What’s Happening in Your Legislature

Tuesday began the first of what will be all-day debate on bills introduced in January and those laid over from last session.

First Round of Debate
The following bills were debated on the floor last week and moved to Select File for a second round of votes

LB1131: Serves as a school cleanup bill as well as adding requirements for multicultural curriculum and adds a suicide hotline.
LB931: Changes a harvested products maximum weight overload exception under the Nebraska Rules of the Road
LB461: Repeals the requirement that common and contract motor carriers obtain certificates of public convenience and necessity before they can lawfully operate in Nebraska.
LB1042: Amends portions of the 529 savings program to expand educational opportunity for students in Nebraska.
LB803: Creates the Pulse Crop Resources Act. The act is intended to create a checkoff for pulse crops which include field peas, lentils, chickpeas, faba beans, and lupine
LB43: Adopt the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act and change certain rules of procedure
LB755: Provide for and change home services permits for barbers, cosmetology, and nail technology
LB899: Provide certain powers to public power districts relating to biofuels and biofuel byproducts
LB848: Change Columbus Day to include Indigenous People’s Day
LB247: Adopt the Advance Mental Health Care Directives Act
LB865: Change income tax provisions relating to the Nebraska educational savings plan trust and authorize employer contributions to the trust
LB797:  A city of the first class, city of the second class, or village which elects its city council or village board of trustees by district, could not annex any territory during the period from five months prior to the primary election through the general election if such annexation would bring sufficient new residents.
LB832: Provide immunity for removal of a child from a motor vehicle
LB247: Adopt the Advance Mental Health Care Directives Act
LB1152: Change licensing, cultivation, testing, transportation, violation and penalty, and powers and duties provisions relating to hemp
LB1055: Change provisions for voting by mail in certain counties

Second Round of Debate
The following bills were debated on the floor last week and moved to Final Reading for a third and final round of votes

LB944: Change provisions relating to motor vehicles
LB909: Change provisions relating to banking and finance
LB1016: Explicitly states a prohibition on retaliation against employees who file a complaint and other provisions of employment law.
LB962: Allows college athletes to earn money off their image and likeness and hire agents to help with endorsement deals.
LB996: Will ensure that the State of Nebraska is accurately represented in federal broadband grant programs, including grants from the federal Universal Service Fund, the Broadband Data Improvement Program is created.
LB344: Adopt the Animal Health and Disease Control Act to update definitions, treatments and funds devoted to animal diseases.
LB870: Change provisions relating to direct borrowing by cities and villages from financial institutions in order to fund repairs following calamities and disasters.
LB997: Avoids consumers being subjected to “surprise billing” in emergencies by out-of-network providers or facilities.
LB1061: Change the Child Protection and Family Safety Act including elimination of the sunset date, clearer definitions of response pathways for reports of child abuse and neglect.
LB1014: Creates the statutory authority for the Nebraska Department of Insurance to authorize and regulate group health insurance plans that allow self-employed individuals to participate in a multiemployer healthcare arrangement under Nebraska law
LB963: Change provisions relating to workers’ training to withstand and treatment of PTSD for first responders.
LB840: Adds the use of electronic smoking devices (Vaping) to the indoor clean air act so that vaping may not be done in public buildings and businesses

District 3 Bills Out of Committee and Onto the Floor for Debate

LB751: Provides for a mental health exception for discussion of repeated absences between school officials and guardians of students helping to destigmatize mental health in our youth.
LB745: Provides tools for law enforcement and prosecutors regarding federal forms relating to victims of violent crimes and creating a consistent program across the state.
LB755: Provides for changes to service permits to allow barbers, cosmetologists, and nail techs to go into the homes of clients with persistent conditions who are unable visit a salon/barber shop, to include caretakers as well.
LB752: Provides for a duty for the Nebraska Department of Veterans’ Affairs and the Department of Health and Human Services to better address the needs of Nebraska Veterans and their families.

Would you like to watch our floor debates live? You can do so on your smart phone with the NETCapitol app, or on your computers at netnebraska.org 

Please NOTE: If you receive our newsletter via US Mail and would like to receive a paper copy of any of the above bills, please contact our office and we will be happy to provide those documents. You can find all bills and laws online at nebraskalegislature.gov 

Did you know that there is a long list of items available free to the public relating to the Nebraska Legislature? Below is a list of only a few you may find interesting. To access these publications online, you can go to the nebraskalegislature.gov website where they can be found in the “For Citizens” section. To receive these items via mail, call our office at 402-471-2627 and we will be happy to send the requested items to your home.

The Publications:
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

UNO Women’s Policy Forum
Monday, March 2nd, The UNO School of Public Administration  hosted a Women’s Policy Forum as part of UNO’s Women and Public Policy Week and invited the women of the Nebraska Legislature to take participate. I was honored to help kick off this exciting week. The Forum’s goal was to raise awareness regarding current bills and policy issues in the Nebraska Legislature that disproportionately affect women.

Photo Credit: Ryan Soderlin, UNO

For the Love of Reading
Also on Monday, I joined other community volunteers to be a “guest reader” to students at Chandler View Elementary in Bellevue. Our job was to nurture the student’s love of reading. When finished, we had the chance to answer student questions and to share what reading has meant to us. I enjoyed reading from a biography about beloved children’s television personality, Mr. Fred Rogers. I also had the great pleasure to donate “Grace Goes to Washington” a book by Kelly DiPucchio to the school library.

Anderson Grove 4^th Graders Visit the Capitol
Wednesday I had the pleasure of welcoming 52 excited fourth graders from Bellevue’s Anderson Grove Elementary. We talked about how a bill becomes law and I shared with them that I decided I wanted to be a Nebraska Senator on the very day of my school visit in 4th grade.

Bellevue Pastor Becomes the Legislature’s Chaplain of the Day
Thursday morning Pastor Joseph Gastineau of Revival Tabernacle Church in Bellevue led the body in thoughtful prayer to begin what was a very busy day. It is always a chance to reflect upon the work we do and the lives we touch. We extend a heartfelt gratitude to the Pastor for joining us.

Pastor Gastineau and Sergeant at Arms, Laurie Klosterboer

MEET OUR TEAM

Senator Carol Blood, District 3

Dee Austin – Administrative Assistant

Oliver VanDervoort – Legislative Aide

We are here to serve the residents of District 3