During a politically fraught 13-day special session, some members of the Nebraska Legislature questioned aloud whether the once-in-a-decade task of redrawing voting maps would be better left to an independent commission.
Nebraska’s Legislature is unique among states in that lawmakers are elected without regard to party affiliation, and political parties don’t play a role in the body’s structure — but redistricting put a spotlight on party divisions.
Initial proposals from Republicans for congressional and state legislative district maps passed out of the Redistricting Committee on party-line votes, and both were met in the full Legislature by filibusters largely spearheaded by Democrats in staunch opposition to proposed changes.
Neither proposal had the votes to overcome those filibusters, and Speaker Mike Hilgers raised the possibility that lawmakers could end the special session without getting the job done.
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But days of negotiations yielded hard-fought compromises, and legislators approved a congressional map on a 35-11 vote and a legislative map on a 37-7 vote.
Depending on which lawmaker is talking, the process either worked as it should have or proved to be broken.
“People of the state of Nebraska: This should absolutely be a process that, having now seen upfront, shouldn’t be in our hands,†Sen. Matt Hansen, a Democrat from Lincoln, said on the floor of the Legislature.
Creating an independent commission for redistricting is not an original idea. Randall Adkins, a political scientist at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, called the shift by some states to commissions a “movement that has been growing.â€
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, give a commission the primary responsibility for drawing state legislative districts and 10 do so for .
Some other states have commissions that fill an advisory role or serve as a backstop if the state legislature can’t get the job done.
Nebraska lawmakers passed a bill in 2016 to create such a commission, but Gov. Pete Ricketts vetoed it, in part citing . A petition drive for an initiative creating a commission was launched in 2020 but was stymied by the pandemic, which kept people home.
Either route could again be on the table in Nebraska next year.
Sen. John McCollister, a Republican from Omaha who voted for the final legislative and congressional maps, said that he would advocate for legislation to create a commission and that there’s been talk of starting a petition drive to put a constitutional amendment in front of voters next year.
“Redistricting has become more partisan of late, and there’s some evidence that an independent, nonpartisan redistricting commission avoids some of the partisanship that seems to occur,†he said.
Commissions in a handful of other states are .
“When it’s fresh on our minds, I think a petition drive in '22 makes sense,†McCollister said.
Typically, Adkins said, efforts to create a commission are driven by public reception of the redistricting process. With the compromise bills that were ultimately approved in Nebraska this year, he said it’s “hard to assess†how much outcry there will be about the process or how much support there will be for creating a commission.
“Policy entrepreneurs†who are fairly prominent have led the effort in some states, Adkins said, such as former Gov. . In an example of such a figure closer to home, he mentioned Sen. George Norris. It has been said that driving around the state advocating for the unique unicameral system Nebraska has today.
“Who is that person in Nebraska? I’m not really sure I know who that is right now,†Adkins said.
Members of the Legislature’s Redistricting Committee, who were the most intimately involved in the recent process, are split on whether an independent commission is a good idea for the state.
“This process has only solidified my strong belief that we need to have a nonpartisan redistricting commission,†Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln, a Democrat, said after the session adjourned.
Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha, also a Democrat, said he, too, would support the concept. The current process led to the Legislature successfully passing bills, he said, but was contentious and not free of partisanship.
Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue, a Democrat, praised this year’s process as bipartisan but said an independent commission would still garner less influence from political parties and special interests, and thereby better reflect the “bipartisan spirit of the Nebraska Unicameral.â€
“My goal is always to make sure that the Nebraskans’ voices are heard,†she said.
But Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha, the Democratic vice chairman of the Redistricting Committee, replied, “It’s unconstitutional,†to a text message asking if he would support creating a commission. If it were done through an initiative amending the constitution, he replied: “Have to read it.†Wayne did not answer a question about whether he broadly supports the concept.
Hilgers, a Republican from Lincoln, doesn’t support the idea but said it wouldn’t surprise him if a commission were proposed.
Republicans on the Redistricting Committee — Chairwoman Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn and Sens. Suzanne Geist of Lincoln, John Lowe of Kearney, Tom Briese of Albion and Tom Brewer of Gordon — were uniformly opposed to the idea.
“It’s such a great opportunity for us, as a committee and as a body, to actually come together and do exactly what we did, which is come up with something that is a good compromise,†Geist said. “Even though it was a very difficult process, I think in the end we got a very good product. So I would support staying with the Legislature.â€
Legislators know the cores of their districts well, Geist said. And she said that while she didn’t experience outside pressure, if a party were to pressure a senator, they would do the same with a commission.
Linehan, along with other senators, questioned whether it’s possible to create a truly independent commission. The state constitution requires the Legislature to establish the new boundaries, she said, and “I think we just proved we can do it in a bipartisan, fair way.â€
“As much as the work was tough, we’re held accountable to the people. … A bipartisan commission’s not accountable to anyone,†she said.