The Government System of the State of Nebraska - Term Paper Example

The Government System of the State of Nebraska The political and territorial history of the state of Nebraska can be traced to its territorial period, where Nebraska’s original boundaries were set by the Kansas-Nebraska act of 1854. The Act provided for a rudimentary territorial government, with the president appointing a governor for 4 years and a secretary for 5 years (executive), a 3-member supreme court (judiciary) and a bicameral legislative assembly-13 member council and 26 member house of representatives. In 1866, the territory voted on a constitution much similar to the territorial one, and was accepted into statehood in 1867 based on this constitution. Politically, the agitation for statehood was largely by Republicans who were also behind the drafting of the constitution. Early amendments were undertaken such that the most formal definition of the Nebraska constitution is the document written and approved in 1875, which makes it the 17th oldest state constitution (Miewald, Longo and Schultz, 2010). A good number of changes have been made to the constitution of the state of Nebraska such that it is nearly unrecognizable from the 1966 draft as it has been amended 228 times (Gless, 2008). Throughout its timeline and amendments, perhaps, the most notable and significant moment is the conversion of the state's legislature to unicameral one in 1934. After 68 years of traditional bicameral-senate and house of representatives-legislature, the people of Nebraska voted in unicameral legislature with the first session being held in 1937. The change took effect after observing on-goings in Queensland Australia, which had itself adopted the unicameral legislature ten years earlier. The proponents in Nebraska observed that the bicameral legislature was based on the British system where there is the presence of the House of Lords, which was deemed as undemocratic. To date, Nebraska remains the only state in the USA with a single-house legislature (Foran, 2002). Government System in Nebraska Based on the Nebraska 1875 constitution, Nebraska operates under three arms of the government; the executive, legislature and the judicial branches in a similar fashion to all other states in the USA. The Executive This consists of six officers, a number of departments, several governmental agencies and several state bodies (Heineman, 2010). The six executive officers are the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, auditor of public accounts, treasurer and the attorney-general. The supreme executive power of the state is vested in the governor, with their duty being to ensure the constitution is protected, and the state is run efficiently. The governor is elected by popular vote and can only have the office for two four-year terms The governor is also the chief budget officer, commander-in-chief of national and state guards, has appointing powers for certain state officers, approves or vetoes legislature bills, enforces criminal law and issues requisitions of return of Nebraskans accused in other states or countries (Nebraska State Government, 2007). The lieutenant governor is the governor’s appointee and presides over the legislature, performs duties assigned by the governor. They also sit in as governor when the governor is away or incapacitated and can become governor in case the governor is permanently incapacitated. The secretary of state serves as the chief filing and repository officer, chairs a number of state boards and commissions while being secretary to others besides being the chief election officer. The state treasurer is charged with the responsibility of receiving and keeping state money that is not required to be received and kept by any other state officer. They also disburse of public money, keeping comprehensive accounts of monies received and disturbed, reporting to the legislature within 10 days of the beginning of a regular session on the condition of the state’s treasury. As the name suggests, the auditor of public accounts audits state agencies and all other bodies, establishes uniform accounting and budgeting systems for county officers and political subdivisions respectively and investigates alleged misuse of public funds. The last officer, the attorney-general is Nebraska’s chief law officer, with about 400 statutes spelling out directions for the office holder’s duties. He/she prosecutes and defends the state, consults and advises county attorneys, advises and represents state agencies, enforces healthcare professional licensing provisions and administers the State Tort Claims Act among other functions (Nebraska State Government, 2007). The Legislature The original legislative structure in Nebraska - the territorial one - was mostly based on the Iowa legislature, and as has been noted earlier was bicameral. According to Dulaney (2002) the move to unicameralism was not spontaneous, with lobbying for government reform towards it being visible as early as 1913. The author goes on to explain some of the explanations behind this change that made Nebraska’s legislature unique in the USA; the economic hardships (the Great Depression) at the time meant that a bicameral model was seen as expensive; the strong advocacy of the highly respected US senator George Norris; the timing of the petition coincided with popular amendments-repealing of Prohibition and authorization of pari-mutual betting-and hence the unicameral amendment may have swept along with the on-going fervor; lastly, the 1933 legislature had a poor performance. The legislature is also unique since the election is non-partisan, and the senators can override the governor’s veto with a three-fifths majority. Currently, there are 49 senators who serve two four-year terms. The length of the term itself has been accompanied by amendments; in 1962, the lengths were expanded from two years to four before the 2000 amendments that brought the current two four-year terms. The role of the legislature is in law-making. As explained earlier, several executive officers make presentations to the legislature according to their respective state duties. The legislature can also override the governor’s veto on bills by a three-fifths majority as opposed to the traditional two-thirds majority in the rest of the USA (Gless, 2008). The legislature incorporates leadership from both a president and speaker. The lieutenant governor serves as the president of the legislature, signing bills and resolutions passed by the legislature and casting a vote to break ties in the