27 May 2015 :

Gov. Pete Ricketts vetoed a bill to abolish the death penalty in the state.
"This is a matter of public safety," he said. "It's also a matter of making sure the public prosecutors have the tools they need to put these dangerous hardened criminals behind bars." "We have 10 inmates on death row - we don't have hundreds," he said. "We use it judiciously and prudently, and therefore we need to retain it. I urge all the senators who are making this vote, please sustain my veto." In Nebraska's unicameral Legislature, 3 rounds of voting are required to approve a bill before it can reach the governor's desk.
Last week, in the 3rd round, the Legislature voted 32 to 15 in favor of abolition. Governor Ricketts, who said the death penalty is necessary as a deterrent to dangerous criminals, had vowed for weeks to issue a veto. Lawmakers said the override vote, which could happen as early as Wednesday (May 27), would be extremely close: 30 votes are needed to override. State Senator Ernie Chambers, an independent from Omaha who sponsored the legislation, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday (May 26) that he planned to make a motion to override the governor's veto. He declined to say whether he was fully confident the override would be successful. "I expect those people who voted for the bill 3 times, during the 3 stages of debate, I would expect them to do the same thing," he said. "But you never know. We'll just see how it turns out."