2ND SESSION OF THE 107TH LEGISLATURE 

Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope this season finds you enjoying the love and close relationships you are blessed with. Mike and I have enjoyed the wonderful weather and chance to be out and about visiting friends and family more than some Nebraska February’s have offered. 

My Priority Bill

This was a big week for my office in the Legislature. I presented my Priority Bill, LB1213 to the Judiciary Committee. In fact, when I first heard about it I found it quite difficult to believe. Let me start by setting the context. During the summer research season my staff came across many states that are struggling with defining what content children have access to in the educational setting. We learned that there are primarily two companies that provide educational research databases to nearly every school, not only in Nebraska, or in America, but in Australia, and Great Britain and around the world. Marketing themselves specifically for Kindergarten through 12th grade, these educational research database providers/vendors will tell you that they provide a safe environment for students to learn.The reality is that many people from many states have told the providers about the inappropriate content the students are coming across, often accidentally. Though these companies will remove the specific identified link for that school, they do not remove it from all schools and make no attempt to clean them all up.  Be aware that we are not dealing with mild or arguable pornography.  Researchers have found the most vile and graphic obscenity on K-12 school databases, including many that encourage violence. It is our responsibility as Legislators, teachers and parents to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not used to provide logins and devices that are a safe environment to grow and learn so every K-12 student can become what they were meant to be under our watch.

I met with the Nebraska Library Commission and learned that they are the entity in our state that negotiates a contract with the educational research database providers. Their contract provides educational research databases for nearly every school in Nebraska.

LB1213 does three things. 

1. It requires education research database providers to filter and block obscene materials to minors as defined by Nebraska statute. 
2. It gives a school and/or the Nebraska Library Commission the legal authority to end a contract if the provider does not remove the inappropriate content in sufficient time and in a sufficient way. 
3. It establishes an annual reporting mechanism where all schools in Nebraska submit all noncompliant incidents to the governor and to the Legislative Education Committee.

Nebraska’s parents and teachers are more astute than ever as to what is happening in our schools. This Legislature owes it to Nebraska’s children, parents, teachers, librarians and schools to stop K-12 children from being exposed to obscene consent in the name of education, paid for by Nebraska’s tax dollars. As Senators, together we can easily hold educational research database providers/vendors accountable for obscene content included in the databases they are currently providing to our K-12th children.

Upcoming Senator’s Priority Bills

Brandt -LB543-Agriculture Equipment Right to Repair Act 

Brewer-LB773-Provide for carrying of concealed handgun without a permit 

Erdman-LR264CA-Retail consumption taxes and excise taxes.

Gragert-LB925-Adopt the Resilient Soils and Water Quality Act 

Hilgers-LB933-Adopt the Nebraska Human Life Protection Act

McDonnell-LB1023-Lake Development Act & Water Recreation Enhancement Act

Sanders-LB1158-Parental involvement in and access to learning materials 

COVID -19 Vaccine Mandates

LB906, introduced by Blair Senator Ben Hansen, would apply to all employer COVID-19 vaccine mandates by Nebraska entities with 20 or more employees.

The amendment that replaced the bill would require the state Department of Health and Human Services to create and publish a form on its website to be filled out by employees seeking an exemption based either on a healthcare practitioner’s recommendation or the individual’s sincerely held religious belief, practice or observance. LB906 would apply to entities with one or more employees, including state agencies and other political subdivisions. The federal government, any corporation wholly owned by the federal government, Indian tribes and bona fide private membership clubs, other than labor organizations, that are exempt from federal taxation would be exempted from the bill’s provisions. Under LB906, employers could require unvaccinated employees to wear personal protective equipment or submit to COVID-19 testing at the employer’s expense. After adoption of the amendments, senators advanced LB906 to Select File on a 33-0 vote.

Debate on School Funding

This week the Legislature had some serious conversations about education funding and the appropriate ratio of taxes to provide for it with a first-round debate on LB890, a package of bills to provide an extensive rewrite to the state’s education formula known as TEEOSA. Through a variety of mechanisms, the bill would direct $730 million more in state funding to schools. The pay-for companion bill, LB891, introduced by Senator Brett Lindstrom is still in committee. Without those pay-fors, the legislature would be on the hook for finding that $730 million to fund this rewrite of the formula. The proposed pay-fors in LB891, though, would eliminate net option payments, direct a half-cent of sales tax and repurpose the Property Tax Incentive Act, which currently distributes property income tax credits to Nebraskans for property taxes paid. While I am in full support of public schools, enhancing TEEOSA for some doesn’t mean it is enhanced for all. Two years ago the Legislature passed LB1107, the ImagiNE Act. I am not in favor of those taxpayer credits to be used as a funding source for this legislation. After six hours of debate Senator Walz asked for a Speaker hold with the intention of hopefully working with others on the bill. In my opinion with only 36 days left, I don’t see this coming back until a much later date.

I always appreciate each of you who intentionally stays informed and engaged in the Legislative process. If you have taken the time to reach out to my office, please understand that with over 1200 bills being heard over the next 60 days, I am not able to personally respond to all of the emails and calls I receive. That being said, it is great when you are watching to see which bills make it to the Floor and let me know what you think about them. That helps me make decisions that best represent District 17. I hope you have a great week!