Dear friends and neighbors,

Below you can find a brief overview of each of the bills I have introduced for 2021, as well as a few of the nearly 80 proposals I am co-sponsoring with my colleagues.

The text of these bills is available on the Nebraska Legislature’s website. This is a great tool to use to find information on hearing dates, the progress of a bill, and other relevant documents. If you are interested in testifying on any bills, you can find an overview of the process here. Note that this year, written testimony will need to be submitted by noon the day before the bill’s hearing, a change from 5 pm in previous years. Guidance on hearings may continue to change depending on COVID-19, but I will make sure that you hear of any changes and are able to testify on the bills that matter to you.

All the best,
Meg

2021 Legislative Agenda

LB 120 – Prohibit discrimination based upon sexual orientation and gender identity

• While the Supreme Court Bostock v. Clayton County case held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees against this, it is still essential to pass this at the state level
• Good governance to harmonize federal and state laws
• Prevents employers and employees from wading through a patchwork of laws resulting in uncertainty and costly civil rights litigation

LB 121 – Expand access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for individuals with prior drug convictions 

• Removes the lifetime SNAP ban for people with drug convictions who have either completed their sentence or are serving a term of parole, probation, or post-release supervision

LB 122 – Eliminate the subminimum wage for tipped workers

• The tipped wage of $2.13/hour has not been updated since 1990, resulting in poverty rates 3 times higher for tipped workers than the general workforce. Eliminating the subminimum wage would put tipped workers at the standard state minimum wage of $9/hour.

LB 183 – Sexual Assault Emergency Care Act 

• Require emergency rooms to provide information about emergency contraception to all victims of sexual assault, and to dispense emergency contraception upon request

LB 205 – Rental Housing Late Fees

• Places reasonable limits on late fees or penalties that may be charged by a landlord and requires accurate and sufficient information to be provided in termination notices
• Currently, there is no restriction on the amount of a late fee that can be charged for unpaid rent in Nebraska except that it cannot be “unconscionable.”  Data collected by the UNL Civil Clinic shows late fees often exceed the amount of rent due.

LB 229 – Gender Identity Hate Crimes

• Provide for enhanced penalties and civil action for crimes committed because of a victim’s gender identity or association with a person of a certain gender identity.

LB 230 – LGBT Public Accommodation Equality

• Prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in public accommodations and under the Nebraska Fair Housing Act.

LB 231 – Ban Conversion Therapy

• Prohibits any person holding a credential under the Uniform Credentialing Act from advertising for and/or charging money for conversion therapy and prohibits performing conversion therapy on any individual under the age of 19.
• This would not prevent faith leaders from preaching what they believe regarding gender issues.

LB 517 – Gender Neutral Option for ID

• Driver’s license applicant’s gender shall be indicated as female, male, or not specified through an indication of “X”
• Provides a simplified pathway for Nebraskans to amend their gender on official government documents, such as a driver’s license

LB 250 – Interior Design Voluntary Registration Act

• Creates a voluntary registration to be administered by the Nebraska State Treasurer for those qualified interior designers in Nebraska to use the title “Registered Interior Designer”
• Gives those registered the ability to stamp and seal their interior design construction documents for permits in code-regulated spaces
• Creates reciprocity for the Nebraska registration for those interior designers who may be registered, licensed, or certified in another state
• Establishes continuing education requirements for those who wish to become registered

LB 260 – Unemployment for Caregivers 

• Allows people who have made every effort to preserve employment but who have to leave work for temporary family caregiving needs to be eligible for unemployment

LB 276 – Telemedicine Abortions

• Allows for medical abortions, or abortions administered via medication, to be administered through telemedicine
• Eliminates the current statutory requirement that a physician be physically present in the same room when medical abortions are performed

LB 277 – Mobile Home Landlord-Tenant Update

• In 2019, LB 433 amended the Uniform Residential Landlord-Tenant Act but it did not update the Mobile Home Landlord and Tenant Act to match it
• This bill harmonizes the two acts to ensure uniformity in our state law with regard to the landlord-tenant issues addressed by LB 433

LB 356 – SNAP Comparable Disqualification

• Prevents SNAP benefits from being cut if an individual fails to meet any requirements under some other federal benefit program such as TANF
• This bill would opt the state out of this comparable disqualification option, meaning that if someone is to be disqualified from receiving SNAP benefits, it must be for reasons only related to failure to meet eligibility requirements for THAT program – not for some other public assistance program

LB 357 – Youth in Care Bill of Rights

• Ensures that youth in our foster system and YRTC system are given notice of their rights related to services, connection to family, and transition planning
• Ensures that caseworkers are trained on the rights and regularly discuss these rights with young people, and strengthens youths’ awareness of the grievance process through DHHS if they believe their rights have been violated

