Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 291
This week, the Legislature convened for only two days, choosing to adjourn early after Sen. Linehan, chair of the Revenue Committee, requested additional time for the bill drafters to finalize amendments. The Legislature was previously scheduled to remain in session through Saturday, Aug. 10 but instead, resumed the session on Monday, Aug. 12. During this week’s session, senators and their staffs received a briefing from the Revenue Committee outlining their framework to try to deliver property tax relief. LB9, by Sen. Hughes, is the bill now i...
Two new paraprofessionals hires were approved Monday by the Summerland Public School Board of Education during its regular meeting. Superintendent Molly Aschoff told the board that administration had posted a job notice for a special education/Title 1 para position, with a van route to the Central Learning Center in Clearwater. During that period, a late para resignation was received. Elementary principal Cathy Cooper said four or five applications were received and three individuals were...
The Legislature’s General Affairs Committee took a half step Monday toward letting the public vote on the future of online sports betting in Nebraska. But the committee’s decision to punt a companion bill means any vote will likely wait until after the November election. The amended version of Legislative Resolution 3CA stopped short of letting voters decide the issue all at once. Instead, they would be asked to give the Legislature the constitutional authority to decide the issue. The amendment from State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha, a Democr...
This week, the Legislature concluded bill introduction and public hearings in this special session. Generally, in a special session, few bills are introduced and public hearings are finished in a couple of days. In this special session, a total of 81 bills and 24 constitutional amendments were introduced during three days of bill introduction, the most proposed during any special session since 1937. The large number of introduced proposals required six days of public hearings. Speaker Arch...
As expected, the governor called the Legislature into special session on Wednesday, July 24 to enact legislation relating to property tax relief and school funding. The Legislature convened on Thursday, July 25. Deviating from the preannounced schedule, Speaker Arch chose to not bring the Legislature back into session on Saturday to allow the Revisor of Statutes’ Office more time to prepare new drafts of bills and constitutional amendments. The governor’s package is composed of three bills: LB1...
As you may have read or heard, Governor Pillen announced his intention to call the Legislature back in special session relating to property taxes beginning July 25 until “unfinished business” is resolved. On the last day of session, the Legislature did not take a final vote on the session’s property tax package since that bill’s introducer did not believe they had the votes necessary to overcome a filibuster. Since the Legislature adjourned, senators, including myself, have spent countless hours...
“When there’s a will, there’s a way.” That was a phrase that surfaced regularly at the end of state legislative sessions. It referred to the hope that bills that appeared dead might be resurrected. Somehow, someway – like the zombie in a horror movie that would never die – some of those bills came back to life and were passed. Again, when there’s a will, there’s a way. That was the case at the end of the tumultuous 2023 session of the Nebraska Legislature, when filibusters were a daily routine...
Earlier this year, the governor and the Legislature tried and failed to develop a workable plan to reduce Nebraska property taxes through increases in sales taxes. Now, as decision-makers in Lincoln consider coming together in a special session, the options on the table still focus on using sales taxes to pay for cuts in property taxes. Why? Decisions made in the Legislature in 2023 shape what's possible now. In 2023, the Legislature used a historic budget surplus of $1.9 billion to cut income...
Many have tried, and few have succeeded in expanding the state’s sales tax base by taxing things now exempt from taxation. But that is where Gov. Jim Pillen is venturing in his pursuit of property tax relief. His initial plan, which failed to win approval in the state Legislature this spring, would have imposed new taxes on a host of items that could be labeled “low-hanging fruit.” I mean who’s going to get upset if we start imposing taxes on edibles infused with hemp, those slot machine...
Have you been to the grocery store or courthouse lately and been approached in the parking lot by not one, but two people seeking signatures on initiative petitions concerning abortion rights? Confused? You’re not alone. For what appears to be the first time in history, Nebraskans are being asked to sign not one, not two, but three petitions seeking to determine if and when a woman can have an abortion. And, according to Secretary of State Bob Evnen, if more than one petition makes the ballot, t...
Let's face it, Nebraska has high property taxes, the seventh highest in the country according to the Tax Foundation, which tracks such things. "Lots of land, not a lot of people," has always been the catchphrase, which translates into a higher burden of property taxes. But I almost fell out of my chair when Gov. Jim Pillen proposed, initially, to raise the state's sales taxes by two cents to achieve property tax relief. Never did I imagine that a conservative Republican governor would propose a...
As is its wont to do, U.S. News and World Report recently released its Best States "rankings," a list on which Nebraska placed third, up one spot from 2023. Only Utah and New Hampshire bested our fair environs in the best states standings. So, yes, go ahead. Yay, us! The magazine's methodology included rankings in eight primary categories: fiscal stability, opportunity, infrastructure, crime and corrections, economy, education, health care and natural environment. Each of those were subdivided...
