Sen. Lavon Heidemann
Sen. Lavon Heidemann
District 01

Legislative Update

February 24th, 2012

The legislative session has hit the half-way mark. February 21 was Day 30 in this 60-day legislative session, which is scheduled to adjourn on April 12. The public hearing process is finished, with full-day sessions scheduled to begin on February 27. Senators will spend the remainder of this session discussing priority bills and budgetary issues.

Holdrege Senator Tom Carlson introduced a constitutional amendment that would alter the term limit provision for state senators. Currently, senators are limited to two consecutive terms or eight years. LR 358 CA would ask voters if term limits should be extended to three consecutive terms or twelve years. LR 358 CA was given first-round approval this past week on a 30-12 vote. This proposed constitutional amendment must be approved two more times by the Legislature before it goes to a vote of the people. Thirty votes are required for passage by the Legislature.

Voters approved several constitutional amendments for term limits in the 1990′s, only to be thrown out by court decisions. The current version was passed in 2000 and took effect in 2006. Nebraska is now one of 15 states that limit the terms of senators. During the 1990′s, 21 states restricted the length of service of lawmakers, but since that time several laws have been thrown out by courts and other states have repealed their restrictions.

Supporters of lengthened term limits stress the value of experience and historical knowledge that accumulates over the years. They claim that the executive branch and the lobby have more power over inexperienced lawmakers and point out that voters have the ultimate power in the voting booth to elect their representative of choice. Opponents of LR 358 CA argue that the voters made a decision and the Legislature should not attempt to alter the constitution just 6 years after term limits went into effect.

Currently students can legally drop out of school with the notarized consent of a parent or guardian at the age of 16. LB 996, introduced by Senator John Wightman of Lexington, would remove this option, thereby requiring students to remain in school until graduation. Although this may sound like a good idea, as lawmakers want to encourage every student to graduate, it also did raise some concerns. If students don’t want to be in school, teachers will have to deal with behavioral issues, which takes time away from students who are ready to learn. LB 996 received first-round approval, but the sponsor agreed to work on an amendment prior to the second round of debate that would help prevent students from dropping out, without taking away the exception that is available for parents.

This past week, it was learned that KVC will no longer provide case management and related services for children and their families in the child welfare system effective March 1. In 2009, the Department of Health and Human Services began the process of privatizing child welfare services in the state. It has been a rocky road that began with the Department contracting with 5 lead agencies. With the recent announcement, only one lead agency remains – Nebraska Families Collaborative (NFC). NFC will now provide child welfare case management services for all children and families in the eastern service area, including Douglas and Sarpy counties, taking over the portion that was previously served by KVC. The Department will resume their role in the southeast service area of the state.

The Department of Health and Human Services and NFC have stated that they plan to keep many of the KVC workers, in an effort to prevent additional disruptions in caseworkers for children and their families in the system. The Department has also vowed to reduce caseloads to an average of one worker for every 16 children. Prior to privatization, the average worker caseload had been one worker for every 23 children. Although the instability throughout this process for children and their families has been unfortunate, the reduction in caseload size is a significant change and will be a critical factor in the success of the child welfare system.

The Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee conducted a very thorough interim study last fall. The recommendations from the interim study, as well as the introduction of several bills, were intended to provide a bridge to the future of child welfare reform. Five bills that pertain to child welfare have been prioritized, two by the Health and Human Services Committee, two by the Legislative Performance Audit Committee and one by Senator Kathy Campbell, the chair of the Health and Human Services Committee. This will assure that child welfare is a top priority during the remainder of this legislative session.

I encourage you to contact me with your thoughts and opinions on the bills currently before the Legislature. I can be reached at District #1, P.O. Box 94604, State Capitol, Lincoln, NE 68509. My email address is lheidemann@leg.ne.gov and my telephone number is (402) 471-2733.

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Legislative Update

February 16th, 2012

Senators are allowed to choose one legislative bill as their individual priority bill. Legislative committees are allowed to choose two bills and the Speaker of the Legislature is allowed to designate up to 25 bills as Speaker priority bills. Senators and committees had to select their priority bills by February 16 and the Speaker will announce his selections on February 21. After this date, generally only bills with priority status are placed on the agenda. Bills without priority status usually aren’t discussed by the Legislature unless they are noncontroversial and are placed on the consent calendar list or are amended into another bill with priority status.

LB 970, which is the Governor’s proposal to reduce individual income tax rates, widen tax brackets, reduce the top corporate income tax rate, and eliminate the inheritance tax, was prioritized by Senator Beau McCoy of Omaha. This bill is still being held in the Revenue Committee and some committee members have expressed opposition to the repeal of the inheritance tax, as it could result in property tax increases in counties across the state. Whether the income tax reductions could be sustainable long-term is still a matter of discussion.

