Krusin' the Capitol
By Nebraska State Senator Lowen Kruse
2003
Week 12
March 30, 2003
Hi
The flap is a crock.
Senator Chambers and the World-Herald are shocked that 13 Nebraska senators
are in Las Vegas this weekend, attending a national legislative conference,
and staying at -- you won't believe this -- the site of the conference.
Which is the Venetian hotel, whose owners hope to build in Omaha in a few
years.
The conference is fully paid, including transportation, by a coalition of
conservative business people. I had hoped to go, to get their take on
privatizing Medicaid. Sure want somebody from Nebraska to find out what is
in the wind. But I had a church obligation come up and canceled. Woe is me.
I missed out on the publicity -- three articles on the front page. The W-H
sent a reporter to watch our troops and take roll at the conference each
session. Hmmm. Now he had a junket. I go to one of these a year, if the
cost is not great, and really do not care who owns the joint.
* * * * *
When I started this series of letters three years ago, I had in mind those
who did not have any background in the legislature and would appreciate
knowing how things work there. Will go back to Legislature 101 tonight, so
if you are well acquainted with what it takes to get a bill out, skip the
rest of this and I'll "see" you next week.
My repeat offender DUI bill, now numbered LB 208, passed first round this
week. How does this happen?
One year ago, Senator Bromm, Chair of Transportation, expressed his
frustration that we have problems enforcing drunk driving laws. I agreed to
take it on and he agreed to "host" an interim study on repeat offenders,
which we felt should be the focus of legislation. My legislative aide, Sarah
Newell, started to work on it, contacted his aide and went into several
months of research.
Research is a bit more fun these days, as one can access the DUI statutes of
most states on the web. Sarah surveyed many sites and printed off pounds of
ideas that looked interesting. We talked often. She contacted prosecuting
attorneys, who have to interpret present laws. We had input from defense
attorneys, who look for loopholes in the law, as well as a couple of friendly
judges, who interpret what we have written. Lobbyists helped critique the
process.
The Dept. of Motor Vehicles has a Nebraska Highway Safety section, matching
the National Highway Safety office. They are the best source of unbiased
thought and do continuous research on what other states have done and whether
it made any difference.
The Interim study last fall needed weeks of preparation from our two aides
and provided a public hearing for any who wanted to comment. It was obvious
to me and to the Vice Chair [Bromm had moved on to be Speaker] that the
subject was a winner.
So Sarah worked with the bill drafter's office and these other counselors to
create two bills. We first had to clean up the clutter in present law, which
has been amended so many times even attorneys get confused. That is the
original 208, which made no change in law. It simply "recodified" --
organized all related statues into one neat package. Very helpful.
The other bill had nine changes, which makes it a "Christmas Tree" with a few
too many lights. But it had one clear focus, repeat offenders. You cannot
cure that problem with a single thought. So we took a deep breath and plowed
ahead.
The Committee which had the hearing on the two bills, Transportation, had a
new chair and new aide, and I had a new aide as Sarah went off to law school.
LaMont took hold of Sarah's research with a passion and Jill helped all she
could. We introduced it on nearly the last day.
After the bills' hearings, the Committee quickly and strongly affirmed both
bills and agreed to amend the bill with all the changes into the other quiet
one. I agreed to prioritize that bill, which means it would be discussed in
this session. Only the defense attorneys objected, saying in a letter they
wished for more alcohol treatment. I agree. We have that in there in a
couple of ways.
Senator Chambers objects to any bill which helps prosecutors, so I knew we
had to talk. He agreed to not delay the bill if we removed two sentences.
He then wants to talk before the next round. I removed the sentences,
stating one needs another look, but when the bill hit the floor several
senators kept giving him more time to talk. Argh. He had told LaMont and me
he did not have anything more to say at this point. But with time to talk he
ad libbed as he turned the pages on the bill, hammered away at the senators
who were headed to Las Vegas, and gave an analysis of the war in Iraq. [He
does not like it.]
Meanwhile, back at the bill, we were running out of time. However, three
senators gave ideas they would like to have considered as amendments in the
next round and we finally passed it on. So many were absent by this time we
only had 26 votes.
Now it is LaMont and my job to form an amendment for the next round. The
Speaker, who is a former prosecutor, will help. So it will be well done and
hopefully will represent the new questions and ideas.
The changes are not heavy penalties. I believe we can get the attention of
repeat offenders, 69 of whom have over 10 convictions, by being very
consistent and clear. More on that later.
LB 208 is a good illustration of the huge amount of work that goes into some
bills, how we negotiate to get support, and how we put two bills together to
get both of them through.
Hang in there.
Lowen
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