LEGISLATIVE UPDATE - EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT REDISTRICTING

After two days of filibuster debate, a redistricting proposal that divided Douglas County between two congressional districts did not survive a vote to end debate, sending the senators back to negotiate.

An Omaha World-Herald analysis found that both the Republican and Democratic proposals would have given Democrat Joe Biden a win in the 2nd Congressional District and a lone Electoral College vote from the state.

Republican Donald Trump still would have carried the 1st District, while Republican Don Bacon likely would have won another term as the 2nd District representative. The same outcomes would result from variations introduced by other senators on September 17th.

In other words, none of the plans would dramatically change Nebraska’s current political picture. But the Democratic and Republican plans would give their parties more favorable vote margins now — and the prospect for future gains.

Nebraska lawmakers debated Legislative Bill 1, the Republican plan for redrawing congressional districts, on the 17th. The measure stalled when backers failed to get enough votes to end a filibuster led by Democrats in the officially nonpartisan Legislature.

Alternatives include LB2, the Democrat-backed redistricting plan developed by Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha, the committee’s Democratic vice chairman. The bill remains in committee, but Sen. Matt Hansen of Lincoln offered the plan on the 17th as an amendment to LB1. Other Democrats, Sens. Megan Hunt of Omaha and Adam Morfeld of Lincoln, introduced similar amendments.

The Republican plan sought to divide Douglas County and give Sarpy County more power within the 2nd Congressional District by adding the rest of it to the district. It also would add rural Saunders County to the district.

As proposed, the plan would split Douglas County roughly along Interstate 680 and West Dodge Road. Areas generally north and west of those main thoroughfares would move into the 1st District. Among the areas affected: the northern part of the former town of Elkhorn, Bennington, Waterloo, Valley and the Cunningham Lake and Standing Bear Lake areas.

The Democrats’ congressional plan would leave all of Douglas County in the 2nd District and continue splitting Sarpy County. It would return parts of Bellevue to the 2nd District and put the rest of the county back into the 1st District, where it was after the 2001 redistricting.

The plan would divide La Vista and Papillion, generally along 84th Street, and split off sections of Bellevue. Most areas south of Nebraska Highway 370 and west of 84th Street would go into the 1st District. Offutt Air Force Base and Gretna would be in the 1st District.

Sarpy County is currently divided between the 1st and 2nd Districts, but the Bellevue area is in the 1st District and areas to the west, including Papillion, La Vista and Gretna, are in the 2nd District.

Sen. John McCollister of Omaha, a Republican, proposed a third option on the 17th. His amendment to LB 1 would keep both Douglas and Sarpy County whole but put them in different congressional districts. Under his plan, Douglas County would stay in the 2nd District, with Colfax, Dodge, and Washington counties added. Sarpy County would move into a reconfigured 1st District, which would include Lancaster and 10 other southeast Nebraska counties.

The proposal would put both Rep. Don Bacon, who represents the 2nd District, and Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, who represents the 1st District, into the 1st District. Congressional representatives are not required to live in the districts that elect them, but living elsewhere can create political difficulties.

The legislative resolution adopted to guide redistricting bars district boundaries from being drawn “with the intention of favoring” any political party. It also requires lawmakers to give no consideration to the political affiliation of registered voters in redistricting.

But redistricting remains heavily influenced by partisanship, even in the Nebraska Legislature, where lawmakers are elected and serve without regard to party and where political parties are not part of the legislative structure.

The majority of state senators are Republicans, but Democrats have enough seats to block legislation through a filibuster. Changes in those numbers could affect future redistricting efforts, especially if the GOP can gain a 33rd seat in the 49-member body. It takes 33 votes to end a filibuster.