At the close of this week, we will be 24 days out from the close of the Legislative Session for 2019. Many bills have passed across our desks and many were mere adjustments to bring up-to-date or take off the books as obsolete. Discussing of Priority Bills from here on out will be our main focus.

This week there was a joint hearing with the Revenue, Nebraska Retirement Systems and Educations Committees. As you know our main objective here at the People’s House is to pass a balanced budget. This hearing addressed LB289 and AM1361 that will change provisions relating to county assessor inspections of real property for property tax purposes.

Creating a budget, educating on the budget and then taking discussions on how this or that may or may not result in our purpose of a balanced budget for the good of all of Nebraska. Much give and take will be on the table to ensure all avenues of revenue are earmarked correctly and that the spending habits of the state stabilize so this process will be a less stressing function of the state every year. Even though a balanced budget is presented every two years, it does affect the in-between years rightfully so.

Property tax relief for all Nebraska has been a main focus of Governor Ricketts and myself. Finding that right avenue to leveraging the burden of taxation is a complicated task. Many Senators have spent endless hours in conversation of the pros and cons of legislation that will bring about this relief for you.

The mid-March weather across Nebraska has placed an unforeseen task to the State to meet the needs of those who have been impacted greatly from the blizzards and floods. We have hundreds of people in our communities assisting with ensuring citizens’ damages and needs are being addressed in a timely manner. From last week’s briefing with the Nebraska Department of Transportation the agency has gone from 3,300 miles of closed roadways down to 11 miles closed. The Nebraska Director Kyle Schneweis had nothing but praise for the roads department employees, the contractors and citizens for the progress that has been made through this horrific season of storms and damages.

The JAG Advantage – taking JAG to the next level! Now this is a new concept based on a promise. That promise is that JAG will deliver student-centered programs to help young people achieve their fullest potential. JAG is about giving students an advantage that will set them apart for all other youth in today’s emerging workforce. JAG stands for “Jobs for America’s Graduates.” We are fortunate in District 17 to have students from Omo ho Nation Public School, Macy NE, currently participants in this program. Two other school systems in Columbus and Fremont also are in the pilot program. We were fortunate to have these students visit the Capitol this week and give their personal story of what this program has provided for them. There are 39 states that have this program in one stage or another and Nebraska is hopeful to have greater participation from schools in the near future. Commissioner John Albin, Nebraska Department of Labor, was instrumental in bringing this learning aspect to the state and looking forward to expansion. Currently we operate under I-JAG (Iowa) with hopes of having a Nebraska JAG. You may access www.jag.org to learn more of this concept in education and across the nation.

As always hearing from you is very important to the work we do in Lincoln. You may follow the legislative process from your local Nebraska TV station and can check the progress of bills at nebraskalegislature.net

Looking forward to hearing from you via email to jalbrecht@leg.ne.gov or phone 402.471.2716.