As we enter the final 20 days of the 60 day legislative session, the pace of activities in the chamber tends to fluctuate between incredibly fast and grinding away slowly. On a day to day basis, depending on the agenda, the body can debate for hours at a time over one bill. 

On the 4th of March the Legislature officially began full day debates. In practice, this means that for the majority of the work week, the body will be meeting in the morning and afternoon.  Beginning March 18th, the Legislature may be holding evening sessions which extend debate time past our normal adjournment time of 5PM. As customary on the last day of the work week, the body will convene at 9:00 in the morning and work through lunch adjourning in the early afternoon. 

Late night sessions can be unpredictable, there’s precedent for the legislature working as  late as eleven o’clock at night. Though, those especially late work days aren’t the norm, typically a late night means adjournment between six or seven in the evening. 

This week in the legislature, there was debate over Senator Hardin’s LB1120, which focuses on requiring affidavits for certain purchases of land that surround military installations; such as missile complexes and Air Force bases. Sen. Hardin’s bill specifically defines “foreign adversaries”, and requires individuals seeking to purchase land within a close proximity of one of these installations to sign an affidavit stating that they are not affiliated with any foreign government or nongovernment person determined to be a foreign adversary. An individual who falsely swears on an affidavit shall be guilty of a Class II Misdemeanor. The bill was advanced to select file.

In the latter half of last week a multiday debate and filibuster on Senator Dungan’s LB175 took place. LB175 would have provided a process for individuals to petition the courts to have records relating to eviction proceedings to be sealed if the proceedings were dismissed, the ruling was vacated or reversed, and in a writ of restitution was never executed. The bill ultimately failed to advance after a successful filibuster.

My bill, LB867, one of the Natural Resource Committee’s priority bills which I discussed in last week’s article, was advanced to Select File. As a quick refresher, this bill creates a voluntary hunting and fishing guide and outfitter database. The committee amendment included five other Natural Resources Committee bills which dealt with a variety of topics such as the Petroleum Release Fund, the Power Review Board, and hunting permits and park passes for veterans or active duty military members.  

At the time of publishing the Legislature will have taken up debate on LB1412 and LB1413, which are the mid-biennium budget bills. The mid-biennium budget adjusts FY2023-24 and FY2024-25 budget.

Constituents are welcome to 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.