LB 358 – Tenant Anti-Retaliation 

• Prohibits a landlord from retaliating against a tenant if the tenant has made a good faith complaint to the landlord of a violation of the housing code or noncompliance with the lease agreement or if the tenant has exercised or attempted to exercise a right or remedy under the lease agreement or law

Co-Sponsored Legislation

• LR 10CA (Cavanaugh, M.) – Restore voting rights for felons, except if convicted of treason
• LR 2CA (Wayne) –  Legalize cannabis for persons twenty-one and older and to require legislation
• LB 20 (Blood) – Insurance coverage & Medicaid access to prescribed contraceptives
• LB 56  (Lathrop) – Improve parole eligibility & accountability
• LB 72 (Geist) – Provide for sale of alcoholic liquor not in its original package
• LB 83 (Flood) – Allow Videoconferencing in the Open Meetings Act
• LB 107 (McCollister) – Adopt the Redistricting Act to provide for fair redistricting
• LB 109 (Pansing Brooks) – Provide that photographing or recording a peace officer is not an obstruction of justice
• LB 110  (Pansing Brooks) – Change and provide duties relating to the use of force in law enforcement
• LB 114 (McCollister) – Seal criminal records by adopting the Clean Slate Act
• LB 125 (McCollister) – Ranked-Choice Voting
• LB 128 (McCollister) – Seal eviction records
• LB 134 (Brandt) – Require the posting and reporting of tax incentive information
• LB 171 (Hansen, M.) – Increase unemployment benefits by 5% per dependant
• LB 196 (Vargas) – Prohibit housing discrimination based on income source
• LB 241 (Vargas) – Adopt the Meatpacking Employees COVID-19 Protection Act
• LB 258 (Vargas) – Adopt the Healthy & Safe Families and Workplaces Act for safe and sick leave
• LB 264 (Stinner) – Cultural district funding
• LB 266 (McCollister) – Adopt the Renewable Energy Standards Act
• LB 278 (Wayne) – Change the penalty for having residue of a controlled substance from a felony to a misdemeanor
• LB 306 (Brandt) –  DHHS must allocate at least 10% of funds for the low-income home energy assistance program
• LB 321 (Cavanaugh, J.) – Prohibit defendant’s discovery of victim’s actual or perceived gender or sexual orientation as a defense to a crime
• LB 396 (Brandt) – Adopt the Nebraska Farm-to-School Program Act
• LB 419 (Cavanaugh, J.) – Right to counsel in evictions

Today I requested State Auditor Charlie Janssen to perform a financial audit and investigation of the operation of Test Nebraska in order to ensure that the state funds are being properly and judiciously spent.

TestNebraska is comprised of a number of out of state companies with little prior experience in mass testing, contact tracing, or pandemic treatment. TestNebraska promised to administer 3,000 tests a day. However, throughout June, the average daily test rate has been 1,200 – considerably less than half of the stated goal of 3,000 daily tests.

I appreciate that we are in an unprecedented time in our state with respect to responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. But in our current budget situation, a $27 million award with barely any debate and no competitive bidding needs to be looked at closely. In short, I want to know whether Nebraskans are getting their money’s worth and whether the millions we are paying these companies are actually going to testing Nebraskans for COVID-19.

A report generated by the Iowa State Auditor of their similar TestIowa program, which is administered in partnership with the same companies behind TestNebraska, found that TestIowa took “pointless risks” and increased liabilities to the state. Related to the claims of accuracy, in mid-June of 2020 a number of investors sued one of the TestNebraska companies (Co-Diagnostics) in Utah federal court alleging that executives had misrepresented their Logix COVID-19 test as being “100% accurate” and that company directors, officers and scientists “made continual, knowing and willful misstatements” about their COVID-19 test to inflate the Co-Diagnostics’ stock price.

I have urged the State Auditor to consider these areas of focus in any audit performed of Test Nebraska:

• Is the quantity, or rate, of testing sufficient to justify our state spending this kind of money to TestNebraska
• Is the quality, or accuracy of the testing similar to or consistent with other testing being done in Nebraska by area hospitals or clinics?
• What is the actual rate of accuracy of the testing of TestNebraska?
• What measures or efforts were taken to protect Nebraskan’s private health information that is collected by TestNebraska?

As always, please let me know if I can be of any more assistance. Email is the best way to get in touch with me, at mhunt@leg.ne.gov. Please continue to wear a mask, maintain a 6′ social distance between others, and stay home as much as possible. I will continue to do everything I can through policy to keep you and your family safe, but without wider government leadership, you must choose to do what’s best for your own health.

