This past week was an important one for me, as one of the bills that I expect to make part of my final priority bill was heard. On Wednesdayafternoon, the judiciary committee had its hearing on LB695. LB695 has to deal with making sure the state is recognizing smart contracts, secured using digital ledger technology, in the same manner as it does other legally binding contracts. Before the hearing, I had a press conference as a way to raise awareness on how important this bill and my other Blockchain/Digital Ledger bill, LB694 , are going to be to the state. We had other senators, members of the business community and technology experts all come and speak.

LB695 is about keeping the state up to date in innovation. This bill allows for smart contracts to be accepted in the state as official documents. There are a growing number of people around the world who are using smart contracts because they are all online while being incredibly secure. Further, they execute automatically, without an inherent bias towards one party or another. When the terms of a contract are met, the people involved in that contract know they are going to be getting exactly what was agreed upon. There isn’t a concern of someone backing out of the deal or changing the terms at the last minute.

Thursday, I sat on the Government committee as we heard about Senator Murante’s voter ID bill, LB1066. While I certainly agree that we need to keep our elections safe and secure, I don’t believe we need to be spending over 3 million dollars during a time when our budget is in crisis. Senator Murante’s “solve” could disenfranchise voters all in the name of stopping a form of voter fraud that no one has been able to prove exists in the State of Nebraska. I have special concern for our senior citizens who no longer drive.  Nebraska has safeguards in place that have done very well and been quite effective. This is why we have such a low rate of fraud.  I listened intently during the hearing to both sides and came away confident this is a bill that we don’t need and would cause more problems than solutions.

Friday is a recess day so I am spending the day back in my district. We’re right back at it on Monday, which is the 25th day of the session. We’re moving ever closer to the halfway point of the session and there’s still lots to do.

If you have any questions about my bills or any legislation in front of the legislature, please don’t hesitate to email or call my office at cblood@leg.ne.gov or 402-471-2627.

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Mark your calendars District 3 and District 45. Senator Sue Crawford and I will be partnering together for the second year in a row to do a combined City Hall at the Bellevue Public Library on Saturday, February 17th at 10:00 a.m. We will discuss our bills and highlight legislation that may be of interest to our residents. It’s free to the public and all are welcome.
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Did you know that there is a long list of items available for free to the public relating to the Nebraska Legislature? Here is a list of only a few that you might find interesting. If you are receiving this email digitally, you should be able to link to the information from your newsletter.

1. Unicameral Update
2. About the Legislature
3. Unicam Kids
4. Inside Our Nation’s Only Unicameral
5. Poster of Nebraska Senators
6. Membership & Committees Card
7. Lines of Government

Some of these links have documents that can be printed. If you would like a hard copy of one or more of these documents, please call my office at 402-471-2627 and we will be happy to place it in the mail to your home address.