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Secretary of State's Initiative and Referendum Historical Information
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Nebraska's legislature in 1897 became the first in
the nation to pass a bill allowing initiative and referendum - but only in
municipalities, not on the state level. This bill was the Sheldon-Geiser Act,
sponsored by state legislator A. E. Sheldon.
Walter Breen of Omaha led early efforts for I&R in
Nebraska. Breen, a native of London, emigrated to the United States at age 17
and lived in Lincoln, Nebraska, before settling in Omaha. He became a successful
real estate salesman and was among the initial organizers of the Populist Party.
By 1897, by the age of 30, he had become secretary of the Omaha Direct
Legislation League, as well as a member of the seven-man executive committee of
the National Direct Legislation League.
Since Nebraska did not have Prohibition, the
Prohibitionists favored I&R, but liquor interests blocked it until 1911. I&R
finally made it through the legislature with the support of the orator and
presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, along with H. Mockett, Jr.,
president of the Nebraska Direct Legislation League, and Professor F. E. Howard
of the state university. Bryan, who spoke on behalf of I&R throughout the
nation, wrote in a 1909 letter: "I know of nothing that will do more than I&R to
restore government to the hands of the people and keep it within their control."
In 1912 Nebraska voters approved I&R by a margin of
thirteen to one. It helped that under Nebraska's constitutional amendment
ratification procedure, blank ballots were counted as "yes" votes: the opposite
of the system that doomed I&R in Minnesota.
Nebraska's most famous initiative was the successful
1934 amendment to create the nation's only unicameral state legislative body.
U.S. Sen. George Norris, who is best known for his bill creating the Tennessee
Valley Authority, led the unicameral campaign. Another highlight of Nebraska
initiative history was the passage, in 1982, of a constitutional amendment
prohibiting farm buy-outs by corporations, which was the toughest statewide
anti-corporate farm legislation in the nation.
Nebraskans have been infrequent initiative users,
placing only 27 such measures on state ballots in 70 years: an average of less
than one per election. The first was a 1914 women's suffrage initiative,
defeated by a 52.4 percent negative vote of the all-male electorate. Nebraskans
in 1930 approved authorization for municipally owned electric utilities to
extend their lines. In 1966 they voted by a narrow margin to prohibit property
taxes.
As with many initiative states, there has typically
been one person who becomes personified as THE tax reformer in the state.
Nebraska is no exception. Ed Jacksha is a living legend. He has been involved in
almost every tax reduction measure in the state and has championed initiative
rights for decades. He was also instrumental, as was State Auditor Kate Witek,
Attorney General Don Stenberg, Bob Wright and Omaha Mayor Hal Daub, in getting a
term limits initiative for state legislators passed in 2000.
This state history is based on
David Schmidt's book, Citizen Lawmakers: The Ballot Initiative Revolution.
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