Friends, the legislature is doing business as usual.

Throughout the week, mornings were filled with rigorous debate, with bills making their way through the first two rounds of debate. I’d like to highlight some of the best legislation that moved on to the next round of debate:

LB16: This bill modifies the State Electrical Board with the addition of two new members. It would provide for broad reciprocal licensure for persons licensed in other states, military servicemembers, and apprentice trainees. Attorneys, certain financial and accounting professionals, engineers and architects, real estate professionals, and law enforcement officials would be excluded from some provisions of the bill. The bill would also mandate a preliminary application process for persons interested in seeking occupational licensure in Nebraska. The bill is now on to the second round of debate.

LB308: adopts the Genetic Information Privacy Act. The act safeguards the privacy, confidentiality, security, and integrity of consumer genetic data. LB308 requires express consent for the sharing, storage, and usage of consumer genetic data by direct-to-consumer genetic testing services. The bill is now on to the second round of debate.

LB184: Provides that any statements made by the child-defendant at a hearing on a motion to transfer, or any statements made by the child-defendant to a mental health professional or other expert as part of the hearing process, cannot be used against the child in any other proceedings, other than for the motion to transfer. The bill is now on to the second round of debate.

On Friday morning, the legislature held debate for LB541. The legislation allows elections for public power to become partisan. An amendment added on specifically targeted MUD and OPPD. I’m very much against legislation like this that pushes for further partisanship in our electoral system. Senator Lowe claimed that when a voter sees a D or an R attached to the person’s name that they can make an immediate judgement about who the voter sides with more. This is an incredibly reductionist take that doesn’t consider the importance of policy beliefs. Our partisan system as of now is failing to deliver adequate results for the voters of ALL states. The bill received enough votes to move on to the second round of debate unfortunately. I’ll continue to support non-partisan elections as I believe that voters deserve far better out of their politics.

State of the Judiciary Address

On Thursday the 25th, Chief Justice Mike Heavican gave the State of the Judiciary address with the other members of the Nebraska Supreme Court present. Chief Justice Heavican laid out what the Judicial branch has done to improve its staffing shortage. Heavican said, “I am happy to report that while we still have more than 100 vacancies statewide out of over 1,600 employees, we now exceed pre-pandemic staffing levels.” Due to the legislature increasing salaries in the judiciary branch, we have a judiciary that’s competitive in wages compared to other states. Chief Heavican discussed how important it is for Nebraska to continue to expand opportunities for probation, talking about how it saves Nebraskan’s tax dollars by claiming, “The average cost of incarceration in Nebraska is $41,000 per person per year, compared to the average cost of probation, which is $3,500 per person per year. Probation is the taxpayers’ friend.”

Chief Justice Heavican continued to discuss new developments within the court system, specifically problem-solving courts. These type of courts help for individuals to avoid jail time or prison time by having individuals that were found guilty of misdemeanors and lesser crimes to go through intensive community supervision, judicial interaction and rehabilitation. He noted, “Only 5% of individuals eligible for problem-solving courts in Nebraska are being served. With the correct infrastructure in place, problem-solving courts are positioned to be an ongoing and viable alternative to prison.” Chief Heavican proudly discussed the improvements with Language Access with Trial Court Services. This services isn’t just for different languages, but also helps those that are deaf or experience issues with communication. Overall, I believe the judiciary branch continues to see improvements each year, and we as legislators should continue to work with the judiciary to improve this branch of government.

Thank you for reading my weekly newsletter. If you have any questions about legislation or about state agencies, feel free to call my office at 402-471-2627. You can also contact my staff below. Have a great weekend!

Alex, Legislative Aide: amaycher@leg.ne.gov
Gabriel: Administrative Aide: ghinrichs@leg.ne.gov