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In 1937, the state of Nebraska initiated a legislative experiment. Convinced of the idealistic notion that voters would act as the "second house" of the Nebraska Legislature through the ballot initiative process, the state amended its constitution to institute a nonpartisan, one house legislature.

Seven decades later, there are very sound reasons why no other state in the union has followed Nebraska's lead.

The Nebraska Unicameral in the 21st century is a dysfunctional mess. It is a single legislative chamber consisting of 49 state senators. No house members; just 49 senators. They are elected and serve on a non-partisan basis, so no effective party discipline is possible. At the polls, the voters are given no indication as to the political affiliation of these candidates. Because of the ideological nature of politics, most legislative races end up with Republicans running against Democrats, but occasionally, two Democrats or two Republicans end up running against each other. Primaries are free-for-all events with the top two vote-getters advancing to face each other again in the general election.

The system allows senators to hide behind a non-partisan label when it suits their purposes. In 2003, then-Gov. Mike Johanns vetoed a tax increase, only to have it overridden by the Legislature. With no additional checks and balances to slow down legislation, the override was successful.

It happened again last week when the Unicameral passed a bill giving in-state tuition to the children of illegal aliens at all three campuses of the University of Nebraska. When the bill hit Gov. Dave Heineman's desk, he vetoed it, as he had promised to do. The Legislature overrode that veto, thereby making the bill law.

Twenty members of the Nebraska Legislature are term limited this year under a recent constitutional amendment passed by voters. As a parting shot, many state senators seem to have thumbed their noses at the taxpayers who subsidize the university system. My son has seen significant increases in his tuition as he has worked his way through the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where he consistently has made the Dean's List. Now that he is about to graduate, he is being told that children of illegal aliens will receive the same tuition rates he currently pays.

This law is a misguided piece of work. There is not a true American with three brain cells to rub together who wishes ill toward children hoping for a better future. But this law does what most immigration law is doing. It is equivocation disguised as up-from-the-bootstraps opportunity, and it is indicative of why a unicameral legislative system does not work.

Two years ago, the Iowa House of Representatives unanimously passed a similar bill. Had that been the only legislative step in the process, liberal Democrat Gov. Tom Vilsack would have signed the legislation. But because Iowa has a partisan, bicameral legislature, U.S. Rep. Steve King, a former Iowa state senator, was able to shame enough of his former colleagues in the Republican-controlled Iowa Senate to kill the legislation.

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