Full-day floor debate underway at statehouse

The legislature has wrapped up most committee hearings, and began half-day floor debate this week. Full-day floor debate will begin next week. In the meantime, committees are voting on which bills will be moved on to general file. By the time you read this, most priority designations will have been announced. The determination by individual senators, committees and the speaker as to which bills get a priority designation is extremely important, as bills without a priority designation will likely not reach the legislative floor for debate. Each senator gets one individual priority designation, each standing committee gets two and the speaker gets twenty-five. Needless to say, there has been considerable behind-the-scenes discussions on the issue of priority designations.

As chair of the General Affairs Committee, I’ve designated two committee priorities. One is a package of alcohol related bills designed to help our small businesses recover from the impact of the pandemic. The other committee priority is a package of my LB 560 amended into my LB 561. The amended LB 561 recognizes that when Nebraskans overwhelmingly approved games of chance at racetrack casinos and the property tax relief it will provide, they approved sports betting. It further sets some parameters and limitations around the operation of those casinos.

Negotiations are ongoing to get additional bills to the floor. Senator Geist has prioritized my LB 408, which limits property tax increases to no more than 3% annually. As a result, LB 408 will be debated on the floor of the legislature, most likely sooner rather than later.

I will be announcing my personal priority this week. One of several bills I will try to get to the floor is my LB 79, which would provide additional dollars to the Property Tax Credit Fund. Another bill that needs to get to the floor is my LB 139, which would provide covid-related liability protections for our business, education, and health care community, along with everyone else. I will be working to get these and other bills to the floor. The next couple of days will determine how it all plays out.

Additionally, I’m happy to announce that my bill to expand tuition credits to members of the military reserves, LB 4, was advanced to final reading last week. That means that it has passed two of the three necessary rounds of voting before heading to the Governor for his signature. If passed, it would take effect 90 days after the end of the 2021 Legislative session.

As always, you can reach me at [email protected] or by calling my office at (402)471-2631.