This year’s legislative session has been unlike any other. Because a small group of State Senators decided to filibuster every bill, it has affected the way we do business this year at the State Capitol in Lincoln. In the Army soldiers are taught to improvise in order to solve difficult problems when under fire by the enemy. In the State Legislature, legislators sometimes have to use rules they are not ordinarily accustomed to using in order to get the business of the State done, and that is precisely what has happened this year.
Because of the constant filibustering, there won’t be enough time to have a full and fair debate on the floor of the Legislature for every bill that we would like to pass this year. This has caused State Legislators to use the tactic of amending their bills onto other bills. When this is done with several bills, the end product is called an omnibus bill or a Christmas tree bill.
It’s called a Christmas tree bill because several other bills are hung on it like ornaments on a Christmas tree.
