Special session continued this past week. The Revenue Committee worked August 5th and 6th to go over the 68 bills we heard in public hearings to put together a package to bring to the floor. Many ideas have been presented and a lot of work has been done. Everyone has their own ideas and it is hard to get 49 Senators on board. This is still a work in progress, but it is a start. This is a spending issue, not a valuation issue.

There are three main goals behind the plan:

• Educate our children
• Encourage grandparents and families to stay in Nebraska
• Help businesses thrive

Since I have been in the legislature, property taxes have been discussed and addressed. Previous forms of property tax relief that have passed in past legislative sessions were the Property Tax Incentive Credit Act in 2020 with $395 million in relief; also introduced in 2020, LB1107 Income Tax Credit for property taxes paid with $560.7 million in relief; and in 2023 the Community College Future Fund Expenses with $246.5 million in relief. In total $1.202 billion was devoted to property tax relief before this special session.

On Thursday, August 8th, senators and their staff were invited to attend a briefing over the package being put together. The Revenue Committee decided to use Senator Jana Hughes’s LB9 as the main vehicle. LB9 utilizes additional state aid to public schools to lower the maximum levy cap in order to provide property tax relief for Nebraska property tax owners. Under LB9 the state will fund schools, county jails, district court clerks, and NRDs. Changes to LB9 are the levy lid taken down from $1.05 to $0.25 for fiscal year 2025-26 and following years and add language similar to LB1107 which allows for any excess revenue about 103% from the prior years’ collection to be put into the Education Future Fund for property tax relief.

On Thursday, August 8th, Governor Pillen said “I deeply appreciate the extremely hard work being done by the majority of the Legislature to deliver transformative property tax reform to Nebraskans. These senators, who represent all political stripes and all corners of our state, are doing right by their constituents by engaging in tough negotiations, good faith exchanges of ideas, and collaboration with their colleagues to forge a compromise that will work for Nebraska. Their dedication is even more impressive given that it is moving forward under intense pressure by lobbyists fighting to protect special interest loopholes at the expense of hardworking Nebraska homeowners. I know that any plan passed by the Legislature will be a hard-fought compromise and that it will not include every provision I believe in and am fighting for. Nevertheless, I have profound respect for the work of the Legislature and look forward to signing that work into law.” (Strimple, Laura and Urlis, Allan. Press Release. “Gov. Pillen Commends Senators’ Good Faith Work to Fix Nebraska’s Escalating Property Taxes; Condemns Political Intransigence”. 08 August, 2024. https://shorturl.at/60GgM)

New program being launched from the Nebraska Treasurer’s office

The Enable Savings Plan is ecstatic to inform you that we are launching a new, free-to-use crowdfunding website to work alongside your Enable Savings Plan account. Crowdfunding is a way to raise money by collecting donations from family, friends, friends of friends, strangers, and more (like GoFundMe or Kickstarter). This new website can be found at givetoenable.com.

We recognize that account owners may not have extra funds to save for disability related expenses and that sometimes emergencies occur that can put a tremendous burden on the account owner and their families. As a result, we have developed a new website called Give to Enable. This website is available for all Enable account owners and will allow them to raise additional funds to help cover their disability related expenses. Account owners would need to set up their own profile with a description of their crowdfunding needs.

This crowdfunding page is a separate website and you will need to set up an account to utilize this crowdfunding website.

How to Make an Account:

1. Go to givetoenable.com
2.  Click on “Register” at the top of the screen.
3. Fill in all the boxes and click “Sign Up” at the bottom.
4. An email will go to an administrator, who will review your registration, and will contact you to let you know whether corrections need to be made or your account is approved and activated.
5. You can then login and upload a picture, and your account should then show up on the website under “Members”.
6. Feel free to share!

How to find your UGift code:

1. Go to enablesavings.com
2. Log into your account.
3. Choose “View and Invite savings with Ugift” from the menu on the left side of the profile page.
4. This will bring you to the Ugift page and you will see your six-digit alphanumeric code.

Want to Give?

1. Go to givetoenable.com
2. Click “Members” to read members’ stories, learn about their needs and decide who you would like to give to.
3. Copy the member’s Ugift code found on their profile and click the link for ugiftable.com.
4. Follow the instructions on the Ugift page to give.
5. At the end of the process, there will be a confirmation page. Print that page and keep for your records.
6. Using the Ugift code you contributed with, deduct the amount you gave on your Nebraska income taxes at the end of the year (up to $10,000 annually–$5,000 for married taxpayers filing separately).

If you have any questions, please email stacy.pfeifer@nebraska.gov.

As always, I invite you to let me know your thoughts, ideas, concerns, or suggestions by calling my office at (402) 471-2716 or emailing me at jalbrecht@leg.ne.gov.