Monday marked the first day of bill debate on the floor of the Nebraska Legislature, and Speaker John Arch of La Vista expressed hope that a ‘return to norms’ regarding floor debate will hold throughout the session.
Before discussion of legislation started, Arch said he planned on using the objective rule of eight, four or two hours before entertaining a motion on determination of ‘full and fair debate’ on successive levels of consideration for bills and proposed Constitutional Amendments.
However, Arch said he also reserves the right to entertain cloture motions earlier. “Unlike last year, I am giving myself the flexibility to move to a more subjective determination of full and fair debate if the reset button does not hold for me. This is not something I want to do as a speaker, but I am willing to do so if necessary,” said Arch. “As for the rule change allowing the cloture motion to apply to committee reports, such as gubernatorial appointments and procedural motions, I intend to allow a cloture motion only if debate on such matters becomes exceedingly obstructive this session.”
An early termination of debate would be done in consultation with a bill’s principal introducer and those opposed to the measure. Appropriations bills would have a limit of 30 minutes for substantive debate, except in the case of larger, more complex spending measures, which would have a one-hour limit. As with other bills or proposed Constitutional Amendments, Arch said he could make a subjective call on early termination of debate using the same guidelines.
Arch also said as in years past, legislation that does not have enough support to pass after General or Select file debate will not be rescheduled, unless the measure has been designated as a priority measure.
