Senator Laura Ebke - First Speech on the Floor

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Here is the transcript of Senator Ebke's first speech on the floor of the Nebraska legislature, which she gave during the Rules debate on Thursday, January 15th. For a video clip of the speech, go to the bottom of the post:

The chair recognises Senator Ebke.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I rise today in support of Senator Kintner's proposed amendment to the rules.

As a lifelong Nebraskan, I remember actually coming to this great building on an elementary school field trip, and I remember the semester of 8th grade Nebraska history that we took.

I remember the great stories about George Norris, and I remember how we were told about how we are the only unicameral legislature in the country, and that our unicameral works because the people are the second house.

Mr. President, unlike other legislatures, there is no other body across the hall that can provide a counterweight to our mistakes or simply our impulses. Our counterweight are the citizens who sent us here -- and they deserve to know how we vote, on everything, including those leadership votes.

Because, even though this is only my seventh day in this august body, it is clear to me that those we elect as leaders have a lot to do with how the legislation moves through the body.

I understand the impulse for maintaining secret ballots. It's a very human impulse. Most of us don't like to hurt others' feelings, and we operate under the expectation that a ballot cast in secret amounts to the avoidance of hurting those feelings. But we are all adults here. And we owe each other honesty, more than we owe them a promise of comfort.

We are all elected to serve the people of our districts, and we owe our constituents transparency in our actions so that they can hold us accountable, or maybe even occasionally they will pad us on the back.

The second house cannot do its job if we cast secret ballots.

I ran on a promise of transparency. I told the voters in my district that I would post every vote on social media -- and I did that before anybody was running against me -- whether I had a Republican or a Democrat running against me. That was part of the deal. I was going to be as transparent as possible. And I have posted all of those votes, including the leadership votes that I made, last week on social media.

I told voters that they might not always agree with my decisions, but I would listen to them, consider their positions, and tell them why I voted the way I did.

I have enough confidence in the people of the 32nd legislative district to believe that they will judge me fairly, should I decide to run for reelection in four years.

I hope that my colleagues trust their constituents as well, and will vote to support the amendment, and vote for more transparency.

Thank you, Mr. President.

In the below video, Senator Kintner outlines the spirit of the proposed amendment:

 

In the below video Senator Ebke's first floor speech (transcribed above) is recorded, beginning at time mark 05:45.

 

See also Secret Votes and The Swearing-In of Senator Laura Ebke, including lots of links tracing her campaign, ultimate victory, and first days as Senator-elect.

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Comments

[Laura]

Georg! You must be paying awfully close attention to the Nebraska legislature! :-)

[Georg Thomas]

Whenever I can.

I think you are doing an incredibly important job, and it is such a privilege to be able to closely observe what you are doing.

I have reached a point in my political development where I understand better than ever before how decisive it is that those conscious of freedom engage in concrete politics as you do.

Drawing attention to the secret ballot issue (for voting on legislative leadership positions)is an excellent move by a new Senator, as it is a most worthwhile exercise in keeping us aware of the fundamentals of democracy and freedom.

Also, I like your speech, as I have explained more specifically in a comment on your "senatorial" facebook page.

Thanks for the great work.

Give yourself some rest today.

[Randy Duryea]

Senator Laura, I am writing to tell you how appalled I am that you choose to try and amend the minimum wage bill. The voters in NE. didn't vote for this so you or anyone else could come in and dismantle it! This bill the way it stands will help students pay their way through college. What this sounds like to me is nothing more than age discrimination. These young adults deserve a fighting chance in life, I hope this doesn't fall on deaf ears, NE voters spoke please respect that!

[Laura]

Randy, sorry I didn't see this before now. I don't spend much time over here.

The minimum wage bill applies ONLY to those STUDENTS who are 18 and under. It is not mandatory, and many employers (including WalMart) have already indicated that they intend to continue paying the adult minimum wage or more.

That said, the bill was brought to me by small town grocers--some of whom run very slim profit margins, and operate with very small staffs during the "after-school" period. You may know that there are some things--running certain equipment, handling sharp objects, lifting things above a certain weight--that employees under the age of 19 are not allowed to do, because of federal labor law.

The goal of this bill is to make it a bit more financially feasible for small employers to hire young workers--many of whom have never worked a job before, and many who can't do the full range of work that other employees working at the same time are able to do.

Employers are only allowed to pay the lower rate for up to 25% of their total payroll hours, so businesses that hire predominantly high school aged workers (fast food establishments, etc.) probably wouldn't mess with this.