We have one more day until the 107th Legislature, Second Session, ends. Through the late nights, the long weeks, and feisty legislative debates, the past sixty days flew by and we can claim many wins for District 1.

First, we passed my bill, LB 887 which would help Peru State College. Before the passage of LB 887, Peru State was the only state college limited to two different graduate programs. It did not make sense that PSC had to come to the Legislature for the approval of new programs. Now, Peru State will be able to have the flexibility they need to offer more degree programs and better serve the needs of Southeast Nebraska.

Next, LB 977 passed, appropriating $15 million dollars to Falls City to expand and strengthen its electrical grid. The electrical grid in Falls City has kept away many potential development prospects over the past couple of years and has hurt residents in the city. By investing this money into Falls City, we will be able to bring more businesses to the area, creating jobs and strengthening the economy of District 1.

In our annual budget, we allocated $5 million dollars to repair the Peru Levee. The Army Corps of Engineers designated the levee in Peru as eligible for federal funding to repair the damages from the 2019 flood. However, Peru needed to put in some local funding for this project to be successful. With the funding in the budget, Peru can bring those $ 5 million dollars to the table without having to raise taxes on its residents. Also, in our ARPA budget, we appropriated $20 million dollars to replace ambulances in rural areas. This will greatly benefit our volunteer EMTs and paramedics as they do their work to keep our communities healthy.

Finally, the Legislature passed LB 1241, which would help out rural law enforcement agencies statewide. This bill would remove the monotonous reciprocity program that out-of-state law enforcement officers must attend and replace it with a monthly reciprocity test. With this change, agencies will be able to get out-of-state officers employed more quickly. LB 1241 also included Senator Clement’s bill, LB 1270, which would adopt the Law Enforcement Attraction and Retention Act. LB 1270 would give cash bonuses to law enforcement officers in smaller agencies, which would give officers $1,500 dollars for staying with a smaller agency for one year, $2,500 dollars for staying for three years, and end at a $3,000 dollar bonus for five years of service. Although LB 1241 is a good start, there is still much to be done to help our rural law enforcement agencies and I plan on continuing my work supporting our men and women in blue.

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be highlighting some of the big wins and losses that we experienced this year. Much got done this session, but there is much more to do next year.

As always, I welcome your input on issues important to you. Follow along on my Facebook and Twitter pages, both entitled “Senator Julie Slama” for more updates, or contact me directly at Senator Julie Slama, District 1 State Capitol, PO Box 94604, Lincoln NE 68509-4604; telephone: 402-471-2733; email: jslama@leg.ne.gov. 

A couple of weeks ago, I provided an update LB 825, a tax relief bill that failed to get the necessary votes to break a filibuster. This week, the story is quite different. The same $1 billion structural tax relief package (focused on addressing our income, property, and Social Security taxes)  passed through the final round of debate this past Thursday!

First, LB 873 will lower our state’s highest individual income tax bracket rate by 1% over the course of three tax years. As mentioned a few weeks ago, most Nebraskans fall into our state’s highest tax bracket, since the threshold is only $29,000/year if you are filing single and $58,000/year if you are filing jointly. This cut will save Nebraska taxpayers over $340 million dollars each year when fully implemented.

Next, LB 873 will decrease our state’s corporate income tax rate on income in excess of $100,000 dollars by 1.41% over the next four tax years. This will put our corporate income tax rate in-line with our individual rate, which will encourage Nebraskans to start businesses in our state and attract businesses to our area. This provision will give over $415 million dollars back to our taxpayers by tax year 2026.

LB 873 also makes a number of changes to address our high property taxes. This bill creates a new income tax credit for community college property taxes, putting $195 million dollars in that income tax credit fund in tax year 2026. Also, LB 873 will set a floor for the Property Tax Credit Fund at $548 million dollars. Both of these funds, when their minimum is reached, will then continue to grow by 5% annually to provide long-term tax relief.

Finally, LB 873 completely exempts Social Security income from state taxes. Although it was the intent of the Legislature to phase out this tax by 2030, this bill will accelerate that timeline by five years, saving our retirees over $73 million dollars in tax year 2027. Because of LB 873, we have the opportunity to leave taxing Social Security payments in the past and join the 37 other states that exempt these payments.

