Sara Howard stepped into her lawmaking role at age 31, a shy, wide-eyed woman who rarely stood to speak during debate, unless it was to nicely explain one of her bills.Ìý
She lacked confidence, she says now, and certainly wasn't assertive.Ìý
But because of her demeanor, she jokes, her fellow senators seemingly would no more vote against a Howard bill than kick a basket of puppies.
A lot has changed, she said last week, but quickly added: "I'm still nice."Ìý
Howard followed her mother to the state Capitol in 2013, after Gwen Howard spent eight years representing Omaha's District 9. The younger Howard came with a degree from Smith College in Massachusetts, a doctor of jurisprudence from Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, and experience as a staff attorney for the Illinois Maternal and Child Health Coalition.
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No basket of puppies there.Ìý
Once, when a senator plopped the thousands of pages of the Affordable Care Act on his desk and proclaimed no one had or could have read it, she answered: I did, several times.Ìý
Now, Howard has two terms as Nebraska state senator on her resume, and even though she is comfortably hitting her stride, state law says it's time for her and five other term-limited senators to go.
Fellow senators Megan Hunt and Patty Pansing Brooks say they'll miss her leadership on the Health and Human Services Committee and the floor of the Legislature, and her significant knowledge, steadfast commitment to her values and mentorship.ÌýÌý
"She's done admirable work to try to train new senators to protect and sustain the value of our unicameral (Legislature)," Hunt said. "I have admired her measured, thoughtful, compassionate leadership style forÌýyears."
Howard is known as one of the best at the legislative process in recent memory. Great vote counter and a top-grade manager of the debate, knowing who should speak and when, and how to get the vote where it needs to go.Ìý
"When she was a freshman, she was the best floor manager I ever had," said former Lincoln Sen. Kathy Campbell. "She knew how to talk to senators. She knew how to answer questions, get information for them. That's a skill that not everybody has, and she came with it."
Her first term was a great learning experience, Howard said, and she was reelected in 2016, ready to take over for Campbell and lead the Health and Human Services Committee.
Then 2017 happened.Ìý
It was described as a coup d'etat, as hugger-muggery. On the first day of the session,Ìý Republicans carried out a surprising, painful-to-some, election of committee chairs and leadership, ousting some Democrats and moderate Republicans and replacing them with conservatives and first-year senators.
Howard was among the collateral damage, losing the HHS chairmanship on a 27-22 vote.Ìý
Then, senators spent 30 days of the session fighting over rules.Ìý
"I think something really shifted in 2017 for me," she said. "That was awful. But it forced me to grow in a way that's been really important."
Howard realized, she said, that the institution of the unicameral Legislature was "quite fragile, and if I keep looking at it in this beautiful, naive way I wasn't going to be able to preserve it." And she certainly didn't want to leave it worse off than she had found it when she arrived.Ìý
The ship was righted when she was elected chairwoman of the committee in 2019, and she describes these last two years as "halcyon days," with senators having conversations about caring for the institution and its integrity. More people are paying attention, she said.Ìý
And Howard, still one to speak sparingly and measure her words, has become known as one of those to listen to on the floor, one who can calmly break down a tough subject and explain it so most folks can understand.Ìý
Votes don't really come from speeches on the mic, she said, but more from sitting down with someoneÌý— face-to-faceÌý— to make sure they understand what's in a bill and why it's important.Ìý
Because of this job, she said, she will be able to take a calmness into nearly any other field.
"It gives you a certain perspective on any other type of work that you're doing because we were making life-and-death decisions, we were impacting families, we were changing the face of our state in a lot of ways," she said.Ìý
Lots of stress, she said, but also lots of reward.Ìý
Howard was the leader on the series of bills that last week were signed into law that will provide oversight of the state Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Centers. That's the role of the legislative branch, she said.Ìý
"It's the first time in four years that we've asserted our authority as a co-equal branch, which shouldn't be hard and shouldn't be remarkable," she said. "But in this environment, it really is."
Her work on opioids and drug monitoringÌý— continuing the work her mother startedÌý— has been most important to her, because of her sister Carrie's death from an opioid overdose.Ìý
Through it all, she said, it has been satisfying to work in the Legislature, in a job in which she could affect so many people, a job that was bigger than one young woman from midtown Omaha.Ìý
"I feel very confident to say that I'm very good at this job. And that's the shame of term limits," she said.Ìý
Is the Legislature a good place for women?
"It can be," she said.
But anyone coming here has to recognize it will be their own hard work that makes things happen, that creates whatever degree of satisfaction is generated. Their own steam, nothing else, she said.Ìý
It's up to each person, she said, to build a healthy environment, demand the respect she deserves, create the expertise and credibility that she can, and build the relationships needed to be strategically successful.Ìý
"If you care about the work, if you care about the institution, it will break your heart sometimes," she said.Ìý
Howard went through a health crisis in her first term in which she had a seizure in her office and had to be taken to a hospital. She had another one at home the next night. The only thing the doctors could tell her was that stress, lack of sleep and working too many jobs must have been the cause, and she needed to make some changes.
She and other women there have talked about experiences at the Capitol with men casually touching them in ways that made them uncomfortable. For herself, she said, she has been good at shutting that down, making those men uncomfortable enough so that they never do it again.Ìý
"I'm very good about healthy boundaries now in a way that I probably wasn't when I started," she said.Ìý
As she leaves the Legislature, Howard is not planning to leave public service. She is running for the Omaha Public Power District Board in November.ÌýÌý
"I am excited to dig into something that will not break my heart," she said. "Sincerely, let's talk about energy, let's talk about sustainability, let's talk about coal plants. ... If term limits is forcing me into a change of pace, then I'm going to lean into it hard."Ìý
But Howard doesn't hesitate to say she would consider coming back.Ìý
"I don't know if I'll miss it in the same way that other people miss it. I've never been comfortable with the title. I've never been comfortable with all the attention. But I've always loved the work."