It’s been a fun month of basketball for this area. I spent some quality bleacher time the past couple of weekends and it was sure enjoyable to be at the games in person, post covid, and see the boost in economic activity for the city of Lincoln. We want to congratulate all the District 30 boys and girls teams that made it to state – and there were a lot of them – and to Freeman for winning the Boys Class C-2 Championship.

Looking ahead to next week, we hope to get the process moving on debating some bills on the floor. There is finally some consensus between the Speaker and those senators engaging in filibusters, to get specific bills on the schedule. We will also begin to stay into the evening hours for debate, as that is one way to extend the hours available for taking up bills. The Speaker has done a good job of working through the process. There are still a couple of committees hearing bills in the afternoon, with Appropriations being one of those. Once those are completed, we will be on the floor all day long.

LB 401, my bill to expand the Nebraska Mesonet System, was heard by the Appropriations committee on Tuesday. Mesonet is a meteorological term that describes a network of automated weather stations that make hourly observations, and measure and track weather data. These instruments measure the variety of conditions related to drought, flood risks, wind and fire risk, as well as daily management decisions.

The Mesonet has many users; the National Weather Service, the University of Nebraska Climate Office, the Department of Natural Resources, local NRDs, towns and cities, cattlemen and crop producers. In the 1980’s Nebraska was a leader in Mesonet technology. In the 1990’s the state of Oklahoma was interested in establishing a Mesonet network and looked to Nebraska for guidance in setting up their system.

Nebraska has now fallen behind Oklahoma. This is unacceptable. Last year, about one quarter of the sites were shut down, or scheduled for closing. So there is a real fear we could lose all of these automated stations, along with their crucial real time and ongoing climate data. Today a new station costs about $15,000, and the yearly maintenance and technology support is around $2,500.

Besides the fact that this weather data impacts every one of us daily, I believe there are two very important reasons to sustain and expand the mesonet system. First, there are numerous instances of protecting life and property from both wildfires and flooding in just the past couple of years. Secondly, if we want to have an accurate discussion about the climate, we need solid data from a wide area across our state. We can estimate or extrapolate right now about what might be going on in unserved areas, but as we go forward this will be extremely useful information when we have those conversations.

After I introduced LB 401, it became obvious that there are many partners who need to be at the table and develop a long term, sustainable plan for a statewide Mesonet system. I have spoken to a few of those and we agree that the best way forward is to hold the bill in committee over the summer and conduct an interim study with everyone involved. We will be back next year with a strong plan to make Nebraska a leader again in the Mesonet system.

Priority bill designations were due this week. Each senator is allowed one and each committee may designate two. With the limited time remaining in the session, only priority bills will be debated on the floor, and even then, not all bills will be taken up.

A bill prioritized by Sen.Walz of Fremont, LB 516, would create two new grant programs to fund safety related upgrades for Nebraska school buildings, and additional mental health services for students. School shootings across the country motivated Sen.Walz to introduce this bill to pay for infrastructure such as surveillance cameras, door lock systems and double-entry doors. The other portion of the bill would be directed to help schools intervene with mental and behavioral health support to their students. There is also a support for the statewide, anonymous reporting system to support school threat assessment teams. This program is currently funded with federal dollars, which will run out by the end of the next fiscal year. The ultimate goal is to make schools safer and to deal with the mental health issues that figure into that.

My final seven bills will all be heard in committee in the coming days. All of these bills deal with health care in some way. I feel it is vitally important to support our caregivers and facilities, not just in our major population areas, but also our rural communities. These bills cover emergency services, behavioral health, Medicaid assisted living and nursing facilities and inpatient/outpatient care; and a study of provider rates.

I hope you can see from these weekly updates that senators are faced with an incredible range of subject matter. Your input makes a difference in helping us learn about the issues. Contact me any time at mdorn@leg.ne.gov or call 402-471-2620. Check the Unicameral website at www.nebraskalegislature.gov