All in all, in tax year 2026, this package totals $1.5 billion dollars in tax cuts for hardworking Nebraskans. And, although LB 873 does not go far enough for people to consider Nebraska a “low-tax” state, it is a strong start.

As always, I welcome your input on issues important to you. Follow along on my Facebook and Twitter pages, both entitled “Senator Julie Slama” for more updates, or contact me directly at Senator Julie Slama, District 1 State Capitol, PO Box 94604, Lincoln NE 68509-4604; telephone: 402-471-2733; email: jslama@leg.ne.gov.

Happy Spring, District One! We are less than one month away from the end of our legislative session, and the Legislature is starting to make a move on some pretty big bills. At the end of this week, we discussed and passed by priority bill on first round, LB 977, that would appropriate $15 million dollars to Falls City for them to secure redundant and resilient access to power.

Falls City has almost everything going for it to make it the perfect site to grow Nebraska’s economy—a ready site with access to rail, gas, fast broadband, and a large workforce within commuting distance.  In fact, it has a higher population within 100 miles than anywhere else in the state. The one thing they are missing there is access to the electrical capacity needed to grow.  

I have been working with Falls City Economic Development and Growth Enterprise (or EDGE), which has proactively secured options on more than 1000 acres of land situated next to both the BNSF and Union Pacific rail lines. The site is flanked by a natural gas pipeline and U.S. Highway 73.

Unfortunately, this site continues to lose out on potential development prospects because of our inability to secure redundant and resilient access to power.  

Not only is there no excess power to offer to a potential, transformative project, but, most concerning to me, the continuity of the electrical service they do have within the community is also challenged. Falls City has experienced numerous outages that affect the day-to-day lives of our citizens and businesses. In fact, the power went off during a recent girl’s high school district basketball game.

Without upgrades to our electrical infrastructure, there can be no growth. Falls City checks all the boxes for many potential game-changing projects, or could even serve as the location for our state’s first mega site– except they need access to electricity, and, frustratingly, they don’t have that. So they can’t compete, and they can’t grow.

As amended, LB 977 would use $15 million from the Cash Reserve Fund and transfer the money to the Site and Building Development Fund for expanding electrical system capacities and enhancing redundancy and resilience which is greatly needed. 

Because of the location of Falls City as a gateway to Nebraska, this infusion of dollars to District One will not only transform a community, but it will transform our whole state. I am ecstatic that LB 977 passed through the first round of debate, and I am excited to get this bill passed this year.

As always, I welcome your input on issues important to you. Follow along on my Facebook and Twitter pages, both entitled “Senator Julie Slama” for more updates, or contact me directly at Senator Julie Slama, District 1 State Capitol, PO Box 94604, Lincoln NE 68509-4604; telephone: 402-471-2733; email: jslama@leg.ne.gov.

We ended this week by taking up one of the most important bills that we will discuss this session– LB 825– a bipartisan compromise that would have been the biggest structural tax relief bill in Nebraska history. We came up one vote short of breaking a filibuster with 32 votes- but the proposal may come up in other bills before the end of session. This legislation would be pivotal in providing structural Social Security, Income, and Property Tax relief.

Originally, LB 825, introduced by Senator Lindstrom, would have simply exempted Social Security from state taxes. Last year, our Legislature passed a bill with the intent to phase out these burdensome taxes by the year 2030. With the passage of LB 825, the state would have shortened this window, and Social Security taxes would have been a thing of the past starting in 2025. We are currently only one of twelve states that still tax Social Security payments, making Nebraska an unattractive option for retirees.

Although LB 825 was originally intended to only eliminate our state’s Social Security tax, AM 2514 was brought to add other sustainable and much-needed tax cuts. The first of these is reducing the top individual income tax rate from 6.84% to 5.84%. Single Nebraskans only have to make $29,000/year to be considered in the highest tax bracket in our state, and married couples only have to make $58 000. Thus, most of our state falls into this highest bracket and needs relief.

