Weekly District 30 Update – 2/14/25

State Senator Myron Dorn

Southeast Nebraska finally received its first significant snowfall on Wednesday, February 12th. Schools closed, events were cancelled and the legislature convened and held its hearings as usual.

Extended floor debate focused LB 241 this week. The bill would establish liability protections for private entities in the event of a cybersecurity data breach unless the breach was caused by willful, wanton, or gross negligence on the part of the company. Senator Bob Hallstrom, put the bill forward as a way to protect small businesses who are at risk of having to payout large settlements. Opponents argued this bill would not hold companies accountable in the event they are actually negligent with your personal information. I believe we need to protect our small companies from class action lawsuits. By adding the ‘gross negligence’ as a cause for action, places a higher burden on those wishing to sue. Companies can take many precautions but hackers are out there constantly working to breach the firewalls protecting data. After four hours of debate, the bill advanced to the second round of debate on a vote of 33 – 9.

Also on the agenda are two competing bills, one to keep daylight saving time year-round, LB 34 by Senator Megan Hunt of Omaha, and LB 302 by Senator Dave Murman, to abolish daylight saving time and use standard time year-round. Both bills were advanced by the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs committee on an 8 – 0 vote. If the on-line comments are any reflection of the unicameral, there were 32 comments supporting LB 34 and 32 comments supporting LB 304. However, if Nebraska did go with LB 34, there would have to be change in federal law allowing this or an order from the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, and at least three adjacent states to Nebraska would adopt the same standard. I would be supporting year round day light saving time.

We continue to move other not so controversial bills from General File (first round of debate) to Select File (second round). By next week, we will even have a few bills ready for final reading.

Committee hearings are tackling some big issues, many of which tend to be very controversial. The Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee on Friday the 7th heard over 10 hours of testimony on LB 89 by Senator Kathleen Kauth. The bill would restrict K-12 student participation in school sports to teams that correspond to their “biological sex”. K-12 public and private schools would have to designate bathrooms and lockers based on the bill’s definition of biological sex. The committee has not taken any action on the bill yet. If this bill makes it to the full Legislature for debate, I will be supporting the bill.

Senator Tom Brandt will introduce LB 317 to the Natural Resources Committee on February 13th. This bill would combine the Department of Natural Resources into the Department of Environment and Energy. The new agency would be renamed to the Department of Water, Energy and Environment. The bill was introduced on behalf of the Governor. This is an attempt to streamline and consolidate agencies that have similar functions and overlap environmental issues. A number of years ago the Department of Energy was placed within the Department of Environmental Quality. And now LB 317 merges these agencies even further. I would support this bill.

Lastly, on February 10th, the Education Committee heard LB 303 offered by Senator Jana Hughes of Seward. This bill is a rerun of LB 9 from the Special Session. I was a co-sponsor on LB 9 and am a co-sponsor of LB 303. The bill makes adjustments to the Tax Equity and Education Opportunities Scholarship Act (TEEOSA) which is the funding mechanism used to provide equalization aid to schools across the state. The bill would increase foundation aid from $1500 per formula student to $1590 per formula student; drops the maximum levy for schools for $1.05 to $1.02 per $100 of taxable valuation; creates a base levy adjustment; and creates a School Finance Reform Commission. The bill was well received and had support of both rural and urban schools. Senator Hughes worked with a small group of senators, both democrats and republicans to develop this bill. The committee has not taken action on the bill to date.

My contact information is mdorn@leg.ne.gov and 402-471-2620. As always, I appreciate hearing from you.