The Nebraska legislature voted 30-19 to override the veto of Governor Pete Ricketts and abolish the death penalty. Nebraska becomes the 19th state to repeal the death penalty, and the 7th state to do so since 2007. It is the first predominantly Republican state to abolish the death penalty in over 40 years, and state legislators said Republican support was critical to the bipartisan repeal effort. Sen. Jeremy Nordquist said, “This wouldn’t have happened without the fiscally responsible Republicans who aren’t just beholden to conservative talking points, but are thoughtful about policy.” Sen. Colby Coash cited fiscal concerns among his reasons for supporting repeal: “The taxpayers have not gotten the bang for their buck on this death penalty for almost 20 years. This program is broken.” The sponsor of the repeal bill, Independent Senator Ernie Chambers, opened the repeal debate with a reference to the historic nature of the pending vote. “This will be the shining moment of the Nebraska Legislature,” he said. “The world, by anybody’s reckoning, is a place filled with darkness, contention, violence. We today can move to lift part of that cloud of darkness that has been hovering over this state for all these years.”

(G. Schulte and A. Gronewold, “Nebraska abolishes death penalty in landmark override vote,” Associated Press, May 28, 2015; Joe Duggan, Paul Hammel and Martha Stoddard, “Hours of suspense, emotion lead up to a landmark vote for legislators on repealing death penalty,” Omaha World-Herald, May 27, 2015; Photo credit: NetNebraska) See Recent Legislative Activity and New Voices.

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