Nebraska's revisor of statutes retires after 40 years

Hundreds of laws get introduced in each legislative session, and the person who oversees all that bill drafting is the revisor of statutes.

Government reporter Noelle Annonen sat down with McClurg upon her retirement from the office after drafting and writing Nebraska laws for more than 40 years.

This interview has been edited for time.

Noelle Anonnen: You started at the legislature in 1984. What was your first job in the legislature? And what was that first day like?

Marcia McClurg: In 1984 I started as a drafter in the bill-drafting office, in the revisors office. As a recent law school graduate, I didn't know this office existed. When I got the opportunity to interview, I had to look up and see what the office did to start understanding how they function and how they interact with the senators and what our position is, and we prepare the legislation for the senators. But having the opportunity to actually write laws right out of law school was pretty amazing.

We had one mainframe computer that was a black screen with green figures, and we had to take turns going and using it, and we only used it to search the law when we needed to look something up. Otherwise, everything was done (by) pencil and paper. I have scissors that are eight inches long, because we would cut out the pages and tape them onto pieces of paper so that the technicians could type them in. So things have changed dramatically from when I first started. Things were a bit more labor intensive back in 1984 now we can copy and paste a lot, which helps immensely and saves time. But back then, everything took a long time. We had to proofread everything, word by word and punctuation mark by punctuation mark as the punctuation mark can make a difference in the law.

Our expertise is in the Constitution and in the laws that we currently have. So we look at what the current law says, we try to analyze what they're trying to do, see how much the current law needs to change, and then put together a draft amending statutes, proposing new language and putting a legislative bill into form.

Anonnen: I just have to ask this question from my own curiosity, are there any funny Nebraska laws?

McClurg: One of the ones that comes to mind is that it is still unlawful to have a team of horses going down the street in certain cities, and we tried to amend that law at one point, and that language is still in the statutes, and maybe not be as applicable in most situations as it used to be.

Anonnen: Are there any particular years that sort of stand out as you know, important things happened that year?

McClurg: I believe it was 1994 that we rewrote the election laws for the state of Nebraska. And it was a multi-year project, and I ended up being the drafter on that project, and we had to pull in information from smaller counties that did things a certain way and larger counties that did it a different way, and try to make the process of casting a ballot more uniform throughout the state and make the law more understandable so people could use the law and find the different requirements for registering to vote, for casting a ballot.

Anonnen: Over the course of your time working in the legislature, are there any particular characters in the senators who have come in and out of your office and in and out of the legislature who sort of stand out?

McClurg: Well, obviously Senator Chambers (Ernie Chambers represented North Omaha from 1971-2009 and 2013-2021) from Omaha is someone who is just legendary and a historical figure in Nebraska. He has also changed how the legislature operates, and he has said that he believes term limits were enacted on his behalf, or to have him exit the legislature. And so I do think it would be, I would be remiss not to mention Senator Chambers and the influence he's had.

Anonnen: Working in the revisors office, working with the senators, people who are making the law, I imagine that revisers and draftees would have a really unique insight into what Nebraska is like. What's something you've learned about Nebraska through your time engaging so closely with its laws?

McClurg: I believe Nebraskans in general are progressive, as they were when they created the unicameral, they want to see things done in a way that is fair, in a way that is efficient. They don't want to pay too many taxes, but they want to see services provided in a way that people are taken care of. And I think that's been true all the years I've been here.

Anonnen: Is there something that you think sets Nebraska apart from the surrounding states in our region?

McClurg: Well, I can say the obvious thing, that we're a unicameral as opposed to a bicameral. (laughs)

It is always difficult to understand your government where you live until you get into it. And once you get into it, you start understanding why it was set up the way it was, how the different pieces function together. But when you first come to it, it can seem daunting and unintelligible because you aren't seeing how all the pieces fit together. But that's true with everything. If you think about a jigsaw puzzle, if you don't know what the picture looks like and you just have all these pieces and it takes a while to put light colors together and to see how it's supposed to be put together. But I think the government is worth investing your time and interest in the building. On the outside of the building, the State Capitol building, it says that the watchfulness of the citizens is what will ensure the civility of the state. So – that's not an accurate paraphrase – but the citizen needs to be watchful to make sure their government is doing what it needs to do.