Lincoln Journal Star - April 10, 2010
By Nancy Hicks
Ernie Chambers may be gone, but the filibuster is back.
Sen. Bill Avery didn't set out to lead a filibuster. The Lincoln senator simply planned to talk against a bill he felt was not good policy, maybe improve it, maybe stall it.
The bill (LB1102) would have allowed the state to use profits from a new kind of gambling - wagering on old horse races - to keep the horse racing industry afloat.
But Avery wasn't the only senator who didn't like the idea of letting the Racing Commission put gambling machines - that look a lot like slot machines - at the state's five race tracks.
A half dozen like-minded senators joined the debate, and somewhere around the fourth hour Avery knew he had the ingredients for a filibuster.
Omaha Sen. Beau McCoy was running a vote card (counting potential votes either way), Avery said.
Six hours after senators first started talking, the filibustering crew had successfully killed the gambling bill.
Two years after the filibuster king, Sen. Ernie Chambers, retired because of term limits, members of Nebraska's Unicameral have learned how to use the filibuster effectively.
Three times in a recent week, senators successfully talked bills to death or used the filibuster to weaken a bill.
A group of rural senators, organized with a little help from veteran lobbyist Walt Radcliffe, killed Omaha Sen. Tom White's bill (LB952) that would have eliminated the sales tax on a portion of sewer services fee.
Sen. Kent Rogert of Tekamah organized a filibuster against the bill banning texting while driving (LB945).
Rogert was fairly certain supporters didn't have 33 votes to stop the filibuster.
So he offered supporters a choice - agree to weaken the bill by making texting a secondary offense, or watch the bill die after enduring a full-fledged filibuster.
Senators weakened the bill, and the filibuster ended early as promised.
Former Sen. Chambers had turned filibustering into a one-man art form, using his intellect, mastery of the rules and oratorical skills to control much of the legislative business.
There were a few filibusters organized by other senators over the years. But not many.
Now a new group of state senators has figured out how the minority on an issue can have some power through the filibuster.
This is how a filibuster works in the Nebraska Unicameral:
Senators propose amendments to a bill, then talk about those amendments or just talk.
They must talk for around eight hours at the first stage of debate and for about four hours at the second stage of debate. The Speaker decides exactly how long.
At the end of the allotted time, the Legislature votes to stop the filibuster -called a cloture vote.
It takes 33 votes (two-thirds of the 49 senators) to stop a filibuster and move on with the bill.
If there aren't 33 votes, the bill dies.
So a filibuster works best against bills with shallow support, where supporters won't be able to round up the required 33 votes.
Filibusters are hard work.
So post-Ernie filibusters are not one-senator shows, but the cooperative effort of at least half a dozen legislators who take turns talking, talking and talking some more.
Avery, a retired political science professor, is book-smart about the history of the filibuster.
How it started with Cato, a Roman senator who would talk until dusk (that's when the Senate ended for the day) to prevent things he opposed from getting approval.
How opponents to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 tied up the Senate for 57 days.
Now he's helped lead one.
