| Post: | Speaker of the Legislature |
| Body: | Nebraska |
| Incumbent: | John Arch |
| Incumbentsince: | January 4, 2023 |
| Type: | Speaker |
| Member Of: | Nebraska Legislature |
| Termlength: | Two years |
| Formation: | 1937 |
| First: | Charles J. Warner |
The speaker of the Nebraska Legislature is the highest-ranking officer elected from among the membership of the Nebraska Legislature. The speaker presides over the body in the absence of the lieutenant governor. The speaker is generally recognized to be the parliamentary leader of the Nebraska Legislature and, with the approval of the executive board, determines the legislative agenda (the order in which bills and resolutions are considered). The speaker has the privilege of speaking at any stage of the legislature's proceedings in accordance with his or her responsibilities as speaker.
The speaker is second in line to become the Governor of Nebraska if both the offices of governor and lieutenant governor become simultaneously vacant.
Before the creation of this office, Nebraska had a bicameral legislature, and the leaders of the upper and lower houses were, respectively, the president pro tempore of the Nebraska Senate and the speaker of the Nebraska House of Representatives.
The following is a list of the speakers of the Nebraska Legislature since it became a unicameral body in 1937.[1]
| Image | Name | Party | Tenure | District | City of residence | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rep | 1937–1938 | 25 (18) | Waverly | Later served as Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska; Father of Jerome Warner, the 18th Speaker; Served during a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor from June 26 to Nov. 8, 1938 | ||||
| 2 | Dem | 1939–1940 | 24 | Gresham | |||||
| 3 | Rep | 1941–1942 | 44 (39) | Sutherland | |||||
| 4 | Rep | 1943–1944 | 45 (38) | North Platte | Later served as Lieutenant Governor and Governor of Nebraska | ||||
| 5 | Rep | 1945–1946 | 29 (20) | Lincoln | |||||
| 6 | Dem | 1947–1948 | 35 (30) | Central City | |||||
| 7 | Rep | 1949–1950 | 15 (11) | Fremont | |||||
| 8 | Rep | 1951–1952 | 38 (33) | McCook | Resigned as senator to accept appointment of Gov. Robert Crosby as assistant agriculture director | ||||
| 9 | Rep | 1952 | 48 (42) | Gering | Selected to finish the term of Speaker Hoyt | ||||
| 10 | Dem | 1953–1954 | 7 | Omaha | |||||
| 11 | Rep | 1955–1956 | 19 (14) | Hartington | Later served as Lieutenant Governor and Governor of Nebraska; Served during a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor from Sep. 24, 1955, to Jan. 1, 1957 | ||||
| 12 | Rep | 1957–1958 | 16 (12) | Beemer | |||||
| 13 | Rep | 1959–1960 | 45 (38) | North Platte | Served during a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor from Sep. 9, 1960, to Jan. 3, 1961 | ||||
| 14 | Rep | 1961–1962 | 38 (33) | McCook | |||||
| 15 | Rep | 1963–1964 | 8 (10) | Omaha | |||||
| 16 | Rep | 1965–1966 | 37 | Red Cloud | |||||
| 17 | Rep | 1967–1968 | 43 | Valentine | |||||
| 18 | Rep | 1969–1970 | 25 | Waverly | Son of Charles J. Warner, the first speaker | ||||
| 19 | Rep | 1971–1972 | 18 | West Point | |||||
| 20 | Rep | 1973–1974 | 12 | Omaha | |||||
| 21 | Dem | 1975–1976 | 19 | Hartington | |||||
| 22 | Rep | 1977–1978 | 28 | Lincoln | Later served as Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska | ||||
| 23 | Rep | 1979–1982 | 33 | Hastings | |||||
| 24 | Rep | 1983–1986 | 48 | Scottsbluff | Later served as Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska | ||||
| 25 | Rep | 1987–1990 | 39 | Lexington | Later served as a US Representative | ||||
| 26 | Rep | 1991–1992 | 47 | Kimball | |||||
| 27 | Dem | 1993–1996 | 14 | Papillion | |||||
| 28 | Rep | 1997–2002 | 37 | Minden | Later became chancellor of the University of Nebraska at Kearney[2] | ||||
| 29 | Rep | 2003–2004 | 23 | Wahoo | |||||
| 30 | Rep | 2005–2006 | 4 | Omaha | Served during a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor from Jan. 20 to Jan. 24, 2005 | ||||
| 31 | Rep | 2007–2012 | 19 | Norfolk | Later served as a US Representative | ||||
| 32 | Rep | 2013–2014 | 24 | York | Served during two vacancies in the office of lieutenant governor from Feb. 2 to Feb. 13, 2013, and from Sep. 9 to Sep. 29, 2014 | ||||
| 33 | Rep | 2015–2016 | 37 | Kearney | |||||
| 34 | Rep | 2017–2020 | 19 | Norfolk | |||||
| 35 | Rep | 2021–2022 | 21 | Lincoln | Later became the Nebraska Attorney General | ||||
| 36 | Rep | 2023–Present | 14 | La Vista |