Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Sorted by date Results 126 - 150 of 299
Let's talk about the embarrassment formerly known as the Nebraska Legislature. The 49 elected senators are now 60 days into the scheduled 90-day session and the scoresheet is mostly bare. There are two bills awaiting "final reading," the last of three rounds of debate by the full Legislature. Two bills have been killed, nine have been withdrawn and 614 are being held by committees. According to headlines in the New York Times and other national media outlets, the Nebraska Legislature has passed...
This week saw the Legislature continue the discussion of the governor’s school finance and tax package. LB 243, as amended by the Revenue Committee, would make a series of changes aimed at easing the financial impact of increasing property tax valuations on Nebraska’s local property taxpayers. Among changes proposed, the measure would increase the minimum amount of relief granted under the Property Tax Credit Act to $388 million in tax year 2024 and $560 million by tax year 2029. This amo...
It is the last week of March and the Legislature has moved on to all-day debate. At this point in time in the prior 2021 90-day long session, the Legislature had passed 31 bills with 16 signed into law by the governor. This year, a grand total of zero bills have been passed into law and only one resolution - my resolution LR 13 - affirming the Legislature’s support for including the names of the Sage brothers and other 71 sailors of the USS Frank E. Evans on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial W...
Where is the governor and what is he doing? We probably shouldn't be surprised that stealth candidate Jim Pillen, who refused to debate and was elected governor anyway, hasn't been releasing information about his public schedule. No schedules, nor press releases, little or no comment about issues. A staff that is tight-lipped and covers for him. The way it's going, the Columbus pig farmer could be spending his days running Pillen Family Farms and showing up at the state Capitol from time to...
Just one more term. Yes, lawmakers are once again considering giving themselves 12 years instead of eight to figure out how things work and try to do something for their constituents. On a good day, I think term limits should be eliminated as they were until 2006. On a bad day, I think a monthly contract seems too gracious for some of the babbling, bumbling idiotic things that state senators do. Norfolk Sen. Robert Dover has offered LR22CA, a proposed constitutional amendment that potentially...
The Legislature has completed Day 50 of this 90-day legislative session and is in the middle of debate on bills that have been designated as a priority by senators, committees and the speaker. This past week, the Legislature gave initial first-round approval to LB 574 which would adopt the Let Them Grow Act and prohibit the performance of gender-altering procedures on minors. This legislation has been the focus of discussions and filibusters in the past few weeks as opponents of the bill raised...
The Legislature is now halfway through the current Legislative session. Public hearings were held this past week on two bills that I introduced in the Appropriations Committee. As amended, LB 766 would appropriate $1.625 million annually in American Rescue Plan Act dollars, over the next two fiscal years, to the Department of Environment and Energy as a follow-up to the reverse osmosis grant program created by the Legislature with last year's LB 1014. Under LB 766, NDEE would award a grant to an...
The consumption tax, or the transaction tax, or maybe it's the EPIC tax, has reared its ugly, shortsighted head again. Call it what you will, but elimination of the highly sustainable three-pronged tax system that has been on the books since 1976 and cost Governor Norbert Tieman his political future, is simply not a good idea. First introduced in the 1990s as the so-called brainchild of a McCook businessman, the "transaction tax" never got out of committee. A couple years ago it came back as...
Two years after Donald Trump won the 2016 president election, four Nebraska women joined to form a progressive political group in the state dedicated to holding lawmakers like those in the Nebraska Legislature accountable. "Something physically in my body had changed and I was compelled that I was never going to feel that way again," co-founder Christi Bradley said of the 2016 election. "I was never going to feel like I hadn't done enough to prevent something terrible from happening." The...
Guests at northeast Nebraska state park areas were treated to some improvements in 2022, with more set to be completed in 2023. The following is a roundup of those improvements and projects: Summit Lake State Recreation Area Summit Lake State Recreation Area near Tekamah saw aquatic habitat and angler access improvement projects completed to improve the fishery and guests' experience. The west and south sediment basins were excavated to restore them to their original capacity and prevent...
Three proposals to cover the solution looking for a problem -- voter ID -- have proven to be about as confusing as the proponent’s explanation as to why the idea was necessary. After a lot of listening and a bunch of head scratching, I’m still not convinced. The only thing I know for sure, in Sen. Steve Erdman’s world there would be no mail-in ballots. Tell that to the 11 Nebraska counties that hold mail-only elections right now. Better yet, convince my 85-year -old neighbors that it’s a good idea. I’ve been voting by mail since Covid and...
The Legislature is now past Day 40 and is almost halfway through the current Legislative session. In floor debate, only a couple of bills have been discussed in depth. LB 753 would adopt the Opportunity Scholarships Act and provide education scholarships to assist eligible students to attend a qualified, nonprofit, private elementary or secondary school. Under the act, individual and corporate taxpayers would qualify for a non-refundable tax credit equal to the amount the taxpayer contributed...
