Your Week 6 Legislative Update

Friends,

This past week at the legislature has been business as usual. Bills that were debated on the floor didn’t receive much ire as the majority were “clean-up” bills or pieces of legislation that aren’t considered to be controversial.

Some of the more interesting pieces of legislation that were debated on the floor this past week were:

LB143: This bill, originally introduced by Senator Tom Briese and now sponsored by Senator Danielle Conrad, would provide for year-round daylight saving time. The bill failed to make the next round of debate.

LB140: This bill, introduced by Senator Tom Brandt, provides for Czexh heritage license plates. With my maiden name being Vacek and knowing a little Czech myself, I am very happy to see this piece of legislation passed and was signed by the governor on Thursday.

LB285: This bill, introduced by Senator Lynne Walz, adopts the School Community Eligibility Provision Maximization Act. The act would require highly-eligible schools and districts in Nebraska to participate in CEP (Community Eligibility Provision), adding approximately 43 school / meal sites to the program and providing nearly 12,500 students access to no-cost meals at school. The bill is now on to the second round of debate.

My priority bill, LB829 passed the first round of debate on Tuesday morning. This bill seeks to end a loophole that insurance companies use in order to get out of coverage for colonoscopy screenings. This will help to reduce waste in the healthcare system and will allow patients to not be worried about coverage with the removal of polyps or other possible harmful entities.

On Thursday, I introduced LB822 to the Health and Human Services Committee. LB822 would have the State of Nebraska join the Social Workers Licensure Compact. This interstate compact will be enacted once 7 states join the compact. Interstate compacts are an incredibly important way to address the healthcare workforce shortage we are experiencing in Nebraska. In Nebraska, 29 counties don’t even have a licensed social worker and 88 of 93 counties are experiencing a shortage of licensed behavioral health professionals.. The compact reduces the licensure application time to process if a licensed social worker relocated from a member compact state. Compact member states share a database that includes disciplinary information and any pending investigations a licensed professional may have.

LB822 will make it easier for military families and others to come work in Nebraska without having to go through the whole licensing process again. The legislation allows telehealth services to occur in any member state of the compact. The hearing went well, with no opposition to the bill. Thank you to each person that wrote online comments in support for the bill.

Thank you for being subscribed to my weekly newsletter! If you know a friend or family member that is interested in receiving this newsletter, please have them contact my staff below. If you have any questions on legislation or about the legislature, you can call my office at 402-471-2627 or email my staff below.

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