Keep safe,
Meg

Last week, Governor Ricketts announced that he was bringing back job search requirements for unemployed Nebraskans earlier than planned. Is that great? No — during this pandemic, this is not what’s best for Nebraskans. In the most economically robust of times, many people make convincing arguments for the need to ensure that the unemployed are motivated to continue to seek jobs, but that is not where we are today. My office has been contacted daily by Nebraskans who are confused and distraught about these new requirements. For example, many workers who are temporarily laid off with the expectation that they will be rehired do not want to waste time searching for jobs they do not intend to keep. On the flip side, employers don’t want the hassle of processing applications and training new employees who may not intend to stay. With this order, Governor Ricketts has introduced unnecessary friction into an already anxious economy. It doesn’t help.

But it’s where we are. And here is no hope for the Legislature to do anything to stop this. So let me help you understand it.

The Department of Labor has put together a helpful FAQ for workers who have been furloughed or have been working intermittently for their employer during this pandemic. It also includes Q&A for employers on how they can let the department know if they have employees on furlough that they want to bring back, and includes a form that employers can use to ask for an extension if needed.

As always, please let me know if I can be of any more assistance. Email is the best way to get in touch with me, at mhunt@leg.ne.gov. Please continue to wear a mask, maintain a 6′ social distance between others, and stay home as much as possible. I will continue to do everything I can through policy to keep you and your family safe, but without wider government leadership, you must choose to do what’s best for your own health.

Keep safe,
Meg

Grants Available to Community Orgs

The Department of Health & Human Services is pleased to announce three funding opportunities for charitable organizations and providers. Please share this information with anyone who you think could benefit from it. The first grant application opens on Monday, June 29.

DHHS says they are committed to prioritizing funds for underserved communities, including areas of high poverty and areas disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

• One-time payment of at least $12,000 for charitable organizations and eligible provider organizations. Applicants must have sustained increased costs and/or lower revenue/income due to COVID-19. Total allocation: $40 million
• Applications open: June 29-July 6, 2020
• To apply: http://dhhs.ne.gov/CommunityCares

Community CARES Response and Recovery Grant

• Competitive grant opportunity for non-profits and eligible provider organizations that will help children, families and communities respond to and recover from the impacts of COVID-19. Funding can be used for homelessness prevention assistance, shelters, meal delivery for individuals with food access barriers, telehealth resources, PPE, community health services, behavioral health services, sanitation of public spaces, and more. Applications must include measurable outcomes. Funding is subject to federal grant subrecipient requirements and must be expended by December 30, 2020.
• Awards expected to be in the range of $50,000-$2,000,000.
• Total allocation: $43 million
• Applications open: July 1-8, 2020
• To apply: http://dhhs.ne.gov/CommunityCares

Community CARES Healthy Places Grant for Child Care Centers and Places of Worship

• Funds will be used for the purchase of PPE and cleaning supplies. These health and safety supplies will help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 across Nebraska. Total allocation: $2 million
• Applications open: July 6-12, 2020
• To apply: http://dhhs.ne.gov/CommunityCares

Keep safe,
Meg

Hello Nebraskans, and especially my friends in District 8. Are you looking for an opportunity to serve? In Nebraska, our Governor has the power to appoint leaders for many of the state’s agencies, boards, and commissions. Those organizations may be as large as DHHS or the Department of Education, and as small as the Brand Committee or the Boiler Safety Code Advisory Board.

Each appointment is confirmed by the Legislature during a confirmation hearing. In my committees of Government, Military, and Veteran’s Affairs, Urban Affairs, and General Affairs, we have held confirmation hearings for several appointed positions. These hearings go through the same process as bills: the appointee answers questions from senators on the committee, and then members of the public are invited to testify in support, opposition, or in a neutral position on the appointment. The committee then votes on whether to send the appointment to the full Legislature, which debates the appointment and then votes on final confirmation. Most appointees are very well-qualified and well-vetted and sail through the process to begin serving the public.

These appointments on commissions and boards are an important way for citizens across the state to bring their expertise to policies and decisions made by our state government. I encourage you to consider serving, and to occasionally check the Governor’s webpage to see if there is an opening that is a good fit for you or someone you know. A list of current vacancies and the application form can be found at the following link! I would love to see more of my constituents, and more Nebraskans statewide, active in their local governments.

Please check this list out! See a complete list of the openings currently seeking applicants here.

Complete an online application for a board or commission here.

As always, please let me know if I can be of any more assistance. Email is the best way to get in touch with me, at mhunt@leg.ne.gov.

Keep safe,
Meg