Find out more about Nebraska's government at congress.org State legislature page State Constitution Secretary of State website

Laura Ebke (LauraEbke) [Message] Interim state coordinator 1935 St. Andrews Drive Crete, NE 68333

Nebraska's Campaign For Liberty membership gets larger every day! We have members in every Congressional District, and in many of the counties of the state. We have District Coordinators in each of the Congressional Districts, and several of our counties have County Coordinators. PLEASE SIGN UP IF YOU'RE A VISITOR HERE--it will give you access to far more information, and regular updates--and basic membership costs NOTHING.  You can sign up by clicking on the appropriate text on the top right of this page.

The Nebraska Campaign for Liberty recently incorporated as a 501c4, which will allow us to take a much more proactive--and independent--effort in our state.  We are partnering with other organizations to petition our state government to CUT SPENDING during the special legislative session coming up, rather than raising taxes to balance the budget due to shortfalls from the foundering economy.

We will begin posting more events that may be of interest on this page in the coming weeks.  Some of those events are not sponsored by the Campaign for Liberty, but rather by groups that we can or will work with on many issues.  The posting of these events does not necessarily represent an endorsement, but rather a point of information that you may want to check out if the event is in your area.  

Watch this site, and if you're a member, be sure to check your daily e-mail updates for new calendar events--things are happening in Nebraska!

The Beginnings of Success! Posted by LauraEbke

Posted 02/06/10

During the last week, our Legislative Watch Committee isolated two specific bills in the Nebraska legislature that we thought we should take a stand on--LB 550 which changed some provisions with respect to the use of National Guard members as "peace officers"; and LB 261, which would require the drivers license "scan" of any person buying alcohol, tobacco, or lottery tickets.

Those bills were on final reading today (although we didn't know until late Thursday night that they would be).

On Wednesday, we called a "mass-call-in" asking members to call or e-mail their legislators.  We don't know exactly how many did, but we believe that some might have.  

We failed to outright stop either of the bills, but in a day when 8 or so bills were on final reading, and most most of them were passed by unanimous vote, our efforts on LB 261 may have actually made a difference--that bill passed not by 45 or 44 to 0, like the other bills, but rather by 34-10.  Looks like there were at least 10 legislators who heard our calls!

LB 261 - Unnecessary and Dangerous Posted by ramsey67

Posted 01/31/10

LB 261, introduced by Senator Kent Rogert (16 - Tekamah), will "provide for use of machine-readable information encoded on drivers' licenses and state identification cards." Information would be limited to the age and identification number of the individual. All 49 other states allow such information to be machine-read at the point-of-sale. It is a measure intended to reduce the likelihood of check fraud and illegal sale of alcohol, tobacco, and lottery tickets. However, it is unnecessary and could lead to more and more intrusion on the purchasing habits of individuals.

This piece of legislation is similar to many other progressive statutes enacted over the years. In the name of convenience, the legislature enacts such regulations. They slip past the radar of the watchful citizenry, and seem to be helpful, but they add up to an intrusive and inefficient government.

First, how much of a convenience is the machine-reading technology? I estimate that it takes an average of twenty seconds to read a birth date off an ID and input it into the register. By having to input the information by hand, the clerk is required to look directly at the person's ID. It increases the likelihood of the clerk actually looking at the picture on the ID and comparing it to the customer. In contrast, with the ability to simply swipe the ID the likelihood for the clerk to check the physical identity is greatly reduced and would result in more fraudulent use of other people's ID's to purchase age-required items. Furthermore, LB 261 says retailers "may scan" ID's, so there will undoubtedly be many thousands which choose not to purchase more software to keep such a database. Therefore, the use of machine-reading technology is hardly any more convenient, and could be counter-productive in preventing sale of alcohol, tobacco, and lottery tickets to minors.

Next, the gathered data needs to be scrutinized. What is the purpose of keeping such data? As delineated, the only reason would be to make it easier for the state to audit businesses to ensure compliance with age-limited item sales. As described above, though, the use of such technology does not ensure that such sales are being made only to persons of proper majority age. Therefore, it could be argued that such an audit would do nothing more than add another unnecessary work load to state regulators. Fortunately, LB 261 forbids retailers from using the data, however, another use for the gathering of such data could be discerned. The state would obviously have a database of all driver's licenses and ID's. It would be easy enough to download businesses' "age + license number" records and match them up with state records. By doing so, it would be fairly easy to create a lasting database of all alcohol, tobacco, and lottery purchasing habits of all Nebraskans and visitors to Nebraska. I see no provision in LB 261 that would prevent such data-mining. How would YOU like to be on the state's alcohol/tobacco/lottery ticket purchaser's list? Frankly, it is none of Nebraska's business to track any person's purchasing habits.

LB 261 is being presented as a means to prevent improper sale of alcohol, tobacco, and lottery tickets to minors. However, it lacks the technical uniformity to prevent such sales. Clerks could still make errors or purposefully avoid the statute to sell age-restricted items to minors. As with gun-control laws and many other police-state statutes, this will be easily bypassed by individuals with criminal intent, the average Nebraskan will end up on an Orwellian list of possible offenders, and the statute will create more of a financial burden on the State of Nebraska. Please call your state senator to demand that LB 261 be DENIED!

"You're Doing Great Work" Posted by LauraEbke

Posted 01/28/10 Last updated 02/01/10

On Saturday, January 16, a Sovereignty Symposium was held in Omaha, with guest speaker, Judge Andrew Napolitano. The Judge was an interesting choice as speaker for the event, because while the event most definitely was promoting state sovereignty in some form, many of the attendees would not fall in to the libertarian category. The Nebraska Campaign for Liberty had a table at the event, and a half dozen or so of our activists manned the table, talked to folks, and handed out assorted information.

The Judge's speech was advanced to a time earlier than originally planned during the day--apparently because of his travel schedule. Then, while Symposium attendees grabbed their box lunches, the Judge signed a few books--but it was made clear to everyone that he didn't have time for chit-chat, and would be making a hasty retreat. A couple of "pseudo-security" types (handlers, I think, provided by the group sponsoring the event), were designated to keep everyone else from trying to impose on his time.

Jon Tucker, our Region 2 Coordinator, walked over as the Judge was finishing up with his book signing (even after I told him that it didn't look like the Judge was going to have time for anything "extra"), and calls out to the Judge, "Judge, could we get a picture with you with the folks at the Campaign for Liberty table." The Judge stops, looks at his "handler", and says "THIS is the only group that I'll stop for," then rushes over to the table with Jon.

The rest of the room, with all of the other groups, are looking at us. We line up for some very quick (and not very well posed or planned) photos, and the Judge says, in a voice that many could hear: "The Campaign for Liberty is doing great work. You guys are the best." (that may not be a direct quote, but is certainly the essence--we didn't have the recorder running). And then he bolted, without so much as speaking to anyone else.

The poor AFP, Gun Owners Groups, Sovereignty groups, Heritage Foundation, et. al were all left wondering why we were so special. We, of course, know.

{Note, I've been trying to figure out how to insert the picture of our crew with the judge, but I'm having trouble figuring out how--anyone have any "helpful hints"?}