LB 825 as amended by AM 2514 also would have given much-needed extra relief to the property taxpayers across our state. Under this legislation, we would have created a new refundable income tax credit for community college property taxes paid. Our current Property Tax Credit Fund only applies to the property taxes Nebraskans pay to public school districts. By expanding this fund to community college property taxes paid, we would have broadened where these income tax credits go and given more money back to our hardworking families.

Finally, AM 2514 would have incorporated a provision from another bill that sets the minimum level of the LB 1107 refundable income tax credit. In 2023, this amendment would have set the base level of the tax credit fund at $560,700,000 dollars. From there, the fund would have grown annually at the allowable growth percentage (which is based on inflation). 

During the debate on LB 825, we heard story after story of Nebraskans leaving our state because of our tax structure. Unfortunately, seventeen senators (solely from urban areas) decided that giving social security, income, and property tax relief to Nebraskans wasn’t worth the effort and couldn’t even be bothered to vote on the bill. Although extremely disappointing and a slap in the face to all Nebraska taxpayers, we will keep fighting until we get substantial tax relief and reform for our neighbors. The debate over LB 825, and the tax relief contained therein, is far from closed for this session. Stay tuned.

As always, I welcome your input on issues important to you. Follow along on my Facebook and Twitter pages, both entitled “Senator Julie Slama” for more updates, or contact me directly at Senator Julie Slama, District 1 State Capitol, PO Box 94604, Lincoln NE 68509-4604; telephone: 402-471-2733; email: jslama@leg.ne.gov.

This week, we began to discuss our state budget adjustments for the year, which are contained in three bills: LB1011, LB1012, and LB1013. Although the entire budget is too comprehensive and complex to discuss in one column, I would like to highlight some of the allocations that will directly benefit Southeast Nebraska.

First, this year’s budget adjustments will transfer $30 million to the Rural Workforce Housing Fund. This fund was first enacted in 2018 as part of the Rural Workforce Housing Investment Act and provides competitive matching grants to non-profit development organizations that administer workforce housing investment funds. The funds are invested into eligible projects that increase the supply and reduce the costs of workforce housing in Nebraska’s rural communities. Housing is scarce in rural Nebraska, and this record investment will pay dividends for Southeast Nebraska.

The proposed budget also includes a cash fund appropriation of $5 million to assist the Peru levee repair, which was destroyed in the 2019 floods. Since then, the Army Corps of Engineers has designated the Peru levee eligible for federal funding to repair the damages, but Peru needs to have local funding available upfront for this project. If this budget passes, it will help Peru to qualify for federal funds to help restore the levee and protect it from any future floods.

Finally, the budget includes significant salary increases for a variety of health care and social services-related jobs. Specifically, a total of $26 million dollars would be allocated to allow for a nursing facility provider rate increase of approximately 16%. A recent study of Nebraska nursing facility rates showed that an extra $126.9 million dollars would be needed for nursing facilities to offer competitive wages. This budget will fill in around 50% of the funding gap. Although this budget will not fill in the wage gap entirely, it will greatly benefit our nursing facilities in District 1, including Ambassador Health in Nebraska City. Our office received many calls in support of this increase, as it is long overdue. 

As always, I welcome your input on issues important to you. Follow along on my Facebook and Twitter pages, both entitled “Senator Julie Slama” for more updates, or contact me directly at Senator Julie Slama, District 1 State Capitol, PO Box 94604, Lincoln NE 68509-4604; telephone: 402-471-2733; email: jslama@leg.ne.gov.

We are two-thirds of the way through our short session. The rest of the session is going to fly by, and we are all eager to get legislation passed that helps our districts and all Nebraskans.

My priority bill, LB 977, is a historic infrastructure investment for District 1. This bill would invest $15 million to Falls City for an upgrade to their electrical grid. Falls City has missed out on many economic opportunities because of its electrical grid, and many residents have had frequent power outages. During the pandemic, when everyone was at home, this issue only worsened. By investing in this upgrade, we will add redundancy and reliability for Falls City’s electrical system and provide the infrastructure necessary to draw new businesses to Richardson County. This will create countless job opportunities for our District 1 residents, and strengthen our economy. 

This week, LB 977 was advanced unanimously out of the Appropriations Committee and placed on the floor for General File. I am eager to keep working on this bill until it gets across the finish line. Our district deserves the same access to reliable, growth-oriented infrastructure as our large cities.

