OMAHA — With death penalty opponent Ernie Chambers out of the way, an attempt to change Nebraska’s method of execution to lethal injection seems likely to be successful after the Legislature convenes next week.

Gov. Dave Heineman and Attorney General Jon Bruning, both Republicans, have said they want the issue decided this session. The Nebraska Supreme Court in February declared electrocution — the state’s only means of execution — cruel and unusual punishment, and therefore unconstitutional.

The ruling leaves the state with a death penalty but no way of carrying it out.

In a pre-session survey by The Associated Press, 28 of 49 senators or senators-elect said they supported changing Nebraska’s method of execution from the electric chair to lethal injection. Two said they opposed changing the law, four said they were unsure, three said they opposed the death penalty, three skipped the question and nine didn’t respond to the survey.

Chambers, a state senator from Omaha, spent his long legislative career trying to get rid of capital punishment in the state. The closest he came to having the law changed was in 1979, when his bill passed on a 26-22 vote but was vetoed by then-Gov. Charley Thone.

So Chambers subsequently filibustered and or otherwise blocked every bill that attempted to change the state’s method of execution because he was convinced the electric chair would eventually be ruled unconstitutional.

Nebraska justices proved him right in 2008, saying that evidence shows electrocution inflicts “intense pain and agonizing suffering’’ and that it “has proven itself to be a dinosaur more befitting the laboratory of Baron Frankenstein’’ than a state prison.

This year, term limits mean Chambers won’t be around to block a vote, and senators seem inclined to make the change.

Sen. Tom Hansen of North Platte said changing the state’s method to lethal injection is “about the only option left.’’

Other execution methods include firing squads, hanging and the gas chamber, but lethal injection is likely the only option senators will discuss.

Sen. Pete Pirsch of Omaha said that between the two — lethal injection and electrocution — lethal injection is preferable.

Tanya Cook of Omaha, Cap Dierks of Ewing and Ken Haar of Malcolm said they opposed the death penalty.

“My preference is to abolish the death penalty and substitute life without parole,’’ said Haar, an incoming senator.

The bill didn’t come up last year as Heineman waited for a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court on lethal injection.

In April, days before the end of Nebraska’s legislative session, the court upheld Kentucky’s use of lethal injection.

Executions nationwide had been on hold for nearly seven months pending the Supreme Court ruling.

Ten men sit on Nebraska’s death row. If the law is changed to lethal injection, some will likely challenge their sentences, saying they can’t be put to death by a method that didn’t exist in Nebraska law when they committed their crimes and were sentenced. One inmate has already challenged his death sentence because of the current lack of a method of execution.