Facing a filibuster that would have blocked a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow future lawmakers to tax homes less than other real estate, Nebraska lawmakers on Saturday sent their representatives home by procedural motion without voting on the bill.

That means Legislative Resolution 2CA will not be brought up for debate again until Tuesday, North Platte state Sen. Mike Jacobson told The Telegraph later Saturday. Senators will meet only briefly on Monday.

Jacobson, Senator Brian Hardin of Gering and Senator Tom Brewer of Gordon all do not expect Brandt’s amendment to pass before the House votes to adjourn indefinitely until January.

The three bills related to the remnants of Gov. Jim Pillen’s sweeping tax relief plan from before the session – Bills 2, 3 and 34 – are all up for a final vote on Tuesday, Jacobson said.

LR 2CA needs the support of 40 of the 49 senators to appear on the November 5 general election ballot. “There are not 40 votes, so that’s not going to happen,” he added.

If the sponsor, Sen. Tom Brandt of Plymouth, can’t find them, Jacobson said, “I guarantee you that after 2, 3 and 34, an open-ended motion will be introduced. If that passes, we’re done.”

The legislature met for a rare weekend day to consider LR 2CA. The resolution was expected to move into its final round of debate on Saturday after easily surviving the first round on Friday by a vote of 32-14.

The measure split the five-member State Capitol delegation in western Nebraska, with Jacobson and Sumner Sen. Teresa Ibach voting Friday against the initial approval, which was supported by the Panhandle’s three lawmakers: Hardin, Brewer and Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard.

Hardin, however, described his vote as “a stroke of luck” rather than a vote for “a compelling plan.” At best, LR 2CA is “only a half-decent idea” and there is not enough time to educate voters about it so close to the election, he added.

Ibach agreed. “My concern is that it is reckless to rush into passing laws, especially those that amend the constitution,” she said.

Erdman, who was absent on Saturday, did not respond to a text message from the Telegraph.

Up to ten MPs were absent at various times on Saturday morning – which made it difficult for Brandt’s proposal to make it to the final round of debate and gave his opponents the opportunity to bring it down through a filibuster.

At first, Senator Justin Wayne of Omaha seemed intent on doing just that, suggesting he wanted to drag out the debate and kill the proposal that would give the House the power to cut the home tax rate if it were approved first by lawmakers and then by voters.

Brandt said LR 2CA would give lawmakers a tool similar to one that has existed for agricultural land since 2006. Agricultural or horticultural land is currently taxed at 75 percent of its assessed value, while all other land in Nebraska is taxed at or near 100 percent of its value.

If LR 2CA received 40 votes in the final round of debate, it would be voted on in the fall. If it received 30 votes in the final reading, the measure would not be put to voters until November 2026.

Wayne, who fought to get Brandt’s proposal on the House agenda earlier this week, is a supporter of the resolution but said he tried to kill it because he was “mad at Senator Brandt.”

The senator from Plymouth voted Friday against a procedural motion by Wayne that sought to force the state legislature to vote on eliminating sales tax on residential electricity bills.

“This constitutional amendment is on the table because I fought for it, not him. I fought for it. Because it’s the right political decision,” Wayne said. “But he sat out a legitimate (procedural motion on Friday). He sat out a vote that could have helped all Nebraskans.”

An hour later, however, it was Wayne again working to save Brandt’s proposal. LR 2CA faced a new wave of opposition from the Nebraska Farm Bureau on Saturday, several lawmakers said, naming the interest group that also publicly opposed Gov. Jim Pillen’s original property tax relief plan and helped defeat it.

“I don’t know why anyone pays dues to the Farm Bureau,” said Senator Lou Ann Linehan of Omaha. “Every time we get close to getting something done for agriculture, they come along and ruin it.”

“If we thwart this today, it will be a big mistake,” she added. “If we let this go under today, we should be ashamed.”

Jacobson took up the filibuster that Wayne had started on Saturday morning but never intended to complete and promised to continue the filibuster.

“We’re trying to commit a future legislature to this,” he told senators. “To sit here and carve out (home ownership) without knowing where it’s going, without any other ‘payments,’ is a tax shift.”

Jacobson later told The Telegraph that the “pay-fors” were about allowing homeowners who live in their homes to benefit from a lower tax value without farmers, businesses and rental property owners having to pay more.

“In rural areas, this would mean a shift in property tax to agricultural land unless measures were taken to reduce agricultural land accordingly,” Ibach added.

The decision on how to do this will be up to the next legislative session, and city lawmakers may not be willing to prevent such a property tax shift, Jacobson added.

He made four delay motions before senators adjourned the session, saying this would allow him to finish the remaining 56 minutes of LR 2CA’s second round of debate before a cloture vote when the bill is reinstated.

To overcome the filibuster tactic, LR 2CA needs the votes of 33 representatives – the support that Brandt’s proposal did not have on Saturday due to the absence of so many senators.

To avoid a failed vote that would have ended debate, Wayne intended to move a motion to adjourn LR 2CA until Monday, effectively suspending debate on the bill over the weekend.

However, as part of his short-lived filibuster, he had already submitted a corresponding motion on Saturday and then withdrawn it – which prohibited him and other MPs from doing so again.

Brandt’s resolution appeared to fall victim to the filibuster until Senator John Cavanaugh of Omaha, who had not previously voted on Wayne’s motion, in a clever legislative maneuver filed a motion to reconsider the earlier vote.

“That’s why I like you!” Wayne said to Cavanaugh on the floor, slamming his fist on his desk.

The House approved Cavanaugh’s motion by a majority of 29 to 6. This allowed a second vote on Wayne’s motion to bracket the resolution, which had previously been rejected by a vote of 7 to 26. 25 votes were needed for passage.

At the second attempt, Parliament voted 25 to 7 to retain the resolution, narrowly saving Brandt’s proposal – for the time being.

The debate on Brandt’s proposal is expected to resume in parliament on Tuesday. Jacobson needs 33 votes to implement his announced filibuster tactic.

“We’re barely surviving,” Brandt said. “We’re minute by minute. For me personally, it’s kind of refreshing to see the senators figuring out how to be successful.”