The second week of February has been very energetic. As of February 11th, I have testified before the Health and Human Services Committee, the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee, and the Revenue Committee for eight out of my ten bills. On Tuesday, I met with a number of constituents and colleagues to discuss various bill that will be coming up. Every bill is important and I greatly appreciate getting a broad spectrum of people’s thoughts and concerns before rendering my vote or deciding on what to move forward on in the Business and Labor Committee.

The rest of the week, I had two more committee hearings on Wednesday and Thursday. The first bill I had was on Wednesday, before the Revenue Committee. LB 644, better known as the Truth in Taxation bill, is a bill I feel particularly passionate about. Essentially, this bill is a transparency bill that would require a postcard to be mailed out to every taxpayer when a governing entity wants to raise their taxes. Also, a governing body that wants to raise your property taxes must hold a public hearing and demonstrate directly to the public why they want to raise property taxes. Other states have implemented the Truth-in-Taxation initiative and it has been a direct benefit to their high property tax issues. I’m not saying this will directly lower our property taxes, but this will make governing bodies more accountable to the taxpayers.

On Thursday, I testified in support of my bill LB 436. This bill will expand the scope of work the athletic trainers in the state. It would allow Athletic Trainers the ability to work on other patients outside the spectrum of just athletes, such as the elderly or ex-athletes. It has received support from the Nebraska Medical Association, Nebraska Chiropractic Physicians Association, the Occupational Therapy Association and the University of Nebraska. I believe in the state of Nebraska, athletic trainers have a wealth of knowledge and training that our healthcare system could benefit from and by stymieing them, we are not utilizing the full range of our healthcare workers.

It has been a great honor to be the Chair of the Business and Labor Committee and we have heard a wide variety of great bills that will have a significant impact on the business community of Nebraska. Additionally, my time with the Agriculture and Health and Human Services Committees has been of great importance. As we shift from committee hearings to floor debate, my staff and I will be prepared to fight for the issues that are important to District 16 and the rest of the state of Nebraska.