It has been 35 years since members of the Nebraska Legislature had a pay raise and 17 years since term limits took effect. If lawmakers are wondering why, they simply need to check the actions of some of their colleagues. Omaha Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh told fellow senators and a TV audience she was “going to be mean” because a fellow Omaha senator introduced a bill, restricting transgender surgery, she doesn’t like. But it’s not just the one anti-transgender bill she doesn’t like, she’s going to oppose every one of that senator’s proposals. No...
The schedule of morning debate on the floor and afternoon public hearings continues for a few more weeks. At times, the days seem long, but soon the Legislature will begin all-day debate before finally adjourning later this spring. Three of my bills were heard in committee last week. On Tuesday, LB 453 and LB 454 were heard before the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee. LB 453 would allow the Nebraska Department of Transportation to change how the administrative costs of the Divisio...
We are now past the one-third mark of this 90-day legislative session but still have a great deal of work to do. The various standing committees are busy holding public hearings on the 820 bills and 22 substantive resolutions that were introduced in January. We have around four more weeks of hearings yet to go. Thus far, two of my bills have been presented before committees. The week began with Nebraska Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Heavican delivering the State of the Judiciary address...
The state of the state on its 156th birthday. It's still a very red, heavily conservative and largely Republican mecca situated in one of those mostly square states out west that a lot of people couldn't find on an unmarked map. And we like it that way. Well, a lot of us seem to. Might that change? Could Nebraska be the place where high school and college graduates want to stay? Could it become a magnet for young people and innovation? Progress in that direction is slow but it could happen....
This week saw the Legislature resume floor debate and consider several gubernatorial appointments and reappointments. The following people were confirmed this week: Jim Macy as director of the department of environment and energy, John Bolduc as the superintendent of the state patrol, John Hilgert as director of the department of veterans affairs, Jason Jackson as director of the department of administrative services and Sherry Vinton as director of the department of agriculture. Additionally, I...
His predecessor spent eight years pushing property tax relief. Now, Governor Jim Pillen wants to clearly tie said property tax relief to school finance. It's up to the Legislature to figure out how to make that work. Lawmakers are used to people complaining about property taxes. Now, throw in some school districts that say a proposed distribution of state aid isn't fair and equitable. What do you have? A real mess or a problem begging for a solution? Pillen is behind three priority measures...
This week saw the Legislature conclude the second and final week of all-day committee hearings. The schedule will return to a traditional format, where floor debate is in the mornings and committee hearings in the afternoon. The question of whether Nebraska should legalize medical marijuana will again be considered by the Legislature. Sen.Wishart introduced LB 588, the Medicinal Cannabis Act, which would provide a regulatory framework to establish access to cannabis specifically for medical...
“They’re trying to build a prison They’re trying to build a prison For you and me to live in Another prison system Another prison system For you and me.” --The Prison Song by System of a Down (2001) To the surprise of none and the consternation of many, me included, a new report says that before 2030, Nebraska will need another 1,500 prison beds, even after building a $350-million, 1,500-bed replacement for the aging State Penitentiary in Lincoln. We have been expecting the facility master plan for the Nebraska Department of Correct...
Jane Hatfield Anchustegui, a descendant of Civil War veteran Capt. John D. Hatfield, recently met with Antelope County Historical Society members, in Neligh, to announce a donation to support the historical society and county museum. The board expressed its gratitude and presented Anchustegui with a basket filled with Nebraska-produced products. "Thank you so much for such a great contribution to assist us in preserving and celebrating the history of Antelope County," said Boyd Pedersen, board c...
Many people touted this year's legislative session as a Republican-dominated conservative body that could easily work with the Republican administration to get things done. They reasoned that 32 Republicans in the officially nonpartisan body would win out over the 17 Democrats. They tried valiantly to get 33 Republicans elected, a so-called "magic" number that could withstand filibusters by the dissenters and pave the way for a conservative agenda. Observers sighed relief when the number fell...
This week saw the Legislature begin the first of two weeks of all-day committee hearings. Traditionally, senators would meet as a body in the morning and split into different committees in the afternoons. However, Speaker Arch wanted to try to front-load the session with hearings so there will be more time for debate later in the session. Therefore, senators will not have an opportunity for floor debate until the week of Feb. 13. Two of my bills are scheduled for a public hearing later this...
On Wednesday, Jan. 25, Gov.Jim Pillen delivered his first State of the State address to the Legislature. The beginning of his speech focused on his team’s transition since the November general election and the strong state of Nebraska today. He emphasized how our state’s greatest asset - people - continually show perseverance, grit and determination to solve tough problems and overcome difficult obstacles. Although the state is strong and growing, Pillen argued more needs to be done to ret...
The new governor says his proposed tax cuts are historic. Critics say they are not sustainable. Rookie mistake by the pig farmer politician who is backed by his Republican party and most of the 32 Republicans in the Nebraska Legislature. Maybe it’s all of them, I haven’t taken a poll. Somebody forgot to explain to Governor Jim Pillen that the $1.9 billion excess funds he claims will make all this work are “projected” to be in the state coffers. That means the so-called strong tax receipt...
