Senator Norm Wallman

We just finished our 75th day of our 90 day session and our discussions of bills that come before us have halted, due to budget concerns. A great example of what I am saying is the fulfillment of a promise made last fall to families. As you may recall, the Legislature was called back into special session and Nebraska passed a new safe haven bill that allowed mothers a secure way to surrender a newborn, up to 30 days instead of children up to 18 years, at a Nebraska hospital and are exempt from prosecution for child abandonment. There are a lot of families out there that need help with older children and the bills before us now address those concerns. Unfortunately, there is no practical way the Legislature can find the funds (estimated $120 million) to pay for all the great ideas. Our Speaker pulled the sponsoring senators together and told them they need to agree on a package of proposals and to keep it affordable. Eleven senators agreed to resolve the safe haven related legislation and I was pleased to be a part of this committee. The compromise package, LB 603, would create a statewide crisis hot line, hire people to help families navigate the behavioral health system and expand mental health services. It would offer health coverage for more children in low-income families and address the shortage of behavioral health professionals in Nebraska. It also would create a legislative oversight group to study the issues and monitor progress. Together, the measures are estimated to cost $16 million during the next two fiscal years. We voted 41-1 to advance a compromise package that addresses the former safe haven issue.

The state’s budget problem grew by about $94.5 million in April, primarily from capital gains reported on income tax returns. We have to base our two-year budget on these new forecasts. We have three options for covering this hole: (1) cut state spending where agencies already are facing 3% or less growth, (2) dig deeper (already plan to use about $190 million to balance budget) into our state’s cash reserve, or (3) raise taxes, and no one is suggesting this route. The Appropriations met again to address this gap, using about $56 million (in addition to the $190 million already proposed) from the state’s cash reserve built up over good economic times, another $31 million from the federal government to the state’s Medicaid program, due to higher than normal unemployment in Nebraska, and the rest from paring down provider rates from doctors who care for Medicaid patients, University of Nebraska, and state and community colleges. The budget bills brought to the entire Legislative body, proposed by the Appropriations Committee, provide a 1 percent average growth in state spending and would reduce the $566 million cash reserve by a little less than half. Fortunately, our $6.9 billion, two-year budget for 2009-11 was strengthened by more than $500 million in federal stimulus money. However, projections show that in the next budget cycle of 2011-13, the spending increase could jump to 8.5% with the loss of that extra money. The budget bills passed on general file.

As you may all recall we had a vote on school aid (LB545) a couple of weeks ago that failed. This bill was meant to slow growth in state aid but lengthy discussion by Omaha senators on the effects of the proposal to Omaha Public Schools concerned them. Speaker Flood designated this bill as a “speaker’s major proposal,” received approval from the Executive Board by a two-third’s majority vote, and the first round of debate, once again, began last week. The Education Committee Chairman Greg Adams found a resolution by a proposed reduction in what school districts could be asked to contribute to employee retirement funds, which freed up money for the state aid formula. The compromise agreement between Senators Council, Fischer and Adams would mean a smaller reduction in a school funding provision called the averaging adjustment. The adjustment goes to 26 (among the largest) of the state’s 254 school districts and would reduce the growth in the averaging adjustment by $30 million instead of the original reduction growth of $60 million. However, we have not seen the adjusted figures of how it affects individual districts, so it remains to be seen whether the second round of debate will be contentious.

I gave the first round approval of LB 160, which gives bonding power to a natural resource district. The bill would allow the Omaha-area NRD to help solve potentially serious flash flooding issues. Bond money may also be used for projects intended to clean run-off water, including small reservoirs that collect water and filter it naturally into a wetland. The measure does not require a vote of citizens in the Papio district but it does require a supermajority, two-thirds vote of the NRD’s board of directors. It limits the NRD to using 1 cent of its property tax levy to pay for bonds. That would permit a $150 million, 20-year bond. The NRD could use more than 1 cent of its levy to finance a bond, but that would require voter approval.

