The second session of the 107th Legislature is off and running. This is the “short” 60 day session and the second half of a two-year biennium. The first ten days are used for new bill introduction, and all of those bills will have a public hearing in coming weeks. But we also began right away debating bills that were carried over from the first session in 2021. 

Earlier this week, discussion was held on LR 14 by Sen. Halloran, which would include Nebraska in a convention of the states. That bill advanced to the second round of debate.  We also took up Sen. Linehan’s bill LB364 to give tax credits for charitable contributions to private school scholarships. That bill did not advance. LB364 was taken to eight hours of debate and consumed a good part of the week.

The Legislature will convene in the mornings starting on the 18th for floor debate; and will hold committee hearings on new bills each afternoon. We will continue with the bill introduction until the 20th.

At this point, I have a couple of bills that carried over from last year, and have introduced several new bills.  My carry over legislation includes LB102, which would provide for the transfer of duties of clerks of the district court to clerk magistrates to streamline this part of the court system as well as save some money.

Another carry over bill is LB361 which deals with funding for our Educational Service Units. In the past ten years, funding for ESUs has decreased. The bill attempts to restore core service funds to the ESUs.

Many of my new proposals deal with the way we allocate the federal funds known as ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) available to Nebrakans as a result of the pandemic. A couple of other bills make minor changes to existing law to allow full access to appropriated grant fund dollars. We need to take advantage of this one-time influx of cash to our state, and stretch those dollars as far as possible, for as many as possible.

I introduced LB759 to change a limitation relating to microloans under the Business Innovation Act. The cap was last raised in 2015. With inflation, the cap should be closer to $150,000. LB760 requests $5 million in ARPA funds for grants to licensed emergency medical services programs to replace old ambulances and medical equipment. This concept is also a part of the Governor’s proposal.

My bill, LB761 would create the Precision Agriculture Infrastructure Grant Act with $10 million in ARPA funds to provide broadband to ag producers for precision agriculture connectivity, sustainability, traceability and autonomy to accelerate rural economic development.

Provider rates are always of concern in District 30, and I introduced LB762 to appropriate funds for a 10% provider rate increase for behavioral health services through the Department of Health and Human Services. 

A couple of my bills deal with liability and licensing. LB763 would place private airstrips or runways and noncommercial aviation activities under the protection of the recreational liability act.  LB811 would require  out-of-state auctioneers to comply with the Nebraska Real Estate License Act before selling property here in our state.

We have all seen the increase in threats to the grids and networks we rely on. I introduced LB904 to use ARPA funds for an artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity and computer center facility, with a focus on agriculture.  My bill LB969 asks for ARPA funds for the Department of Environment and Energy to improve reliability and resiliency of the electric grid.

Another ARPA fund request is in my bill LB968, allocating federal funds to the Department of Economic Development for affordable housing and job training including housing for refugees, and $2 million for job training. The Governor also has workforce housing development and job training in his proposed budget package.

LB996 is my bill to send federal funds to the Department of Health and Human Services for assisted-living facilities impacted by COVID, incentives for staff recruitment and retention, and assistance with cost of supplies and equipment.

I have two more bills which I will introduce next week (bill numbers have not yet been assigned). The first would direct $5 million in ARPA for scholarships to students entering into nursing programs because of severe nursing shortages now and into the future; and the second one would change the cap in the existing microenterprise program from the current $2 million dollar cap to $3 million and allow access to funds already there.

This will be an extremely busy session, thanks in large part to those federal funds. As a result, I have introduced more bills than I had anticipated. But as I said, we need to take advantage of this significant and rare opportunity, nearly all of them will have a beneficial multiplier effect on our local economy.

The text of every bill introduced, a schedule for hearings, and a means to submit your own written testimony, can all be found at the Legislature’s website:  nebraskalegislature.gov.  I encourage you to weigh in on any issue that concerns you as we progress through the session.  mdorn@leg.ne.gov  402-471-2620 District 30, PO Box 94604, Lincoln, NE 68509-4604