The Omaha World-Herald editorial board on Wednesday wrote against the Constitutional Convention called for in LR 14, which will likely be the focus of second-round legislative debate today.
The board wrote, “In a short legislative session, whose agenda includes allocating huge sums of COVID relief money in addition to perennial, complex issues, this is the definition of a waste of time.
“It’s also a bad idea whose most likely outcome is to further sour our politics for years to come without resulting in change.”
The editorial board raised multiple concerns about the prospect of a runaway convention.
“While supporters in Nebraska and elsewhere say the convention of states would be limited to fiscal matters and term limits, the resolution is broader and the Constitution itself offers no limits on what can be proposed,” the board wrote. “The only other constitutional convention in our history was called to rewrite the Articles of Confederation, but resulted in a wholly new document.”
The board noted that it would be unlikely that a Constitutional Convention would be successful as it would be difficult to get 38 states to agree to ratify anything that might come from such a convening.
“But,” the board wrote, “that doesn’t mean the process and resulting proposals would be harmless. The certain outcome would be to amplify for years to come some of the most contentious issues we face, with no likely resolution.
“Calling such a convention would only deepen our division. The only winners would be politicians who benefit from an agitated base.”
You can read the full editorial here. Debate on LR 14 is likely to begin during this morning’s legislative session, which starts at 9 a.m. Nebraska Public Media will stream the debate live.