Two of the state’s most powerful political leaders have names that sound alike — Gov. Dave Heineman and state Sen. Lavon Heidemann.

Heineman is the veteran governor, a man with political savvy and a keen intellectual grasp of the budget and most major issues. Because of legislative term limits, Heineman has more experience with state government than 48 of the 49 state senators.

Heidemann, 50, is chairman of the Appropriations Committee, the group responsible for putting together a $7 billion, two-year budget and selling it to the rest of the Legislature. 

Under term limits, Heidemann of Elk Creek is also among the more experienced senators, with four years under his belt, all of them with the Appropriations Committee. This is his second two-year term as chair.

Several senators will also be key players this year by virtue of their skills — and their positions as chairs of key legislative committees.

Sen. Mike Flood of Norfolk was elected to his second two-year term as Speaker of the Legislature, the person who sets the agenda and decides how the Legislature will do its work during this 90-day, long session. 

Last year senators credited Flood, 33, who understands the political landscape, with being a fair and forceful leader, assuring that individual senators were able to get action on their favorite bills.

Abbie Cornett, 42, of Bellevue is among the power group by virtue of her election to chair of the Revenue Committee, which deals with tax legislation.

Brad Ashford of Omaha will head the Judiciary Committee, which handles the most bills and often deals with some of the most controversial issues, including the death penalty and most abortion-related bills. Ashford, 59, is serving his second two-year term as chair.

In other states, with partisan two-house legislatures, the dominant party holds the key positions. Generally, the party fills the key committee chairmanships, and the dominant party controls the legislative agenda.  

But in Nebraska, with its unique single house and nonpartisan legislative body, individuals gain power by virtue of their position as the chair of a committee, by seniority and knowledge of the system, and by their personal skills getting bills into law.

With term limits there are few senior members in the Nebraska Legislature. Thirty-six of the 49 senators have served two years or less. Just two senators have served more than eight years, Sens. Brad Ashford of Omaha and Cap Dierks of Ewing returned two years ago after an absence from the body.

So leadership at the beginning of the 2009 session lies with committee chairs, who have some control over what bills get to the full Legislature and in what form.

That committee chair list reflects the nonpartisan nature of the Unicameral and includes three Democrats and 13 Republicans, all elected by the 49 senators on Wednesday morning, in a secret ballot if more than one person was running for a chairmanship. The three Democrats elected from a total of 17 were Bill Avery of Lincoln, Russ Karpisek of Wilber and Steve Lathrop of Omaha.

The committee election process shows the grass-roots power structure of the Unicameral, said Larry Ruth, a retired lobbyist who teaches political science at Wesleyan University.

In most legislatures, committee chairs are selected by party caucuses, often in secret, he said.

But in Nebraska, the secret ballot for chairmanships by the entire body allows people to cross party lines to vote for leaders. 

“We typically see leadership positions going to both Democrats and Republicans, which is astounding to people in other states,” he said.

The legislative process in Nebraska relies heavily on committees, which hold public hearings on each bill, screen the bills, often rewriting them before they are considered by the full Legislature.

Committees work through the issues and bring bills to the floor that have as much consensus as possible, said former Sen. Don Wesely, who headed the Health and Human Services Committee. 

Because Nebraska doesn’t  have a partisan party structure, the Legislature needs to have strong committees, said Wesely, now a lobbyist. So the chairmanship of committees is key.

Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.