It's the last session day for Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers and other senators who have to leave because of term limits. By the end of the day, senators will deal with a resolution that would seek to name the Judiciary Committee hearing room in Chambers' honor.

He stands as the longest serving member of the state Legislature, and if term limits stay in place, will remain so. He represents District 11 in north Omaha.

The resolution says Chambers worked to make Nebraska a better place for all, with a particular focus on individual rights, minorities, the poor and traditionally powerless groups. Among many other accomplishments, he served 26 years on the Executive Board and was a champion of the Legislature as an individual branch of government, promoting institutional autonomy and respect.

Chambers served on the Judiciary Committee 38 years and the resolution seeks to name Judiciary Committee hearing room 1113 at the state Capitol in his honor, to be a "tangible display of the Legislature's respect and honor."

He has said in the past he wants no such honor. We'll see this afternoon how it plays out.

Robocalls has come up on the nighttime agenda in the Legislature. Lincoln Sen. DiAnna Schimek's bill is a second attempt after last year's veto of her robocall bill by Gov. Dave Heineman.

This version of the proposal (LB720) would apply to all automated calls, including solicitation calls, and not just political ones. Calls would be limited to the hours between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. It requires the identity of the call's sponsor, and for whom the call is being made, and their contact information.

A script of the message for political calls must be filed within 24 hours with the Public Service Commission after the calls are made. For all other calls, the scripts are filed in advance and the contracting person would have to file any changes with the original script within five days after changes are made.

The law would not include school districts using automated dialing to call parents or businesses contacting employees about work schedules.

The number of calls that can be made is not regulated.

Debate on the bill will be picked up again Tuesday at 2:30 p.m.

The discussion in the chamber Wednesday morning was emotional -- the most emotional of the session. And it was all about the culture of Nebraska's Unicameral Legislature.

Omaha Sen. Brad Ashford took an opportunity on final reading of the school aid bill to talk about what happened in Omaha Tuesday, and in the week or two before that, with a partisan attack on Omaha Sen. Steve Lathrop in his District 12. Automated calls and door hangers were paid for by the Nebraska Republican Party(see April 1 blog).

Senator after senator stood up and spoke on the importance of the culture of the state's lawmaking body -- a culture that crosses party lines and the lines of other coalitions. They expressed embarrassment, discouragement and outrage about the partisan attack. They rallied around Lathrop.

And Sen. Greg Adams of York talked about his greatest fear about term limits -- that senators would lose a clear understanding of the culture of the Legislature of respect, civility, transparency, and the responsibility to maintain that culture.

Lincoln Sen. DiAnna Schimek invited the public to be alert, also, for the partisan politics that go on with independent groups that do the dirty work for parties.

But it was Ashford, who opened and closed the discussion, who showed the depth of emotion on the issue.

His first memory of coming to the Legislature was when he was 10 years old, with his mother, he said. Then in 1991, in the beginning of his second term as a senator, his mother came to visit what had become an important part of her son's life. She was dying of cancer, and Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers went to her to tell her, "Your son is a good man."

"I just don't know how much better it gets than that," Ashford said through long pauses to gather himself. "This is a great place, and we have to stand up for that."

The hot button issue of illegal immigration gave the Republican Party fodder for what it called “education” for voters in one state senator’s district.

The party paid for automated calls and door hangers in Democrat Sen. Steve Lathrop’s District 12 that said Lathrop made illegal immigration a priority in his campaign and then changed his tune when he got to the Legislature. There, the messages said, he failed to support a bill (LB963) that would have banned taxpayer benefits to illegal immigrants.

Actually, the bill would have required that state and local agencies verify the legal status of immigrants who apply for benefits. It also would have rescinded giving resident tuition to illegal immigrants who graduated from Nebraska high schools.

Lathrop, the Judiciary Committee vice chairman, did not vote on a motion in the committee to kill LB963. Neither did Republican Brad Ashford, who is chairman of the committee. Ashford said the two intended to come up with a compromise on the bill so it could be moved to the full Legislature.

Mark Quandahl said the party just felt it was a bit inconsistent of Lathrop to not support the bill, given his stand on illegal immigration.

Lathrop said the motion, which he had recommended against, was to kill the bill, not to advance it to the full Legislature.

Omaha Sen. Pete Pirsch was the only one on the committee that voted no on the kill motion.

Ashford said the hearing on LB963 had been tumultuous and the response by Gov. Dave Heineman, who had requested the bill, and Attorney Jon Bruning to killing the bill had been equally confrontational. Bruning had told an Associated Press reporter and said on a radio program that the Judiciary Committee was an embarrassment to the Legislature.

Ashford and Lathrop said Bruning later apologized for his statement.

Senators spent a little time this afternoon on the "move over" bill (LB786), introduced by Omaha Sen. Gwen Howard. It would require drivers on interstates or expressways to move a lane away from an emergency or road assistance vehicle stopped on the side of the road.

Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers wants to kill the bill because it criminalizes the act of not moving over. "I'm not in favor of giving cops that kind of discretion," he said. "This creates all kinds of problems in the real world."

