that he could pull his bill from the floor. This bill was one of few debated before the formation of the Group of Thirteen.

Legislative Bill Four

After LB3, Legislative Bill Four received the most attention during the session. Senator Brown of Stapleton pushed and pushed for his bill by indicating how even the simplest farm work may require the use of All-terain vehicles on public highways. His bill easily passed through the committee hearing with a small amendment allowing possessors of a Provisional Operator's Permit to legally drive an ATV. However, before the entire Unicameral, the bill was much more debated. Sens. Whaley and Schoeneburger both tried to rally opposition to the bill. However, the two found that their small rally was far short of a majority as this bill had gained popularity from the Group of Thirteen (Sen. Brown was one of the first members of this group). With the urging of the Speaker and the other founders of the group, cloture was invoked on the filibuster attempted by Sen. Schoeneburger. The bill was passed with a 15-5 vote on Final Reading. A veto followed from the Governor resulting in another attempt from the Lincoln senator to rally opposition to this bill. But Sen. Brown's motion to override the veto prevailed with a 15-5 vote.

Legislative Bill Five

All majorities, no matter how big, are fragile. Such was found to be true when Sen. Godinez (a member of the Group of Thirteen) introduced a bill that would require hybrid animals to receive vaccinations. From the very beginning, opposition arose from within her own political party as many members of the Group were against the bill sighting research shown that no such vaccinations existed for hybrid animals. Sen. Godinez (now backed by Sens. Shoeneburger, Pena, and Whaley) argued that vaccinations used on ordinary animals could be found true for hybrids. Worn from the many rounds of voting on LB 4, the Unicameral was barely able to achieve of quorum of the Legislature. The bill failed to advance to Select File by a 9-7 vote. However, after the consent of the Speaker (who was opposed to the bill)to recall the vote, the bill found a 10-10 vote denying it from entering Select File. Of the members of the supposed "Group of Thirteen" and the majority party, only ten of senators voted in the negative while five members of the group voted for the bill.

Legislative Bill Six

The Group of Thirteen faced another challenge after Sen. Siekman introduced a bill that would make social hosts responsible for drunk driving accidents. While the Group of Thirteen was in support of the bill, opposition rose from the supposed "minority." They argued that the social hosts should not be held responsible if the social hosts can not identify whether or not a person is drunk. This argument drove on for a very long time in Select File to the point that a filibuster was threatened by the "minority." Wishing to avoid a filibuster and overcome the hurdle of bringing the bill to Final Reading, the Group of Thirteen ceased arguments on the bill and rushed to invoke cloture. After cloture was invoked, the Group of Thirteen yet again found many of their supporters fall away from the party when a mere 12-8 vote was recorded. Later on Governor Forsell vetoed the bill citing the same arguments of the "minority." However, this time the Group of Thirteen stood stronger and overrode the veto with a 15-5 vote.

Legislative Bill Seven

More information will be posted.

Legislative Bill Eight

More information will be posted.

Legislative Bill Nine

More information will be posted.

Sources

Nebraska Unicameral Online [http://www.unicam.state.ne.us/web/public/uyc] Nebraska 4-H [http://4h.unl.edu/programs/citizenship/civics/uyc/index.htm]