A gutted bill is one that, when introduced, addressed a certain subject matter but whose contents were changed during the legislative process. A bill's content can be "gutted" entirely and replaced with new content, or other provisions can be added to the bill's original content.

The introducer of a bill will issue a Statement of Intent before a hearing to state what the intent of the bill is at the time of introduction. Any changes made to a bill after it has been introduced will not be reflected in the Statement of Intent. To see what any changes may be, check the history of a bill by using the bill search tools.

After the end of a legislative session, all the statutes that are changed with the passage of bills need to be updated. This process is called codification. Once the codification is complete, the statutes are updated and a link will be posted under the Recent Legislative Information section on the home page.

Information about the Capitol, its history and its visiting hours, can be obtained at the Nebraska State Capitol web site.

Free one- and two-hour parking may be found on the streets surrounding the Capitol. Longer-term parking may be found in the residential areas south of the Capitol. The nearest public parking garage is located at 12th and L streets. Accessible parking is available on K Street adjacent to the Capitol's north entrance.

The Standing Committees web page provides a list of all standing committees with links to the individual committee web pages.

Except for a few technical bills, every bill must receive a public hearing.

Committee hearing schedules.

Those who sign up for the BillTracker service will be notified when a particular bill will receive its hearing. For more information regarding BillTracker, go to www.nebraska.gov/billtracker.

A summary of a committee's action following a hearing can be found in the committee statement, available through the bill search feature. More detailed committee records can be obtained from a legislative history.

You can research a current or past bill by using the bill search feature.
The BillTracker service notifies users when committees take action on their bills of interest.

A committee may act on a bill at any time during a session once it has been referred the bill and a public hearing has been held.

Yes. Furthermore, anyone can testify at committee hearings.

If you plan to offer testimony at a committee hearing, consider reading Tips on Testifying at a Committee Hearing.

In 2007, the Legislature had a staff of 312, including temporary, part-time, per diem and non-classified positions.

Pages are local college students employed by the legislature to respond to senators' requests for assistance on the legislative floor, answer incoming calls to the chamber and prepare for and assist with committee hearings. Contact the Clerk's Office at (402) 471-2271 to inquire about the program or request an application.

Glossary of Legislative Terms

A bill changes the Nebraska Statutes and must go through the lawmaking process from introduction to final reading. A resolution, on the other hand, pertains to an internal rule of the legislature, official declaration, interim study, ballot initiative or a constitutional amendment.

Floor agendas and committee hearing schedules are available on the legislative calendar.

Enter the bill number in the Bill Search. If a hearing has been scheduled, you will see an entry for Notice of hearing... including a date. That is the date the committee hearing will take place. For example, a hearing scheduled for January 28, 2008 will read Notice of hearing January 28, 2008. If there is no entry for Notice of hearing, then the committee has yet to schedule the hearing date.

A search for a bill will provide the most recent status of the bill's progress through the legislative process. BillTracker, a service provided by Nebraska.gov, allows for the tracking of multiple bills at once.

Bills passed go into effect three months after the Legislature adjourns, unless they include an effective date or emergency clause. Bills with an emergency clause become effective at 12:01 a.m. the day after the governor signs the bill, the Legislature overrides the governor's veto, or five days pass after the Legislature approves a bill and the governor fails to act on it.

The Revisor of Statutes updates the Nebraska Statutes following each legislative session.

The Nebraska Constitution requires that the Legislature convene annually on the first Wednesday after the first Monday in January. Sessions in odd-numbered years last 90 days, whereas sessions in even-numbered years are 60 days. Adjournment dates vary based on how the Speaker schedules the 90- or 60-day session.

Seven days are required to enact a law, but fewer days for a constitutional amendment.

The legislature elects officers by a vote of the body. Legislative officers must receive a majority of votes to be elected.

The best way to change a law is to formulate an alternative policy, find others who support your cause and approach a senator with your idea.

Visit our publications page to view and download PDFs or order print copies of information publications for different age groups.

The Unicameral Update is a news magazine produced by the Unicameral Information Office that covers legislative activities. News stories are continuously posted throughout session and are formatted for the print magazine at the end of each week. Subscription questions can be submitted through our publications page.

The Blue Book is Nebraska's official reference manual, with information about the state's government, geography, economy, history and culture. For more information regarding the Blue Book, including purchase prices, visit Blue Book online.

Use the keyword search found on the search bills and search laws section of the web site.

Bill copies, committee statements, statements of intent, fiscal notes and the legislative journal, which includes a record of floor proceedings and votes, are available online through the Bill Search.

Use the search bills and laws features of the web site either through the menu or the quick search.

The BillTracker service provided through Nebraska.gov can track bills of interest and will notify users when the status of their bill changes.

For online assistance visit Lawmaking in Nebraska for an explanation of the process and terminology and the Glossary of Legislative Terms.

Enter the bill number in the quick search box. Click on the Go button to open the page for the bill information. There will be links to the pdf copies of the bills and related documents.

Underlining indicates new language that will be inserted, whereas overstriking indicates current text that will be deleted.

Indices of bills introduced back to 1998 will provide the bill number and subject matter.

Use the search bills page from the menu or use the Search Past Legislation link to see bills and their related documents back to 1999. For years prior to that, you will need to contact the Legislative Historian.

You have two options: you can search by keyword for a particular law or you can browse statutes by subject.

If you would like to know what a passed bill will do, contact the office of the senator or committee that sponsored the bill.

Contact information for each senator can be found on his or her web page which you can reach through the Senators pages list.

Senators' individual e-mail addresses can be found on each of their web pages. You can send a bulk e-mail to senators by pasting all of their addresses in your e-mail message, but personalized messages to each senator are much more effective than a mass e-mail.

Each senator's page provides a link to the bills he or she has introduced. Alternatively, the Bills & Laws Search section provides the ability to search for bills by introducer.

Information about voting records can be found on the voting records page.

While the nonpartisanship of the Unicameral makes party affiliation less relevant, senators' party affiliation can be found in their biographies published in the Nebraska Blue Book.

The Nebraska Constitution states that senators are to be paid $1,000 per month, or $12,000 annually. Nebraska senators can join the same health plans available to all state employees, but they must pay the full premiums.

Senators are term-limited after serving two consecutive terms, after which they must wait four years before running again. If a senator is appointed to his or her seat more than two years before the seat is up for election, his or her service will count as one term. Senators' web pages include the date when they were elected or appointed.

The Nebraska Blue Book includes a list of all present and former state legislators.