The Legislature has completed the process of introducing bills for this session. A total of 812 bills and 31 Legislative Resolutions or Constitutional Amendments have been filed. Now the committee process will begin as every bill that is introduced will receive a hearing, unless the bill is withdrawn.

The Committee hearings will be held during the afternoons through January 27th. After that hearings will be starting at either 9:30am or 1:30pm. This year the Legislature offers a new option for those who would like to publicly testify but due to disability are unable to attend in person. This option allows you to provide testimony at committee hearings and unlike the comment option it allows you to upload up to 5 documents in support of your testimony as you would have the option to do when testifying in person. These documents must be in PDF format and submitted by Noon on the business day prior to the hearing.

To use this option, you must find the committee schedule and click “ADA Accommodation Testimony” Confirm you qualify under ADA, this is a self-verify with no documentation required. All boxes must be filled in, you do not need to upload exhibits. You must be representing yourself for the ADA testimony. Please be sure you are entering a valid email address; you must verify through email or no one will see your testimony.

I will try to highlight a couple of bills each week. I’ve introduced 16 bills this session, one is LB568 that creates the Nuclear and Hydrogen Development Act. The bill creates a working group that will assess and determine the workforce training needs in advanced nuclear and hydrogen technologies. It will also create a grant program for colleges to apply for in the development of these new programs.

I’ve cosponsored LB77, a constitutional carry bill introduced by Senator Brewer. The bill will be heard in the Judiciary committee on January 26th at 1:30pm. This is Senator Brewer’s priority bill. The bill will authorize the concealed carry of handguns without a permit in Nebraska.

Finally, as the end of January is fast approaching and tax season is beginning. I wanted to remind everyone to make sure and check the Nebraska Department of Revenue’s website for your Nebraska Property Tax Credit. The credit is available for both school district and community college property taxes paid. The current form and information for 2022 tax year is scheduled to be up by January 31st. Information on this tax credit and how you can claim this credit can be found at https://revenue.nebraska.gov/about/nebraska-property-tax-credit

As always, contact my office with any questions or thoughts on legislation impacting District 23. You can reach my office at 402-471-2719 or bbostelman@leg.ne.gov