Howard thinks the bill is necessary for public safety, trying to prevent accidents that are tragic for families, she said.

Sen. Arnie Stuthman of Platte Center opposes the bill, too, calling it "feel-good legislation." It's trying to put legislation into place where just a little bit of common sense should prevail.

"Don't we give the people any credit," he asked.

Howard moved to kill debate on the bill rather than submit it to a filibuster.

It's one thing to live almost a century. It's another to live almost a century and still be working daily.

Sally Gordon, a mainstay at the Capitol having worked here nearly 25 years, turned 99 today. The assistant sergeant-at-arms, who helps maintain order in the legislative chamber, will have a full day of celebration and then work into the evening, until the Legislature adjourns for the night.

Retirement has no meaning to Gordon, for good reason.

"I'm a desperate housewife and I'm allergic to housework," she said.

The Legislature wrapped up debate on the repeal of the death penalty and voted 20-28 to defeat Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers' attempt at getting rid of the death penalty in his last session.

Chambers said he came to the Legislature as a young man and will leave it as an old one. He will end his career in the Legislature holding to the same unwavering, unshakeable belief that the state should not kill anybody.

"My hope is that someday people on the floor of the Legislature will reach the point where it realizes that the death penalty does not advance the cause of civilization," he said.

The vote advancing the death penalty repeal was:

Yes: Aguilar, Ashford, Avery, Chambers, Dierks, Howard, Johnson, Kopplin, Kruse, Lathrop, McDonald, McGill, Nantkes, Pedersen, Preister, Raikes, Rogert, Schimek, Synowiecki, Wallman

No: Adams, Burling, Carlson, Christensen, Cornett, Engel, Erdman, Fischer, Flood, Friend, Fulton, Gay, Hansen, Harms, Heidemann, Hudkins, Janssen, Karpisek, Langemeier, Lautenbaugh, Louden, Nelson, Pahls, Pankonin, Pirsch, Stuthman, White, Wightman

Excused: Dubas

A survey released in February shows that a majority of Nebraskans support the continued use of the death penalty for the most heinous murders.

The survey was conducted and paid for by McGrain Berryman & Mines, a Nebraska political and public affairs firm. Mick Mines is a former senator who resigned last year to go to work for the firm.

Mines said the firm conducted the poll among registered voters because members believed it was an interesting and relevant topic, and the opinions of voters applied to the debate going on today in the Legislature.

The survey showed that 78 percent of 3,232 respondents said they supported the death penalty for "the most heinous crimes."

These are the questions asked by the survey and how those polled answered:

Do you support or oppose the continued use of the death penalty for the most heinous crimes?
Support -- 78 percent
Oppose -- 16 percent
Unsure -- 6 percent

Some advocates are calling for legislation that may help avoid future legal challenges by changing Nebraska's method of execution from the electric chair to lethal injection. Do you support or oppose legislation that would make lethal injection the sole means of execution in Nebraska?
Support -- 57 percent
Oppose -- 30 percent
Unsure -- 13 percent

The Legislature has advanced a bill that would abolish the death penalty in Nebraska. Do you support or oppose abolishing the death penalty?
Support -- 18 percent
Oppose -- 76 percent
Unsure -- 6 percent

Sen. John Harms of Scottsbluff, who opposes LB1063, the repeal of the death penalty, asked what, besides life in prison, would the state have to offer for someone who does horrible things to children?

Raymond Mata killed a 3-year-old boy in Scottsbluff, cut him up, boiled his body, fed some to a dog and flushed some down the toilet, because he was jealous of the boy's mother.

"It bothers me tremendously to even discuss this issue," Harms said.

What's wrong with saying what he did was not appropriate, that he should get the death penalty, Harms asked.

Another young girl was raped and shot and killed in the basement of an old house, and her killer went home, listened to the police scanner and went to sleep.

How can Harms go back to his district, he said, and face the parents, grandparents, siblings and say that the state could only give those killers life in prison?

"I oppose (repeal) strongly because of what I have seen in my own community," he said.

Some studies have shown the death penalty can deter murder, he said. And it is an appropriate punishment for heinous crimes.

"Some acts are so heinous that they violate our social conscience," he said.

Sen. Tim Gay of Papillion said that if the death penalty system is so bad, "let's fix it."

Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers opened the debate on the death penalty repeal bill saying it was a somber, solemn, melancholy occasion -- dealing literally with life and death.

His journey to try to get the state he lives in to do away with the death penalty, he said, has been a tortuous start and stop journey.

His hope, he said, is that after today's discussion -- in his last session -- the policy, regardless of what anyone else might do in terms of a veto by the governor, will be that the state not kill again.

Chambers said it was a highly emotional issue based on feelings -- not based on rational thought alone.

The death penalty is something that seems inconsistent -- in Chambers' view -- with prolife.

Chambers said he voted for a bill that would disallow stem cell research or cloning that would kill the cells.

"I would find it regrettable," he said, "if we have more sympathy with a stem cell embryo than with a full-fledged human being."