I. State Government Chapters 23 & 24

A. Legislative Branch Bicameral – Legislature made up of two houses Every state except Nebraska is bicameral Unicameral – One-house legislature

B. Equal Representation Until 1964, voting districts were based on area rather than population Result: Unequal representation of power by people from low populated areas Reynolds v. Sims (1964) – Legislative districts had to contain roughly the same number of people Each House Member – Represents around 700,000 people

C. Nebraska’s Unicameral 1867-1935 – Nebraska was bicameral like every other state Unicameral – Product of the Great Depression and George Norris George Norris – Claimed that the 2 house system was “outdated, inefficient, and unnecessary”

Said that checks and balances did not require a two house legislature State supreme court and the governor would be able to rule against improper laws Two-houses wasted both time and money according to Norris

January 5, 1937 – First official meeting of the unicameral Reduced the price of running the legislator by over 50% Still the cheapest legislature to operate in the country Have discovered that the checks and balance system works well with only one-house

Legislative Districts in Nebraska

D. More Unique Nebraskan Ways Nebraska has 49 state senators Nonpartisanship – The political party of candidates are not listed on the ballots Nebraska is the only state to elect its state representatives this way

Here's a map showing the current control of state legislative chambers: Red: Both chambers controlled by Republicans Blue: Both controlled by Democrats Purple: One party controls one chamber and the other party controls the other Nebraska has a unicameral, non-partisan legislature

E. Executive Branch Governors head the executive branch in every state Seen as the leader of their political party within their state 4 out of the last 6 presidents were former governors

1986

Item Veto – Governor’s power in many states to turn down a particular section or item in a bill without vetoing the entire bill Can save both time and money Problems?