One word nearly derailed the Nebraska Legislature’s attempt to pass a bill aimed at reducing the state’s prison population, as reported in the Lincoln Journal-Star.
An attempt to change one word — the word “shall” to the word “may” — nearly scuttled a package of legislative bills aimed at reducing prison crowding Tuesday.
It did prompt Judiciary Committee Chairwoman Laura Ebke to pull the package from debate to cool down what was becoming a filibuster of an important set of bills, she said.
The package leads with a bill (LB841), introduced by Lincoln Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks, that would require the Department of Correctional Services and the Board of Parole to submit a plan on how they would accelerate the parole review process in the event of a prison overcrowding emergency.
Read more about the bill and the debate in the Lincoln Journal-Star.