Assuring that child welfare is a priority issue for this session, the Health and Human Services Committee designated LB 961 and LB 821 as their priority bills. With the recent privatization of child welfare, many issues have arisen and it is my hope, as well as the committee’s, that these issues are resolved during this legislative session.

LB 599 deals with the controversial issue of whether women that are in the country illegally should have access to prenatal care under the Medicaid program. Lincoln Senator Amanda McGill designated LB 599 as her priority bill. Previously, the status of the unborn child, not the mother, was used to determine eligibility. A couple years ago, it was determined that this practice was in violation of federal rules and prenatal coverage was dropped for these women. LB 599 would allow the state to provide prenatal coverage through the Children’s Health Insurance program, known as Kids Connection.

Senator Tom Carlson of Holdrege designated a proposed constitutional amendment as his priority bill. If passed by the Legislature, it would allow Nebraska residents to vote on whether term limits should be lengthened. Currently, Nebraska senators are limited to two terms in office or eight years. LR 358 would allow office holders to remain in office for three terms or twelve years.

LB 913, designated by Senator Greg Adams of York as his priority bill, would change the school finance formula for school districts. The chair of the Education Committee introduced this bill due to his concern that the future double digit increases projected in the state aid formula for schools are not sustainable.

Omaha Senator Brad Ashford selected LB 357 for the second year in a row as his priority bill. It would allow a municipality to impose a sales tax of up to two percent. Current law allows local option sales tax rates of up to one and one-half percent. Cities could only use this additional authority if voters approved it.

Two senators designated bills pertaining to oil pipelines as their priority bills. This was the issue discussed in the Special Session called last November pertaining to the proposed route of the Keystone XL Pipeline. LB 845, designated as a priority by Cedar Rapids Senator Kate Sullivan, would require a pipeline carrier to complete final grading, topsoil replacement, installation of erosion control structures, seeding and mulching within 30 days after back-fill, unless certain circumstances occurred. Papillion Senator Jim Smith selected LB 1161 as his priority bill. It would permit the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality to study and evaluate routes for oil pipelines across the state. LB 1161 was introduced to serve as a vehicle for legislation that may be needed as the pipeline proposal evolves on the federal level.

I chose LB 1061 as my priority bill. It proposes to reduce the valuation of agricultural land for school district taxation purposes by 2% per year for five years. One of the reasons why I ran for the Legislature 8 years ago was because I wanted to do something about high property taxes for rural landowners. This bill would be a first step in resolving the problem.

These are just a few of the bills that have been given priority status. I encourage you to contact me with your opinions on these bills and others that has been selected as priority bills. I can be reached at District #1, P.O. Box 94604, State Capitol, Lincoln, NE 68509. My e-mail address is lheidemann@leg.ne.gov and my telephone number is (402) 471-2733.

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Legislative Update

February 10th, 2012

I introduced a bill in the Revenue Committee this past week that proposed to decrease the valuation of agricultural land from 75% to 65% over a 5-year period for school district taxation purposes. Under LB 1061, the value of agricultural land would remain at 75% for other taxation purposes, such as counties, NRDs, etc., assuring that these political subdivisions would not experience a reduction in their property tax revenue. By decreasing the valuation of agricultural land for school taxation purposes, it would trigger an increase in equalization aid to school districts that contain agricultural land.

Farmers represent a small percentage of the state’s population but shoulder a significant portion of the property tax burden. Even though farmers and ranchers are funding a disproportionate part of our rural school districts, all residents benefit equally from having their children educated in our public schools. Furthermore, since agricultural land values are increasing more rapidly than residential or commercial property, it enhances the problem and places an increasingly heavy burden on farmers and ranchers to fund our K-12 schools.

The number of school districts that are non-equalized is increasing at an alarming pace. Non-equalized means that the district doesn’t qualify for state equalization aid because their resources, primarily the valuation of land within the district, are greater than their needs. When I began my service in the Legislature, there were 46 non-equalized school districts. For this school year, 95 school districts are non-equalized. I think it is very disappointing when more than a third of the school districts in the state don’t qualify for state equalization aid, yet the cost for the state aid system for K-12 schools is projected to increase by an average of 15% per year over the next two years. LB 1061 would help reverse this trend, allowing some school districts to regain their equalized status.

Representatives from the Nebraska Farm Bureau, the Nebraska Cattlemen and the Nebraska Soybean Association all testified in support of LB 1061. They agreed that our current state aid system relies too heavily on property taxes to fund our K-12 schools and noted that LB 1061 would be a first step in resolving this problem.

