[LR1CA] the Committee on Government
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Transcript Prepared By the Clerk of the Legislature Transcriber's Office Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee March 02, 2017 [LR1CA] The Committee on Government, Military and Veterans Affairs met at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 2, 2017, in Room 1507 of the State Capitol, Lincoln, Nebraska, for the purpose of conducting a public hearing on LR1CA. Senators present: John Murante, Chairperson; Tom Brewer, Vice Chairperson; Tom Briese; Joni Craighead; and John Lowe. Senators absent: Carol Blood, Mike Hilgers and Justin Wayne. SENATOR MURANTE: (Recorder malfunction)...Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. My name is John Murante. I'm the State Senator for District 49 which includes Gretna and northwest Sarpy County, and I'm the Chairman of this committee. We are here today for the purpose of conducting one public hearing on LR1CA. If you are here to testify, we ask that you fill out one of these green sheets of paper. The green sheets are located on either side of this room. If you are here and wish to state support, or opposition for LR1CA but you do not wish to testify, we ask that you fill out this sign-in sheet where you can state your support or opposition for the proposal and I can assure you that if you fill out this sheet, your opinion will be taken into account just as if you had testified. If you do testify, we ask that you begin by stating and spelling your name for the record, which is very important for our transcribers' office. The order of proceedings is that the introducer will be given an opportunity to open. Then we will listen to proponent testimony followed by opponent testimony and then neutral testimony and then the introducer will be given an opportunity to close. We ask that you listen very carefully and to try not to be repetitive. In the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee we do use the light system. Each testifier is allotted three minutes to speak. When the yellow light comes on, you have one minute remaining and we ask that you begin concluding your remarks. When the red light comes on, your time has expired and we will open the committee up to any questions that they may have of you. For the purposes of this public hearing, we're going to try and confine testimony to two hours per side so that everyone has an opportunity to speak. The purposes of that is we have had a couple of public hearings this year that have ran long and people haven't been able to stay until the end, and therefore testifiers have not been given an opportunity to testify. We ask that you turn off or silence any cell phones, any electronic devices, anything that makes noise. This is a committee that is equipped for technology so you may see members referencing their cell phones or laptops, I-pads, something like that and I can assure you they're just taking notes or researching the matters before us. If you have a statement, an exhibit, or anything you would wish to be submitted to the committee, we ask that you provide 12 copies to our page. If you don't have 12 copies, that's fine, provide what you have to our page and he will make the copies for you. Our page for the day is Joe Gruber. Joe is from Omaha. And with the introduction of members on the far right is State Senator John Lowe. Senator Lowe represents Kearney. I expect him to be with us momentarily. To his left is Senator Tom Briese. Senator Briese is from Albion. To his left is Senator Mike Hilgers. Senator Hilgers is from Lincoln. He is a practicing attorney and is in court today trying to make some 1 Transcript Prepared By the Clerk of the Legislature Transcriber's Office Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee March 02, 2017 money, I think, so good for him. (Laughter) To his left is Senator Tom Brewer. Senator Brewer represents Gordon, Nebraska. Senator Brewer is the Vice Chairman of this committee and will be conducting the operations of the conduct of this public hearing, as I will be introducing. To my immediate right is Andrew La Grone. Mr. La Grone is the Government Committee's legal counsel. To my immediate left is State Senator Justin Wayne. Senator Wayne represents Omaha. Senator Wayne is also a practicing attorney and he's also in court today. To his left is State Senator Joni Craighead. Senator Craighead represents Omaha. To her left is Senator Carol Blood. Senator Blood represents Bellevue, and on the far left is Sherry Shaffer. Sherry is the Government Committee clerk. So we will wait just a minute to...on Senator Lowe, so that we can hit quorum and I'll prepare to open. All right, members. SENATOR BREWER: Do you want me to go ahead and stand by for John or shall we go ahead? SENATOR MURANTE: Well, I'll tell you what. I'll do my opening and if Senator Lowe isn't here by the time I'm finished, we'll wait for him so that he can hear the testifiers. SENATOR BREWER: Well, welcome to your committee on Government, Military and Veterans Affairs. SENATOR MURANTE: (Exhibit 1) Thank you, Vice Chairman Brewer, members of the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. For the record, my name is John Murante, J-o-h-n M-u-r-a-n-t-e. I'm the State Senator for District 49 which includes Gretna and northwest Sarpy County, and I'm here today to introduce LR1CA. LR1CA is introduced for the purpose of giving the voters of Nebraska a voice in whether voter ID should be the law of the land. The right to vote is the right to have a voice. It is the most fundamental American right. It is under threat. The threat that we have today is a lack of confidence in the integrity of our election system. People feel that their vote doesn't count. When nearly half of all Americans believe that their vote is being diluted by illegal votes, we have a serious problem. The integrity of our election system is at stake and voter ID is a commonsense solution to this problem. Nebraskans deserve a voice in this debate. They deserve the chance to stand up and say that they will not allow their voices to be drowned out by illegal votes. And we know that many other states have done this. You have a map before you which demonstrates that 32 states have some form of voter identification. Those states run the gamut from coast to coast, including states like Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island. Eighteen states do not require any form of voter identification. Those states include places like California, New York, and Nebraska. Nebraskans deserve a voice in whether our state joins those that already provide their citizens this commonsense protection. This is what LR1CA does. It gives Nebraskans a voice. Here is what it does not do. It does not disenfranchise a single voter. It does not cost the state anything. It does not violate the Constitution. The Supreme Court has been clear on that. What many who have 2 Transcript Prepared By the Clerk of the Legislature Transcriber's Office Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee March 02, 2017 argued against voter ID proposals in the past argue, isn't the proposal that's before you today. What’s before you today is a simple and clear-cut question. Should the voters of Nebraska have the right to vote on whether voter ID should be the law of the land? LR1CA is also not a solution in search of a problem. We received just this week news out of the state of Ohio, where after analysis of their voter registration system, 385 non-U.S. citizens were illegally registered to vote and 83 of them actually voted. Every single vote illegally cast cancels out the vote of an American citizen and one illegal vote is too many. I can think of numerous elections in the state which would have been swayed by fewer than 83 votes, many of those races were for this Legislature. And are illegal votes happening in the state of Nebraska? Well, we won't know until we look. And a voter ID protection is a very important first step in addressing that problem. It is the first step in restoring confidence to our election system. It is the first step in living up to our responsibilities to our constituents. It is the first step in giving Nebraskans back their voice. I urge you to give your constituents the chance to stand up for their rights, give them the chance to have their voices be heard, and to give them the chance to vote on LR1CA. I'd be happy to answer any questions. [LR1CA] SENATOR BREWER: Thank you, Senator Murante. All right, at this time, questions? Seeing none, thank you, and you'll be staying for closing? [LR1CA] SENATOR MURANTE: I will. [LR1CA] SENATOR BREWER: Thank you. All right. We'll begin with proponents, first up. And if you don't have enough copies, just let Joe know and he will get more copies made. [LR1CA] DOUG KAGAN: (Exhibit 2) Good afternoon. My name is Doug Kagan, 416 South 130 Street, Omaha, and I represent NE Taxpayers for Freedom. Currently, anyone can walk into a polling place... [LR1CA] SENATOR BREWER: Could we go ahead and have you spell your name out for us, please? [LR1CA] DOUG KAGAN: Pardon? [LR1CA] SENATOR BREWER: Spell your name out for us.