Greetings from the Legislature! Happy New Year to Nebraskans and constituents of district 23! I hope everyone had a safe and blessed Christmas season and is having a great start to the new year. The 108th Nebraska Legislature, First Session convened on Wednesday, January 4th and is now underway.

Our 108th Legislative session is a long, 90-day session that began with elections for all legislative positions and permanent officers. I was reelected as Chairman of the Natural Resources Committee and I will continue to serve on the Transportation and Telecommunications committee.

We’ve seen several changes in the legislature already beginning with the retirement of Patrick O’Donnell. Patrick has served as the Clerk for the Legislature faithfully for 45 years. He has done a great job ensuring the constitutional, statutory and policy requirements are followed when the Legislature is in session and providing guidance in these areas outside of session. He will be missed.

Additional Legislative changes included greeting 12 new senators and 2 returning senators. We said goodbye to Speaker Mike Hilgers, who was elected Attorney General. The second day of session was a ceremonial day as we witnessed the swearing in of the States Constitution Officers. This included Lieutenant Governor Joe Kelley and Governor Jim Pillen.

Bill introduction for new legislation, which is completed in the first 10 days of session, will end on January 18th. In our first days of session, which ended on Friday, January 6th saw a total of 159 bills introduced. You can view and track these bills at https://nebraskalegislature.gov/ and select “Introduced legislation” in the center of the page. This website is updated as the new bills are introduced.

I will continue to provide updates as we progress through the session. I encourage you to reach out to my office with the issues that impact you. You may contact my office at 402-471-2719 or bbostelman@leg.ne.gov