The Appropriations Committee released their preliminary report this past week. It shows that the financial picture for the current biennium has actually improved since the Legislature last met. The variance from the minimum General Fund reserve increased from $3.2 million to $63.2 million. Although the current budget is balanced at the present time, the projection for the following biennium (fiscal year 2013-2015) is not as positive. The current financial status shows a projected balance of $343 million below the minimum reserve for the 2013-15 biennium. (This figure does not reflect the Governor’s proposal for income tax reductions.) The projected negative figure is due to a structural imbalance, reflecting that our predicted appropriations are greater than our projected revenues. The Economic Forecasting Board will meet on February 24 and the Appropriations Committee will use their forecast to base our final budget recommendations on.

I encourage you to contact me with your comments and opinions on the various bills that are before the Legislature. I can be reached at District #1, P.O. Box 94604, State Capitol, Lincoln, NE 68509. My e-mail address is lheidemann@leg.ne.gov and my telephone number if (402) 471-2733.

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Legislative Update

February 3rd, 2012

It’s been a busy week in the Appropriations Committee hearing room. On Monday afternoon and evening, the Appropriations Committee heard approximately seven hours of testimony on health and human services issues. Providers of health care urged the committee to restore last year’s 2.5% cut in provider rates, as well as oppose the mid-biennium reductions to Medicaid and other health-related programs, as proposed by the Governor.

The majority of the testifiers at Monday’s hearing were present to support LB 952, which was introduced by Omaha Senator Jeremy Nordquist, in response to a December letter from Vivianne Chaumont, director of the Division of Medicaid & Long-Term Care, with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. In the letter, Ms. Chaumont laid out her division’s plan for Medicaid reform. Co-payments would increase from $1 to $2 on visits for physical, speech and occupational therapies and would increase to $50 for non-emergency visits to the ER. Home health services would be limited to 240 hours per year and private duty nursing services would be eliminated. In order to receive Personal Assistance Services, clients would be required to meet the nursing facility level of care and would be limited to 3.5 hours per day or 60 hours per month. Oral nutritional supplements would be eliminated and behavioral health therapy visits would be limited to 60 per year. Further cuts were outlined should the federal budget crisis create across the board cuts to the Medicaid program. The intent of LB 952 is to prohibit the implementation of these proposed cuts to the Medicaid program for the remainder of the 2011-13 biennium.

Supporters of LB 952, many who were disabled themselves or who brought their severely disabled children with them to the hearing, testified that such costs could lead to more institutionalized care, which could cost more in the long run. Ms. Chaumont pointed out that during 2011, 237,000 Nebraskans received Medicaid funding, up 11,000 from 2010. She explained that some changes must be made in order to ensure that Medicaid remains a viable program for meeting the basic health needs of Nebraskans into the future.

On Tuesday, January 31, Scottsbluff Senator John Harms, the vice chair of the Appropriations Committee, introduced LB 1019. This bill proposes to appropriate $13.7 million to Chadron State College for the renovation of the Armstrong Gymnasium and $8.6 million to Peru State College for renovation of the Oak Bowl. I am a co-sponsor of LB 1019. I recently invited Senator Harms to tour Peru State College. In his testimony he spoke of the dire condition of the Oak Bowl, in the midst of an impressive campus, and his concern with safety and liability issues with the current facility. He stressed the need for improvements to assist in the recruitment of students and the overall reflection of the campus, as well as the benefit to the community.

On Thursday, February 2, the Appropriations Committee held a public hearing on the four bills brought forth on behalf of the University of Nebraska as part of their legislative initiative entitled “Building a Healthier Nebraska”. LB 1089 seeks an appropriation of $50 million for the construction of a new cancer research facility at UNMC. LB 1055 would appropriate $19 million for the construction of a new facility for the Kearney Division of the College of Nursing and LB 1065 asks for $17 million for the construction of a new facility for the Lincoln Division of the College of Nursing. LB 1066 proposes an additional $5 million for the planning and architectural design of a new veterinary diagnostic laboratory facility at the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. A separate request for approximately $50 million would be made in the future for the construction of the new center. Altogether, these four bills would require an initial investment of $91 million. The University has suggested that the funding be taken from the state’s cash reserve fund. Private donations and other sources would account for approximately $300 million of the $441 million capital initiative.

This is the first time in several years that the state has more funds available than required by the minimum statutory reserve. Therefore, the Governor has proposed income tax cuts and we are seeing requests for funding for projects that have been delayed due to years of budget cuts. All of these proposals have their merits. However, the members of the Appropriations Committee will have to prioritize and determine what proposals will fit not only into this year’s budget, but will be sustainable in future years.

I encourage you to contact me with your thoughts and opinions on these proposals as well as others that are before the Legislature. I can be reached at District #1, P.O. Box 94604, State Capitol, Lincoln, NE 68509. My email address is lheidemann@leg.ne.gov and my telephone number is (402)471-2733.

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