This week the Legislature has continued with morning debate on the floor and afternoon committee hearings. We will stay with this schedule until committee hearings are completed at the end of February.  Morning debate has focused on bills that carried over from last year’s session as we wait for Committees to act on new bills. There are important matters that have waited over the interim months for a chance to be discussed by the Unicameral, even though we know the bigger issues lie ahead of us.

With that thought in mind, LB 974 is still sitting in the Revenue Committee while additional information is being gathered and possible amendments are being drawn up. Conversation is taking place between senators, and between senators and stake holders such as land and home owners and school administrators. One primary concern is the effect that LB 974 will have, especially out three to four years. That time frame is the hardest to get a good set of numbers on, because you have to use assumptions about future revenue, the economy and so on.  We are dealing with a wide variety of topics right now, but property tax relief is still the main theme.

I introduced LB 761 dealing with funding for the Simulation In Motion (SIMS NE) project used to train rural EMTs and hospital personnel, primarily in rural areas.  The bill was heard by the Transportation Committee this week and we had excellent representation from UNMC staff who run the program, and first responders from the western to eastern borders of the state. Ten people testified in support of the bill, with many more in the audience to register their official support. There were also 25 letters submitted as part of the official record as proponents of the bill.  There were four opponents, and while they acknowledge the value and importance of the program, did not want to see another fifty cents per year fee on a motor vehicle registration.

The fifty cents per year for SIMS would generate $1.2 million. It would sustain the program and staff, maintain the four semi-trailers which house the high tech mannequins and equipment that simulate real life emergency trauma, and keep the program free of charge to rural communities’ EMTs, first responders and critical access hospital staff.  The SIMS NE trucks allow rural volunteers to stay home for training; otherwise they leave their communities with no EMT service while they are traveling to educational sites. In areas of our state far from large hospitals or city paramedic services, the volunteer EMTs and first responders are often the difference between life and death.

Another safety issue I have my eye on is LB 789 which seeks to crack down on drivers who do not obey school bus stop arms. It only takes a few minutes to wait while children board a bus, and only a few seconds for a terrible tragedy to occur by not stopping.   LB 870 is also of interest in view of last year’s flooding. This bill would allow cities to borrow money to recover from disaster; right now only counties are able to do this.

I am also watching a package of bills which includes LB 147, LB 920 and LB 998.  LB998 would provide training to school personnel on recognizing signs of potential problems, de-escalation techniques and training for appropriate restraint of students who might harm themselves or others. LB 920 would use $1.9 million from state lottery funds to reimburse schools at least $2000 for this training. These bills were brought forward in response to last year’s LB 147 which focuses on these situations in our schools.

As I mentioned, there are important issues to consider, encompassing a very wide range of subjects. I will continue to keep budget issues and tax concerns at the top of the list. Whatever matters of concern you have, I hope you will contact me.  mdorn@leg.ne.gov  402-471-2620.

Eleven days of the session are in the books, which means bill introduction is over, and public hearings have begun.  There were 482 new bills introduced for a total of 1221 for this session, which spans 2019-2020. A large number of bills address taxation and spending; some offer new ideas to increase revenue or distribute funds, and some have been written as back up to pending legislation.

During bill introduction, I read through the one-liners (a brief one sentence explanation of a bill or constitutional amendment). As varied as the ideas are, my reactions to some are just as varied – from a nod of my head and thinking that sounds like a good idea, to why do we as a state need this bill?  Then I put it into perspective.  There is usually a constituent or a group of people who have asked for a bill to fix a problem, or it springs from an idea a senator has. A senator decides if the issue needs a bill or can be handled some other way.  It may be as simple as giving that constituent or group a chance to present their issue; or the other extreme where a situation is dire and needs legislative attention.  Almost every bill has someone behind the scenes believing the issue is important.

