Unicameral Update
Senator Dave Bloomfield
January 6, 2012
The Nebraska Legislature is back in session. Forty-eight (Senator Utter’s untimely death leaves not only a vacant chair, but also a huge hole in the heart of your legislature) state senators met in Lincoln on Wednesday, January 4th, to introduce bills, and prepare for legislative hearings and floor debate. During the first three days of the session, 173 bills were introduced. All of these bills will be assigned to legislative committees and each will be given a public hearing. Committees than have the option of (1) advancing a bill to the floor for further debate, (2) killing a bill, or (3) taking no action on a bill and holding it in committee.
I have introduced one bill so far. The Nebraska Department of Health asked me to introduce a bill on their behalf. Their bill, LB 723, alters the Nebraska Safe Drinking Water Act by changing a definition of small (water) system. The federal government no longer uses the words “small system” for water systems serving fewer than ten thousand people The Environmental Protection Act (EPA) calls such systems “public water systems.” LB 723, if passed, would put Nebraska statutes back in line with federal law by using the same terminology for the same water systems. I do not anticipate much, if any, controversy over this bill. I am not a big believer in introducing bills just to say that I introduced one. I have always thought that there were too many bills introduced each year. I haven’t seen anything yet to change my mind.
The legislative process is important because it affects everyone’s life through the bills that are passed and become laws. I encourage each of you to watch floor debate when possible, either on-line http://www.netnebraska.org/publicmedia/capitol.html or through Nebraska Educational Television. Committee hearings, which occur in the afternoons during the first half of the session, are also broadcast at the above on-line site.
After one full year as your representative in the Nebraska Legislature, I can tell you that it is a steep learning curve to understand the way in which an idea becomes a bill and then moves from the committee hearing to the floor, and through three rounds of debate before passage. Information on legislative bills can be found at: www.nebraskalegislature.gov . I welcome your thoughts on proposals as they first move to the various committees. I only have a vote on the following three committees on which I am a member: General Affairs, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services. My contact information is:dbloomfield@leg.ne.gov . My phone number is: 402 – 471 – 2716. My mailing address is: Senator Dave Bloomfield, District #17, State Capitol, PO Box 94604, Lincoln, Nebraska 68509 – 4604. I look forward to hearing from you.