Unicameral Update
Senator Dave Bloomfield
January 20, 2012

It is good to live in Nebraska! While the rest of the nation struggles with unemployment in the range of 8.6%, we are blessed to be at about 4.2%.  While other states are considering tax increases, we are actually talking about possible tax cuts!  GO BIG RED!!! 

The first full week of morning debate and afternoon hearings has ended. Every session, the tenth day of that session is the last day for State Senators to introduce bills. A total of 468 (too many) bills were introduced this year. The first filibuster of the session is under way as well. The full Legislature has heard hours of debate on LB 418, nicknamed the robocall bill. LB 418, introduced by Senator John Nelson of Omaha, would change state regulations on robocalls.  (Robocalls are those automatically generated calls with a recorded message that we all get.) Currently, the Public Service Commission and the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission regulate these calls by requiring the sponsors to identify themselves and submit a script within 24 hours of placing a call. LB 418 would remove oversight by the Public Services Commission and leave the calls totally under the authority of the Accountability and Disclosure Commission.  Proponents claim that the current laws are burdensome and hard to follow because of the need to contact two different agencies with in the  government. Opponents of the bill say the current regulations are not burdensome and do not limit speech; the laws simply make people accountable for what they are saying. The debate will continue into next week.  I don’t know anyone who likes the robocalls, but they are protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. 

I introduced one of my three new bills on Wednesday before the Health and Human Services Committee. LB 723 was brought to me the the Department of Health and Human Services. It is a technical bill that brings Nebraska statutes back in line with federal law concerning the Nebraska Safe Drinking Water Act. It changes the term “small system” in the Act to “public water system serving fewer than 10,000 persons.” The Chief Medical Officer of the State (Dr. Joann Schaefer) testified in favor of the bill, and was the only other person offering testimony of LB 723. The Health Committee took no action on this bill to date.  My two other bills are concerned with issues pertaining to the Health and Human Services Department.

President Barack Obama announced a major decision that directly affects Nebraska this week. The Department of State, with the backing of the President, denied TransCanada’s request for a permit to build the Keystone Pipeline. In a written statement, the President said a February 21st deadline placed upon his Administration prevented a full assessment of the pipeline’s impact on the health and safety of the American people as well as our environment. TransCanada has said that it will submit a new permit application and will continue to work with the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality to find an alternative route through Nebraska. The Company has also said they still hope to have a pipeline in place and in service by 2014. I am personally disappointed that the Keystone Pipeline was not given a permit. This issue has become and remains a “political football”, it is too bad that presidential politics has gotten in the way of job creation and an increased supply of crude oil.  There is still hope, however, that Nebraska will not miss out totally on this opportunity.  The pipeline though delayed, is not necessarily completely dead.