The legislative process allows for all of those ideas to be presented to the committee at a public hearing, a process very unique to Nebraska, whereby the committee members have the opportunity to hear proponents, opponents and neutral testimony.  If the majority of committee members agree the bill has merit, it will be advanced to our first stage of floor debate.  A committee can also hold a bill for further discussion by committee members or hold it for other reasons.  The committee can also indefinitely postpone a bill, which kills the bill for that session.

With that said, here are some of the bills being heard by committees this past week:

The main property tax bill, as introduced by the Revenue Committee, is LB 974. The bill had a hearing on Wednesday with good representation from the school districts, agriculture and property owners from across the state. The basic framework reduces reliance on property taxes for school funding, and has a projected cost to the state of $520 million over three years, which will go directly to property tax relief.  A cap would be placed on school budget growth, tied to the Consumer Price Index (CPI).   As with any bill, there will be an opportunity to offer amendments and continued work on the details. The Revenue Committee will have to keep working to build consensus to get this moved through the legislative process, but it is a start.

Senator Jim Scheer, the Speaker of the Legislature, has introduced a constitutional amendment to increase the number of senators from 50 to 55.  Currently the legislature has 49 senators but we could add one more with the existing constitutional language. Senator Scheer’s LR 279CA would ask the voters to consider increasing the number to 55 senators.  Every senator’s district is based on population.  Scheer said the change would decrease the number of constituents in each legislative district and hopefully keep the some of the rural districts that cover hundreds of miles, from growing even larger.

One of the bills I introduced had a quick and efficient public hearing this week. LB 763 would add townships to the list of entities that can access their funds on a regular basis from the county treasurer without cumbersome paper work. The bill simply corrects the oversight of including townships when the county fund disbursement legislation was enacted many years ago.

The Health and Human Services Committee held a briefing Wednesday morning on the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Centers (YRTC). They detailed what has happened the last six months with the Geneva, Kearney, and now Lincoln facilities.  The Committee listed 14 recommendations for improvements and guidelines with the state’s YRTC institutions. Out of this report and those recommendations, the Committee introduced six new bills to help with the problems.  We will have opportunities to have public hearings and discussion on this important issue.

The Appropriations Committee also began meeting this week.  At this time we are reviewing state agency budget reports and will work through those before holding hearings on new bills. As you can imagine, there are a large number of requests for funding with the last year of revenue coming in above projections.

Last week the Governor gave the executive branch report to the Legislature in his State of the State address. The Governor outlined key issues of property tax relief, LB720 which is a business tax incentive package, funding for last year’s flooding concerns, and an income tax credit for military retirement benefits.

This week we heard from the judicial branch of government. Chief Justice Mike Heavican reported on activities of the Supreme Court to be accessible to everyone in the state while building confidence in the system. New initiatives put in place across Nebraska by the court system include ways to reach all races, genders, income levels and languages.

As you can see from this report, which covers just a few days, many important topics come to my attention. Let me assure you, your concerns are just as important and I encourage you to contact me at mdorn@leg.ne.gov or call 402–471-2620.

In the first seven days of the session, bills that address the major issues facing our state have been introduced. These include property tax, corrections, Medicaid and underlying all of this – the state’s budget.  We have three more working days for bill introduction, and hearings on new bills begin on Tuesday the 21^st.

As a member of the Appropriations Committee, I get a first-hand look at the income and expenditures of our state. Many excellent ideas and projects are proposed each session but the reality is that they must fit within the budget or be self-funded. One program that I strongly support is SIMS-NE, the Simulation in Motion educational trucks which are used to train rural EMTs and hospital personnel. My bill, LB 761, proposes an addition to the “Fifty Cents for Life” initiative to insure the SIMS program will continue and that their equipment will remain up to date. As an EMT for over 30 years, I know from experience how important it is to have realistic training and the impact of having a rescue squad in a rural area that knows what it is doing.

I introduced two other bills, LB 762 and 763.  LB 762 provides funding for the Nebraska Hall of Fame. Basically, the bill helps with the cost of placing a family member into the Hall and removes that financial burden from the descendants.

