Note from Meg

Dear friends and neighbors,

On March 3rd, after weeks of passionate hearings and testimony, the committee hearings came to a close. The legislature has now moved to all-day floor debate – beginning with priority bill selections. I hope you continue to stay in touch with me on any issue that is of importance to you throughout this process.

Each Senator is allowed to designate one bill as a personal priority bill and each committee can designate two committee priority bills. In addition, the Speaker designates another 25 priority bills. This session I have prioritized LB121 – a bill that would remove the lifetime ban on SNAP eligibility for people with certain drug convictions. I requested LB932 as a priority bill from Speaker Hilgers. This bill would require the Department of Health and Human Services to notify foster youth and their guardians of their social security benefits. Unfortunately, Speaker Hilgers did not select this bill as one of his priority bills.

A big focus of mine this session has been opposing bills that do not represent the values Nebraskans hold dear. These bills include- LB939, LB1023, LB1015 among others. LB939 would reduce taxes for Nebraska’s highest individual earners while doing nothing for the majority of Nebraskans; LB1023 would appropriate $200 million of federal pandemic recovery funds to build a lake between Omaha and Lincoln when this money should be used for the services Nebraskans are asking us for such as rental assistance, mental healthcare, etc.; and LB1015 would use American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to build a canal that would divert South Platte River water from Colorado to Nebraska. This bill is in search of a problem as Colorado has not violated the water compact agreement between them and Nebraska. The canal will cost $500 million dollars with $100 million coming from ARPA funds. LB1023 and LB1015 would both use relief funds irresponsibly. We need your support in defeating these four bills.

As all-day floor debate continues, your voice matters. To learn how to submit online comments, click here. Since committee hearings have ceased this session, online comments will not be included on the official record. However, feedback is still relevant and important as bills progress.

All the best,
Meg

Legislative Update

• LB121: Lift SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) ban for people with drug convictions
  • This ban only applies to individuals with drug-related felonies.
  • Many people did not find out that they were banned from receiving SNAP until they were in desperate need of the service during the pandemic.
  • These individuals have served their time and should not be deprived of essential services. Everyone deserves access to food.
  • Nebraska is the only state with this ban.
  • Placed on General File
  • My priority bill
• AM2200: Require DHHS (Department of Health and Human Services) to inform foster youth and their guardians of social security benefits
  • After an interim study this past session, we discovered that DHHS in Nebraska does not inform foster youth or their guardians of possible social security benefits they are entitled to.
  • DHHS often was using these funds that were meant for the foster youth to pay for the cost of their care.
  • My bill would require that the foster youth and their guardian(s) are notified of their benefits.
  • AM 2200 to LB1173
  • Advanced to Final Reading
• LB1137: Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) update for the Fair Pay to Play Act
  • College athletes deserve to be compensated for their name, image, and likeness. This would be a technical update to the Fair Pay to Play Act that was passed into law in 2020.
  • Placed on Select File
• LB357: Youth in Care Bill of Rights
  • Foster youth are already required to be informed of their basic rights, however foster youth and advocates have expressed that the rights that are currently enumerated are not broad enough nor are they communicated in a way that the youth can retain or fully understand.
  • This bill would provide the foster youth with a more comprehensive list of rights and an avenue for them to file a complaint if they feel as though their rights have been violated.
  • Placed on General File
• LB250: Adopt the Interior Design Voluntary Registration Act
  • Currently in Nebraska, interior designers are required to hire an architect or an engineer to stamp their design plans; thus, causing unnecessary fees and delays in their project.
  • This is a bill to create a voluntary registration to be administered to the Nebraska State Treasurer for those qualified interior designers in Nebraska to use the title “Registered Interior Designer”. Those registered would have the ability to stamp and seal their interior design construction documents.
  • Placed on General File with AM471

Bills to Watch

Bills I Support

• LB920 (Lathrop): Create the Justice Reinvestment Oversight Task Force
  • The task force would enact a series of evidence-based strategies to reduce inmate population and lower recidivism rates.
• LB872 (Brewer): Allows Native American students to proudly wear their tribal regalia
  • Requires that Native American students shall not be forced to remove items of tribal regalia at school or school-sanctioned events.
• AM1969 (Hansen, M.): Require the Governor to apply for emergency rental assistance under ARPA
  • Nebraska is one of two states who have not yet applied for emergency rental assistance from the federal American Rescue Plan Act.
  • This amendment would require Governor Ricketts to apply for this emergency rental assistance.

Bills I Oppose

• LB939 (Linehan): A tax break for wealthy Nebraskans
  • Cuts taxes for wealthy Nebraskans, but fails to provide any significant relief for middle to lower-class Nebraskans.
• LB773 (Brewer): Concealed Carry without a permit
  • Removes the requirement for one to receive a permit to conceal carry a handgun which in turn means people will not have to take a safety class before doing so.
• LB730 (Lindstrom): Tax credit bill amended to include Opportunity Scholarship tax credit
  • Puts in place a tax incentive that would match dollar-for-dollar donations to private schools.
• LB1213 (Albrecht): Provides requirements for access to digital and online materials for public schools. Restricts access to “obscene” materials.
  • This is a bill in search of a problem. Obscene is never defined in the bill leaving it up to interpretation which could restrict academic freedom for students. It also takes control away from the library commission and educators who are already filtering online content.
• LB933 (Albrecht): Bans abortions entirely if SCOTUS overturns Roe
  • Makes it so that if the Supreme Court of the United States overturns all or part of Roe, Nebraska law will reflect that decision immediately.
• LB1086 (Geist): Put unnecessary restrictions on medication abortions
  • Requires the patient who is taking the medication abortion to partake in pre and post appointments which are not medically unnecessary. This bill also shortens the window you can take the medication down from 11 weeks to 10 weeks. Both of these requirements go against the standard of care of abortion services.

February/March in Review

On March 4th I had the pleasure of speaking at the National Art Education Foundation’s National Conference Panel about my help with defeating LB364, the opportunity tax credit bill. I discussed how this bill is an effort to undermine public schools and chip away at public schools to move towards privatization.

The Nebraska Civic Leaders Program (NCLP) held a Senator panel on March 10th. This program is a partnership between Omaha Public Schools and the University of Nebraska Omaha to give high schoolers hands-on experiences on how government works at all levels. I had the opportunity to speak on my experience as a State Senator in Nebraska.

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