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The Legislature voted 27-20 on a motion to override Pillen's veto in a dramatic vote Tuesday morning, falling three votes short of the required 30 to circumvent the governor's opposition to the bill sponsored by Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha.

Seven lawmakers who had supported LB307 upon final reading late last month ultimately reversed their votes Tuesday morning, voting against the measure in the face of what the bill's supporters said was pressure from Pillen.

Sens. Christy Armendariz of Omaha, Carolyn Bosn of Lincoln, Tom Brewer of Gordon, Rick Holdcroft of Bellevue, Jana Hughes of Seward, Fred Meyer of St. Paul and Mike Moser of Columbus all voted against Hunt's motion to override Pillen's veto after voting to make the bill law less than two weeks ago.

Others who supported the bill in prior rounds of debateÌý— including Sens. Joni Albrecht of Thurston, Beau Ballard of Lincoln, Barry DeKay of Niobrara, Teresa Ibach of Sumner and Loren Lippincott of Central CityÌý— also voted against the override motion Tuesday.

The Legislature passed LB307 on a 30-7 vote in February, sending it to Pillen's desk with bipartisan support in the formally nonpartisan body.ÌýIn the first round of voting in January, lawmakers advanced the bill on .

But that support eroded in the wake of Pillen's veto, which Hunt said was a result of the governor's personal dislike of the Omaha lawmaker who helped lead a months-long filibuster against conservative social policies last year.

"What happens on the board today is not because of the policy," Hunt told her colleagues in the minutes before Tuesday's vote, which came after two hours of pleas from Hunt and the bill's other supporters in the LegislatureÌý— including numerous conservativesÌý— urging lawmakers to defend the body in the face of gubernatorial influence.

"I encourage you to protect your reputation as a senator, to protect your legacy here during this short time you have in your life in this body by taking a vote with integrity that's about policy, that is not a personal vote, that's not because you think the governor can do something for you that the 49 of us can't. And that's something that you can be really proud of."

Several conservative lawmakersÌý— including Speaker John Arch of La Vista, Sen. Tom Brandt of PlymouthÌýand Sen. Mike Jacobsen of North Platte — supported the bill and urged their colleagues to do the same Tuesday, noting that the data supporting the measure hadn't changed in the last two weeks and that the bill merely gives localities an option to participate in syringe service programs.

And some of the body's longest-serving senators, including Sens. Ray Aguilar of Grand Island and Danielle Conrad of Lincoln, called for the lawmakers who were flipping their votes to explain themselves into the record of the Legislature. Most did not.

"Many members who supported the measure and spoke in support of the measure have not got on the mic to explain why they're flipping and are flipping because the governor called them," Conrad told the body.

"You do not represent the governor," she added. "You represent your constituents. You represent your state. You have fidelity to the institution. You have fidelity to your colleagues. You have fidelity to good policy.

"And to move or flip or flop or sit present-not-voting when you have an ability to cast a vote and use your voice is wrong," she said, fruitlessly calling for lawmakers to "stand up for the Legislature."

The vote instead marked another political win for Pillen, who celebrated the outcome in a statement following the vote, thanking the lawmakers who "took due notice of concerns that caused me to veto the bill."

"We need to invest in less harmful ways to combat drug usage and disease transmission that are in line with Nebraska values," Pillen said. "I look forward to working with our state senators on those strategies in the next session.�

When he vetoed the bill last week, Pillen called the proposal "problematic" and suggested distributors would provide needles to children, which Hunt dismissed as "fearmongering."

In fact, the bill would let public and behavioral health providers set up needle distribution programs with local approval in an effort to reduce the spread of infectious diseases, including HIV, the infection rate of which is rising in Nebraska even as it falls nationwide.

The Nebraska AIDS project, theÌýNational Harm Reduction Coalition, the Nebraska Association of Behavioral Health Organizations and the Lincoln-based behavioral health care provider CenterPointe , along with Dr. Jerome Adams, who served as the U.S. Surgeon General under former President Donald Trump, and Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hansen.

For some lawmakers, Tuesday's vote was as much about the institution as it was the legislation, prompting impassioned pleas and occasional personal jabs amid the two hours of debate that proceeded the vote.

Sen. John Fredrickson of Omaha called Tuesday "a really big morning" for the Legislature and suggested he would not be the state's only elected official watching the vote count closely.

"The executive branch is going to be paying very close attention today as well," he said. "They, too, are wondering who in here is a legislative leader, who is willing to stand up for the Legislature, who is willing to maintain the core of democracy of separate but equal branches of government and power. And who will bend over with a little text or a phone call."

DeKay, who was among three conservative lawmakers who voted to advance the bill from the Judiciary Committee last year and supported it upon first-round consideration in January, said his decision to vote against the override motion Tuesday had "nothing to do with" Pillen.

"Yes, I did have a brief conversation with the governor last week, but that had nothing to do with who's bringing the bill or anything like that,"ÌýDeKay said. "We just talked about — for a minute or two — about the bill, and I've had other organizations reach out to me with statistics too that — like I said, I do think the bill has good intentions, but there's something at this point in time that didn't allow me to be 100% in on it."

"This was a very tough morning for me," he added. "I will say that. But at the end of the day, I will stand by where I'm at."

Tuesday's vote —Ìýwhich came on Day 41 of this year's 60-day legislative session — is sure to fuel a second-round filibuster of LB137, championed by Bosn, a former prosecutor who Pillen appointed to the Legislature last April and who flipped her vote on Hunt's bill to help uphold Pillen's veto Tuesday.

The billÌýwould enhance the penalties that alleged drug dealers could face for providing substances linked to overdosesÌýand, critics said, contributeÌýto the overcrowding that plagues the state's prisons.

As she advocated for the bill's advancement amid first-round debate last month, Bosn pointed to her support for Hunt's LB307 and called for the Legislature to attack drug use "from every angle simultaneously."

Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha quoted Bosn's February speech amid Tuesday debate over Hunt's bill.

"I just want people to hold their word," Wayne said. "If it's politics, just say it's politics. That's a terrible thing to say sometimes when you're talking about people's lives, but I also understand how this body works and how the nature of individuals work. I understand reelections. I understand elections."

"But at the end of the day, this is about the institution," he added.

In an interview Tuesday afternoon, Bosn said she had changed her mind after reviewingÌýresearch articles and studies Pillen cited in his veto letter and reevaluating her position.

"And, for what it's worth, it's not because the governor called me and told me I had to do anything. I think that's disingenuous for anyone to say that," she said, pointing to her filibuster last year of the Pillen-backed LB50 and her signature in December on a letter calling for the governor to reverse his decision not to accept summer grocery aid.

"I don't think it's fair to say that I just puppet whatever he tells me to do," she said.

Hours after the votes had been cast and the motion to override Pillen's veto had failed, animosity over the vote lingered at the Capitol.Ìý

As lawmakers began to debate the state's budget, some had not moved on, including Fredrickson, who took aim at the seven senators who had flipped their votes between final reading and the override vote.

"Not one of those members got on the mic to share with their constituents, to share with Nebraskans, why they changed their mind,"ÌýFredrickson said.

"That's embarrassing. We're state senators. You represented yourself one way for three rounds of debate. You flipped after being called by the executive branch. And you didn't even speak about that. ... Have a spine."Ìý