LB 763 simply includes townships in the current method of distributing funds which are collected by the county. Entities which receive these funds include villages and cities, school districts, ag societies, rural fire districts, ESUs and so on; but townships had not been included on the list resulting in a cumbersome process for the county treasurer and the townships. The bill takes care of that. Improving and streamlining our government is part of the legislative process, and I appreciate when these proposals are brought to my attention.

The beginning of the session is a good time to review “how a bill becomes a law” and how you can get involved. Every bill goes through a long process before being enacted, and often undergoes many changes along the way. In Nebraska, every bill has a public hearing and testimony is open to the public. After the hearing, the committee votes to advance, hold or kill the bill. As a citizen, you can testify in person, send a letter of support or opposition, and send letters or emails to the committee members.

If the bill is advanced out of committee to the full legislature, it goes through two rounds of debate and voting (General File and Select File) before one last vote on Final Reading. Sometimes the bills will have amendments recommended by the committee which had the hearing; and other times, senators will propose amendments to the bill during the debate stages. This is a good time to contact your own senator with your opinions. You can also send your communication to every senator. Information about the progress of every bill, and contact information for all senators can be found at www.nebraskalegislature.gov.

Due to the Capital HVAC project, my office has moved into the tower for the current session, so you will need to call ahead to arrange any visits. You are always welcome and encouraged to contact me. mdorn@leg.ne.gov  402-471-2620

Sen. Dorn recorded a segment for the program “Friendly Fire” on KLIN radio, which will air on Saturday, January 11 at 7am. It will be available as a podcast sometime the following week.

On Wednesday, January 8^th the 106^th Legislature, Second Session convened at 10 am. This will be a 60 day session and at this time, the last day is scheduled for April 23^rd.

The first ten days of session are when new bills can be introduced. There are also 481 carry over bills from last session.  I have heard talk that normally in the second session you can expect around 350 new bills to be introduced.

As we start the new session the state has experienced revenue growth. At the end of the 2019 session, the Cash Reserve Fund balance was projected to be about $333 million. The budget was passed by the Legislature using those projections.  The actual receipts at the end of the 2018-19 fiscal year on July 1, 2019 included around $176 million in additional revenue. The fund balance of $333 million, plus the additional revenue of $176 million, minus $54.7 million which was transferred to the Nebraska Capitol Construction Fund, increased the unobligated Cash Reserve Fund balance to approximately $455 million.

The Cash Reserve is not a “savings account” as we might understand it. It is to be used for temporary transfers to the state’s General Fund when balances are not sufficient to process expenditure transactions.  It is important to maintain the Cash Reserve Fund to insure strong financial health for the state in future years. It has also been crucial in years of revenue shortfalls, to help in balancing the budget, which is required by our state constitution.

However, with that $176 million in revenue growth in FY18-19, discussion during the interim has certainly proposed using some of those funds, and funds from future revenue growth projections, to help achieve property tax relief. Early in the session, the Revenue Committee has plans to introduce a proposal to accomplish that. Of course, there will be many additional ideas for utilizing that revenue.

Other major issues of interest during the 2020 session will be:  LB 720, the tax incentive bill for businesses, the Department of Corrections staffing issues and prison overcrowding, deficit funding for the Department of Transportation as well as 2019 flood damage costs of roughly $52 million, and Department of Health and Human Services issues with Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Centers (YRTC) at Geneva and Kearney.

On Monday January 13^th we will begin full floor debate on bills carried over from 2019. Public hearings for new bills will begin on January 21^st. You can access the legislative calendar, daily agenda and information on every bill at www.nebraskalegislature.gov.

In preparation for the session, I have been doing my homework on a wide variety of topics and meeting with a lot of people and organizations. The December schedule included educators and administrators, county officials, public power interests, special needs providers, safety and brain injury protocol proponents, farmers and land owners, University chancellors and the new NU president, Ted Carter.

That, of course, is just the tip of the iceberg. Whatever your interests or concerns are, I encourage you to contact me. Call 402-471-2620 or email mdorn@leg.ne.gov.