The president pro tempore of the Nebraska Senate (previously the president of the Nebraska Territorial Council and the president of the Nebraska Senate) was an office in the Nebraska Legislature which existed from 1855 to 1936 when Nebraska had a bicameral legislature. This office was created when the Nebraska Territory was first established and remained after Nebraska became a state. Under the Nebraska Constitution of 1866, this office was referred to as the president of the Senate since Nebraska had no office of lieutenant governor, but after the constitution of 1875 was adopted, which provided for a lieutenant governor who was to be the president of the Senate, this office became known as the president pro tempore (or "temporary president") of the Nebraska Senate. When Nebraska voters adopted a unicameral legislature beginning in 1937, this office ceased to exist and was replaced by a single speaker of the Nebraska Legislature.
The upper house of the Nebraska Territorial Legislature was called the Nebraska Territorial Council, and its presiding officer was called a president. Ten individuals served as president of the Nebraska Territorial Council during its twelve sessions before Nebraska became a state. The office was briefly split when a faction of the Nebraska Territorial Legislature broke off from the meeting at Omaha, Nebraska, and convened at Florence, Nebraska, in January 1858.
After Nebraska became a state in 1867, the upper house of the Nebraska Legislature was called the Nebraska Senate and became the successor to the Territorial Council. Since the Nebraska Constitution of 1866 did not provide for an office of lieutenant governor, it empowered the Nebraska Senate to choose its own presiding officer, called the president of the Senate.
When the Nebraska Constitution of 1875 created the office of Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska, it declared that "[t]he lieutenant governor shall be president of the senate." The constitution of 1875 additionally provided that "the senate shall choose a temporary president, to preside when the Lieutenant Governor shall not attend as president, or shall act as Governor," thus transforming this office into the office of president pro tempore of the Nebraska Senate. This office was abolished after 1936 when Nebraska adopted a unicameral legislature.