LB 887, my bill to expand Peru State’s master’s degree offerings, advanced to final reading without objection. The Appropriations Committee-approved budget also included $5 million to repair Peru’s levee, still damaged from the 2019 floods. This has been a very strong session in the Legislature for Southeast Nebraska.

The biggest news from our Legislature this week relates to our gun rights. Sen. Brewer’s Constitutional Carry bill, LB 773, faced an eight-hour filibuster from Thursday to Friday. On Friday morning, LB 773 received 33 votes to advance to the second round of debate. Once LB 773 received the necessary 33 votes to end the filibuster, three senators- Blood, Day, and McCollister- switched their votes from “Present, Not Voting” or “No” to “Yes.”

Fortunately, enough senators support our Second Amendment right to bear arms and voted to end the filibuster. We have a long few weeks in front of us, but I promise to you that I will continue advocating for our district and working to grow the Good Life in Southeast Nebraska.

As always, I welcome your input on issues important to you. Follow along on my Facebook and Twitter pages, both entitled “Senator Julie Slama” for more updates, or contact me directly at Senator Julie Slama, District 1 State Capitol, PO Box 94604, Lincoln NE 68509-4604; telephone: 402-471-2733; email: jslama@leg.ne.gov.

This week marked the last week of hearings for the 107th Legislature. Next week, we will begin full-day floor debates. Previously, during hearing days, we had floor debates in the mornings and hearings in the afternoon. This column will highlight four of my bills that advanced this week during morning debate.

First, the Legislature debated and advanced LB 887 on Tuesday. This bill would authorize Peru State to offer more graduate programs, along with making minor changes to the Nebraska State College System statutes. Peru State College is the only state college or university that must come to the Legislature for approval of new advanced degree programs. It is high time that Peru State gets the flexibility to offer more degree programs so they can better serve the needs of Southeast Nebraska. LB 887 advanced on a 37-0 vote to the second-round debate.

Last year, I introduced LB 204, which would add sex trafficking and sex trafficking of a minor to the Sex Offender Registry. This is a common-sense bill that would allow Nebraska to treat sex trafficking the same as we treat other sex crimes. LB 204 was amended into Senator Pansing Brooks’s LB 1246 on Wednesday and the bill passed with a 41-0 vote. It is also onto the second round of debate.

Finally, the Legislature advanced two of my bills, LB 846 and LB 1017 on Thursday. LB 846 would allow a bank board of directors to submit its annual audit to the Department of Banking within 120 days after the end of the calendar year. The current requirement is 90 days. This bill was recommended to me by several banks in District 1. LB 1017 would authorize a trustee to pay or reimburse a settlor for income tax liability that arises as a result of income earned on assets held in trust. These two bills were part of a larger banking package of bills, LB 707, which passed on a 36-0 vote.

The rest of session will fly by, considering there are only 24 more legislative days left. Starting next week, we will go into full-day floor debate, with evening debates starting in two weeks and covering issues from Constitutional Carry to providing more property tax relief. Let’s get to work!

As always, I welcome your input on issues important to you. Follow along on my Facebook and Twitter pages, both entitled “Senator Julie Slama” for more updates, or contact me directly at Senator Julie Slama, District 1 State Capitol, PO Box 94604, Lincoln NE 68509-4604; telephone: 402-471-2733; email: jslama@leg.ne.gov. 

This week, on February 24th, the Judiciary Committee heard three pieces of pro-life legislation– LB 933, LB 1086, and my LB 781. These three bills will protect the most innocent among us from murder.

LB 933, introduced by Senator Albrecht will completely erase the scourge of abortion in our state after the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. Currently, eight states have abortion bans that were in place prior to Roe. When Roe is overturned, abortion will be illegal again in these states. Since the State of Nebraska repealed our abortion ban in response to the Roe decision, we now need to join the twelve states that have laws in place that will ban abortion when Roe is overturned. LB 933 would do just that as a “trigger bill.”