legislature. The presiding officer has the responsibility of formally recognizing members of the legislature, to speak and rule on parliamentary procedures or interpretations of the legislature’s rules. In case the president and presiding officer are not in, the rules provide for a designated order of presiding officers who temporarily assume all the powers of the office except signing of bills (Dulaney, 2002). The Judiciary The highest level of court in Nebraska is the Supreme Court which consists of the Chief Justice and six Justices. This is the highest appellate court in the state, handling discretionary appeals from the Court of Appeals, mandatory appeals concerning capital and constitutional cases and cases that have bypassed the Courts of Appeals, for example, through petition. The next tier is made up of the Court of Appeals which has six judges with a panel of three judges hearing appeals throughout the state. It is the intermediate appellate court of the land. The next level of courts consists of the District Courts, Separate Juvenile Courts and Workers’ Compensation Courts. The Separate Juvenile Courts have eleven judges and serves three counties; Douglas, Sarpy and Lancaster. The District Courts have 56 judges serving 12 districts; it serves as a trial court for general jurisdiction hearing felony, domestic and civil cases. It also serves as an appellate court for county court appeals and administrative agency appeals. The Workers’ Compensation Courts has 7 judges who hear cases throughout the state concerning occupational injury and illness cases. The lowest level consists of the County Courts which have 58 judges serving 12 districts. They have jurisdiction over a wide range of cases including misdemeanor cases such as traffic and municipal ordinance violations, preliminary felony cases hearings, civil cases involving below $52,000, claims cases involving below $3,500 and guardianship and adoption cases. They also serve as juvenile courts except in the counties of Douglas, Sarpy and Lancaster (Nebraska Court Structure, 2011). Outside the formal state courts'' structure, is the Administrative Tribunal, with each board, commission, department, division or other offices of the state government having authorization to make rules and regulations. Besides this, there is the Nebraska Supreme Court Committee on Problem Solving Courts which governs Drug and other Problem Solving Courts. Members of such problem solving courts include representatives of courts, probation officers, law enforcement officers, legal community along with judges, prosecutors and attorneys. Nebraska’s legislature also established the Office of Probation Administration to provide central management of probation services and thus protect the public and enhance offender rehabilitation (Nebraska Judicial Branch, 2011). Prevailing Political and Policy Issues of the Past Decade One of the significant policy issues to emerge in Nebraska over the last decade is legislation on immigration. According to Tomkins, Monem and Rivera-Colon (2009) immigration reform by Congress has stalled and thus forced states to consider taking initiatives in the issue. In Nebraska, state-level immigration legislation began in 2005-2006. Such legislation has been met by much debate and criticism due to the sensitiveness of the immigration issue. For instance, the first legislation concerning the issue was the 2006 in-state tuition bill which allowed qualified undocumented immigrants to in-state tuition rates at the University of Nebraska and in other state colleges. Proponents were of the opinion that this would help integrate immigrants and prevent them from permanently belonging to an underclass. Many argued that the bill will result to illegal immigration as it was rewarding it, and was inequitable to legal immigrants and Nebraskan residents alike. The next significant political issue in Nebraska was the adoption of the amendment limiting the length of legislative service to two four-year terms at the dawn of the new millennium. The impacts of this amendment came to be felt much later. It withstood judicial scrutiny unlike previous amendments for instance, legislative amendments of 1992 and 1996. The ultimate result was the replacement of almost a half of the legislative assembly in the 2006 general elections as the amendment took effect (Gless, 2008). Conclusion The constitutional history of the state of Nebraska can be traced back to the state’s strive for statehood in the 19th century, before finally becoming a state in 1867 and developing a formal Constitution of Nebraska by 1875. The most significant amendment to be made to the constitution was the introduction of a unicameral legislature in 1934 which made the Nebraskan legislative structure unique in the USA. The judiciary and executive structures follow similar patterns as the rest of the states. Within the last decade, legislation on immigration policies have been the source of much debate, and the 2000 amendment limiting legislative terms to two four-year terms had wide impacts in the 2006 general election. References Dulaney, M. S. (2002). A history and description of the Nebraska legislative process. Nebraska Council of School Administrators. Retrieved 14 November 2011 from, http://schoolfinance.ncsa.org/pdf/Neb.Legis.Process.pdf Foran, J. (2002). Nebraska. USA: Weigl Publishers Inc. Gless, A. G. (2008). The history of Nebraska law. USA: Ohio University Press. Heineman, D. (2010). State of Nebraska comprehensive annual financial report fiscal year ended June 30, 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2011 from, http://www.das.state.ne.us/accounting/cafr/cafr2010.pdf Miewald, R. D., Longo, P. J., & Schultz, (2010). The Nebraska state constitution: A reference guide, second edition. USA: University of Nebraska Press. Nebraska Court Structure (2011). Retrieved 14 November 2011 from, http://court.nol.org/public/pdf/structure.pdf Nebraska Judicial Branch (2011). Official Nebraska government website. Accessed 14 November 2011 from, http://www.supremecourt.ne.gov/index.shtml Nebraska State Government (2007). State executive branch. Retrieved 14 November 2011 from, http://www.governor.nebraska.gov/responsibilities/pdf/State_Executive%20Branch.pdf Tomkins, A. J., Monem, T. A., & Rivera-Colon, A. (2009). Immigration controversies in Nebraska: Policies, politics, and public perspectives. University of Nebraska Public Policy Center. Accessed 14 November 2011 from, http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1089&context=publicpolicypublications&sei Read More