The legislature overrode the governor's veto.
Nebraska became the first conservative state in more than 40 years to abolish the death penalty on Wednesday when lawmakers boldly voted 30-19 to override the governor's veto.
There are 10 inmates on Nebraska's death row — the 11th died this week — but the state has not executed anyone since 1997 and only recently ordered the drugs necessary to carry out a lethal injection. It's the 19th state to abolish capital punishment.
Lawmakers across the political spectrum came together to pass a repeal bill three times. Gov. Pete Ricketts then vetoed the legislation on Tuesday and an override vote was quickly scheduled. Thirty votes were needed to push the repeal through. The vote was preceded by hours of debate — with opponents and proponents quoting Bible passages and reading emails from constituents to support their position.
…Nebraska is the first Republican controlled state in the U.S. to abolish capital punishment since North Dakota did so in 1973.
ABC News: Money on death drugs wasted, and the lesson to never, never, never give up!
Ricketts announced this month that the state has purchased two of the drugs that the state now lacks, but opponents have said they still aren't convinced Nebraska will be able to resume executions. On Tuesday, Republican Attorney General Doug Peterson implored lawmakers to give state officials more time to prepare.
The repeal bill was introduced by independent Sen. Ernie Chambers, who has fought for nearly four decades to repeal the death penalty.
The Washington Post: the consilient reasons that conservatives may oppose the death penalty:
Some lawmakers in Nebraska offered a conservative argument for repealing the death penalty there, painting it as an example of government waste.
“I’ve said frequently, if any other program was as inefficient and as costly as this has been, we would’ve gotten rid of it a long time ago,” State Sen. Colby Coash, a Republican who co-sponsored the repeal bill, said after the legislature approved it last week.
The Guardian with a proflie of heroic
Ernie Chambers:
“White people, they don’t have a high opinion of me,” says Ernie Chambers, Nebraska’s long-serving legislator. “They thought I was uppity and arrogant – they didn’t like my attitude.”
They may not like Chambers’ attitude in the super-conservative cornhusker state, but they are certainly listening to him now. At his 38th attempt, the state senator this week saw his bill to abolish the death penalty pass the legislature, in a move that should it be enacted would make Nebraska the first dyed-in-the-wool conservative state in the country to scrap the ultimate punishment.
It’s an extraordinary turn of events, spearheaded by an extraordinary politician. For 38 years Chambers, 77, was the only African American member of Nebraska’s uni-chamber legislature (there are now two), and since he was first elected in 1970 to represent the north of Omaha he has been making it his business to take up causes that nobody else would champion.
Chambers has a resolute
legislative career.
This map in the Wikipedia article on capital punishment shows how the death penalty is distributed.I am proud that Iowa abolished it decades ago, and look forward to the day that the federal death penalty is abolished.