Term limits claim 13 Nebraska state senators while two are leaving for other reasons. That'll mean 15 new faces in the nation's only one-house nonpartisan legislature come January. I've made it clear before how I feel about term limits. I don't like them. This isn't the Washington, DC, swamp. This is Nebraska, one of those mostly square states out west where it's not that hard to vote somebody out of office. It has worked for years. Then along came the two-term limit, eight years, and...
On April 18, the Legislature completed its work for this 60-day legislative session. Although the last day is typically reserved for veto overrides and closing remarks, the Legislature also took action on 15 bills remaining on Final Reading. Notably, the governor’s proposed property tax package contained in LB388 stalled when it became clear that the bill did not have the votes to break a filibuster. LB388 was then passed over on the agenda at the request of the introducing senator, meaning t...
In 2021, the last special session of the Nebraska Legislature lasted 13 days and cost the state $105,436. Do the math, that's $8,076.92 per day. Then ask yourself, is a winner-take-all election measure, which would bring Nebraska into the same fold as 48 other states, worth the money. For that matter, is a so-called solution to the state's property tax problems worth it? They're bantering the words "special session" around like it's nothing short of expected. Gov. Jim Pillen says he will call a...
It has been a very busy and productive past several months at the Nebraska Public Service Commission. As spring arrives, I wanted to share another quarterly update on the work over the past three months. I am Eric Kamler and I am your commissioner for the 4th District of the Public Service Commission, which covers 31 counties of Nebraska. The Nebraska PSC is an elected five-member statewide board that oversees several industries which affect our everyday lives including broadband internet and...
Although the Legislature was only in session for three days this week, senators were productive in moving legislation to Final Reading. This year, there was not enough time to take up every bill that was sitting on General File due to the time a bill must lay over for review by the Revisor’s Office. Much of the remaining time was spent on legislation that was on Select File or Final Reading. After the 59th day, the Legislature will be in recess for a few days to allow the governor to sign or v...
"I believe I have the votes." Those six words have become the curse of the Nebraska Legislature. The buzzkill. The harbinger of failure. Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha learned that on Day 56 of the 60-day session when her Sports and Spaces Act did little more than use up four hours of time when an attempt to end the opponent's filibuster fell two votes short. The measure fell off the agenda for good this year. Likewise, a last-ditch attempt to return Nebraska presidential elections to a...
The beginning of April brings us closer to the end of this year’s legislative session. There are many bills still left to debate and little time to consider all of the priority bills brought forward this year. The week began with the resumption of debate on the governor’s proposed property tax relief package: LB388 and LB1331. LB388 initially proposed an up-to-1% increase of the sales tax, from the current rate of 5.5% to possibly as high as 6.5%, and raising taxes and eliminating tax exe...
It's easy to understand but hard to remember that the one task of the Nebraska Legislature is to pass a balanced budget during the 90-day session and to make adjustments to and pass that budget again in the 60-day session. Mission accomplished again by the 2024 Legislature, which has a little more than a week of session left. The simple task often gets lost in the shadow of high-profile issues, such as this year's struggle to find a solution for skyrocketing property taxes. With all eyes on...
Nebraska residents should have easier access to public records under a bill that, in effect, overrules a recent Nebraska Supreme Court decision allowing the state to charge high amounts for retrieving public records. Gov. Jim Pillen signed Legislative Bill 43, adopting the First Freedom Act and new public record provisions, on Wednesday, March 27, after it unanimously passed in the Legislature, 39-0. The bill went into immediate effect due to an emergency clause. The emergency clause was added to an amendment inspired by Lincoln Sen. Danielle...
"If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all." – Thumper "The tongue of the wise makes knowledge attractive, but the mouth of fools blurts out foolishness." Proverbs 15:2 CSB Nebraska's unique one-house Legislature is back in the national spotlight again, for all the wrong reasons again. Last year it was a session-slowing filibuster accomplished by a couple senators who were upset with a bill restricting access to medical services for transgender youth. This year, it's a move seeki...
Last week, the Legislature gave final round approval to the two mid-biennium budget adjustment bills: LB1412 and LB1413. The two bills will increase the state budget by 2.7% in this two-year period, which is up from the 2.3% approved last year. The primary factor for this growth is due to an additional $94.1 million increase in state aid to schools, which accounts for actual education spending now that LB583 has taken effect. LB583 was passed last year as a revision to the TEEOSA school-funding...
This week, my personal priority bill, LB1301, was put before the Unicameral for the first stage of consideration. LB1301 would modernize our state’s existing laws relating to foreign land ownership. The bill would add greater oversight and tighten restrictions on so-called restricted entities or their agents, trustees or fiduciaries, referenced in two federal lists: the persons and entities designated by the Office of Foreign Assets Control and the six countries designated as foreign a...
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely is a proverbial saying reportedly coined by the English nobleman Lord Acton in 1857. How much power should be given to the executive branch of Nebraska state government is a topic for discussion by state lawmakers and political observers alike. Currently there are 18 code agencies, which answer to Governor Jim Pillen. The Legislature is considering measures addressing the situation. Sen Steve Erdman of Bayard wants History Nebraska (formerly...