Senator Geist’s LB 1086 would protect both women and babies from the dangerous drugs that induce abortions by adopting regulations to these prescriptions. These regulations include an in-person screening of women before dispensing the drug, a follow-up after abortion appointment to ensure treatment for serious complications, and a prohibition of sending abortion-inducing drugs through the mail. This bill would also require abortion providers to report any complications that occur due to the abortion-inducing drugs. Finally, LB 1086 would prohibit physicians from providing abortion-inducing drugs to women who are more than seven weeks pregnant because, by this time, the risk of complications to the woman is dramatically increased. 70%  of abortions in Nebraska are committed using these underregulated drugs. LB 1086 would protect women from harm, and save countless lives in the meantime.

LB 781 is my Heartbeat Bill. This piece of legislation requires an ultrasound be performed before an abortion to determine whether a fetal heartbeat is detectable. If a heartbeat is detected, this bill would make it illegal to perform an abortion. We often hear of the emotion parents feel when they get to hear their baby’s heartbeat for the first time. When we hear his sound, we know that we are listening to the rhythm of life coming from a tiny human being in his or her earliest moments. This bill is in response to what we all know to be true– at just 6 weeks gestation, a baby’s heart is formed and beating. Abortion stops this beating heart and kills that baby. 

Abortion has killed over 63 million babies nationwide since Roe v. Wade, and over 200,000 here in Nebraska. Nebraska is a pro-life state, and it’s long overdue that our laws reflect it. In addition to these bills, we must continue to support pro-life and pro-family policies to streamline adoption and support women and families.

As always, I welcome your input on issues important to you. Follow along on my Facebook and Twitter pages, both entitled “Senator Julie Slama” for more updates, or contact me directly at Senator Julie Slama, District 1 State Capitol, PO Box 94604, Lincoln NE 68509-4604; telephone: 402-471-2733; email: jslama@leg.ne.gov.

We will officially be halfway through our legislative session on February 23rd. This column will highlight some of the bills that I presented to committees in the past couple of weeks that will directly benefit rural Nebraska and District One.

First, LB 942 was heard in front of the Judiciary Committee on February 10th. This bill would help our rural law enforcement agencies by changing some of the certification requirements for rural law enforcement officers. This is in response to the negative effect last year’s LB 51 had on our rural law enforcement agencies. LB 942 is still in committee and has not yet been voted on.

On Valentine’s Day, I introduced three different bills to three different committees. The first committee was Education, where I introduced LB 887, a bill that would authorize Peru State College to offer graduate programs. Currently, Wayne and Chadron State are able to offer a wide variety of graduate programs, while Peru State is only able to provide master’s programs in two different areas. LB 887 has already been voted out of the Education Committee unanimously and is currently on General File.

I also introduced LB 1110 to the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee on the 14th, which would make ATVs and UTVs street-legal statewide. This bill would be a huge benefit to our rural communities where many people use side-by-sides just as much as they do cars. There is no reason why Nebraskans should be labeled as criminals for driving their preferred vehicles, especially when we already allow the use of bikes on our state highways. The committee has not voted on LB 1110 yet, but I am hopeful to see what happens with this bill.

The last of the Valentine’s Day bills was LB 1210, a bill before the Appropriations Committee that would give American Rescue Plan (ARPA) dollars to revitalize main street businesses in rural areas across the state. This ten million dollar investment would allow businesses located in old, historical buildings to do any structural work they might need. It also would promote businesses moving into these downtown areas that are vital to our rural communities. So much money goes to Lincoln and Omaha, and it is time that we are able to invest in our small towns.

Finally, just this past Thursday, the Appropriations Committee held a hearing on LB 977, a bill that would allocate ARPA dollars to Falls City to help them upgrade their electrical infrastructure. Falls City has almost everything going for it to be the next site to grow Nebraska’s economy. However, their electrical grid has kept away many potential development prospects because of their inability to secure reliable access to power. By investing ARPA dollars in this program, we will be able to bring more business to Richardson County, creating countless jobs and strengthening our district’s economy as a whole.

As always, I welcome your input on issues important to you. Follow along on my Facebook and Twitter pages, both entitled “Senator Julie Slama” for more updates, or contact me directly at Senator Julie Slama, District 1 State Capitol, PO Box 94604, Lincoln NE 68509-4604; telephone: 402-471-2733; email: jslama@leg.ne.gov.