Nebraska’s single-house legislature voted 32-15 yesterday to abolish the death penalty. This is a large enough majority to override an expected veto from GOP Gov. Pete Ricketts. Those voting to abolish included 18 Republicans, 13 Democrats, and 1 independent.
The vote came the same day a popular Omaha police officer, who recently gave birth and was to start maternity leave today, was killed in the line of duty. The felony suspect also died in the shootout.
The abolition bill isn’t retroactive per se, but would leave the state with no method for executing the 11 men currently on Nebraska’s death row. The state currently uses lethal injection. Many states are having difficulty getting drugs to carry out executions.
Nebraska legislators also voted yesterday to scrap their state’s senseless policy of discriminating against children of illegal immigrants by denying them driver’s licenses. Defying their governor, the Republican-majority legislature passed by 34-9 a bill “ending Nebraska’s status as the only state to deny driver’s licenses to the children of illegal immigrants.” Gov. Ricketts opposes the bill but hasn’t said whether he would veto it. There are enough override votes if he does.
“Advocates for the bill, which included state business groups and Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert, argued that it didn’t make sense to deny driver’s licenses to young immigrants who grew up here, graduated from high school here and are likely to settle and work in Nebraska. Such immigrants were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, advocates for the bill said, and if denied driver’s licenses, they would be likely to move to another state,” the Omaha World-Herald reported.
It appears Nebraska’s Republican-dominated legislature isn’t as crazy as some of the others. Their Republican governor, a former CEO of TD Ameritrade who was elected last year after a failed run for U.S. Senate in 2006, appears to have brought to the office the usual lack of political and social acumen characteristic of business executives who for some unfathomable reason believe their private sector experience qualifies them for politics.
Photo: Officer Kerrie Orozco of Omaha PD’s gang unit, shown here with her family, was killed in the line of duty on May 20, 2015. The suspect, a known gang member, also was killed in a shootout that started when a team of officers attempted to serve a felony arrest warrant on him.