LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) _ A legislative committee has been told that rules are needed to control out-of-state groups that have hijacked Nebraska's petition process. That message came Wednesday from supporters of a bill (LB575) from Sen. Kent Rogert of Tekamah.

But Deputy Secretary of State for Elections Neal Erickson said some parts of the bill just don't make sense. The measure would require the secretary of state to suspend the circulation of petitions if the attorney general decided there were cause to prosecute someone for breaking a petition law. Stopping the gathering of petitions is hard because it can take months for complaints that are handled locally to work through the state's legal process.