Senator Norm Wallman

I was pleased we passed unanimously LB 511 on final reading, a bill I introduced and a bill the Speaker found to be worthy to prioritize. LB 511 would amend the present Nebraska Certificate of Need Act to exempt from provisions of the Act Intermediate Care Facilities for the Mentally Retarded (ICF-MR) of 15 or fewer beds. The change is necessary because the present statue imposes a moratorium on the addition of any long-term care beds anywhere in Nebraska, except for ten beds per year or ten percent of a facility’s licensed beds, whichever is fewer. It is important to understand that the enactment of this bill will not necessarily lead to the establishment of small ICF-MR in Nebraska. What the bill will do is allow the option to be on the table, should the state wish to pursue it, now or at some future time. Without the change to the Certificate of Need Act by LB 511, the establishment of even one ICF-MR would be illegal. The Governor signed this legislation into law on April 22.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday afternoon we debated on LB545, the state aid distribution formula for the coming two budget years. Senator Adams, the Education Chairman, explained the idea of slowing down the growth in state aid over the next two years by $60 million. With the federal stimulus money of $234 million, state aid would grow by 10 percent next year and by an additional 8 percent the following year. The “slowing down the growth” formula change, according to Senator Adams, is necessary to prepare for what might be tougher economic times down the road. Omaha senators mostly objected about not getting full funding (projected to grow by $295 million) that was adopted by the Legislature last year. Omaha Senator Tom White told senators they can’t stop at least trying to close the gap of unequal division of state aid dollars in funding or Nebraska faces the possibility of lawsuits. He said the averaging adjustment (a provision in the funding formula that goes to 26, mostly the largest, of the state’s 254 school districts) was vital in the Omaha, Grand Island, Lexington, and South Sioux City school districts deciding to drop their school funding lawsuit last year. The five-year legal battle cost the state and the school districts more than $12 million.

Nebraska’s school aid formula calculates how much money each district needs to educate its children, then subtracts what the district can get from property taxes and other funding sources. The gap is to be filled with state tax dollars. Two attempts at compromise by Omaha Senator Brenda Council and Brad Ashford failed. At the end of the day, the measure fell short of getting the 33 votes needed to stop debate. After hearing some senators saying there wasn’t enough money to compromise and others who said extra dollars wouldn’t break the bank, I didn’t feel comfortable in voting. I think we need to see “real” numbers before we can distribute our education funds.

LB 545 was not on the agenda Thursday and the Legislature didn’t meet on Friday. Speaker Flood said he hasn’t decided what to do in bringing the bill back for more debate. If nothing is done, all schools will continue with the current funding structure.

We gave first round approval to a bill sponsored by Senator Ken Haar of Lincoln that would require suppliers of electricity in the state to accept “net metering” for small customers. This would let small customers with wind turbines and solar panels to sell excess electricity to suppliers. This is only a first step. In coming years, we will work on broadening the requirements to include larger customers who can supply more electricity to a grid. The state’s publicly owned power industry needs to focus on developing “smart metering” and a “smart grid” for Nebraska. Smart meters will allow variable pricing that will permit thrifty and environmentally concerned customers to adjust their consumption patterns to avoid spikes in demand. For example, customers might turn off their air conditioners for a few hours or avoid using their electric ovens or dryers on summer evenings if they knew they could save money. The smart grid is partly a matter of improved technology and part a change in the rate structure for electricity. This summer, the Legislature will study on how Nebraska can develop more wind farms to help determine how much energy could be captured, transmitted, Nebraska’s usage and how much could be exported.

The Papio-Missouri Natural Resources District is seeking the bonding authority to quickly build five to seven dams and other flood-control measures and then finance the project over several years, due to a 25-30 percent increase in storm runoff in the basin over the past four decades. Senator Gay, the introducer of LB 160, says the Papillion Creek Watershed is one of the most dangerous in the Midwest and says it’s not a question of “‘if’ we have a devastating flood, it’s ‘when.” An amended version of the bill would allow the Papio NRD Board, by a two-thirds vote, to approve a bond issue that would require up to a 1-cent increase in the NRD’s property tax levy. Several of us are opposed to this authority and believe voters need to okay such tax increases. However, others believe it would be difficult to attain voter approval if some district voters live 100 miles away from any given project. The bill is still pending but has not passed general file.

Two weeks ago the Governor met with the BSDC Investigative Committee to share his ideas for the Beatrice center. He plans to reduce the center from 198 residents to 90-120 over the next two years, keeping those who have a serious mental illness or behaviors so risky they are a danger to themselves or cannot be safely served in the community. An interim CEO has been hired, Claire Mahon, to get BSDC recertified as part of the Medicaid program. Dr. Theodore Kastner, a New Jersey physician was hired to evaluate clients and I was uplifted to hear him promise the guardians they would be an integral part of his assessment process. The state is currently working with local agencies, like Mosaic, to create a number of small, six-bed group homes. ENCOR, the largest provider in the Omaha area, will open a second six-bed home with nursing staff on duty for medically needy residents. I remain concerned about the people taken from the center to hospitals; not just because of the two more recent deaths that could have been caused by the stress of the move, but those being moved into nursing homes. I continue to visit with family members to keep in touch with their assessments, visit the BSDC residents at our Lincoln hospitals and in Beatrice, push for the passage of LB68, which requires Legislative approval before BSDC can close, and continue to serve on the Developmental Disabilities Special Investigative Committee for the next two years, as directed by our Executive Board of the Legislative Council, to get further answers.

This past Monday, I had a Health and Human Services Executive Session and my bill, LB 68, and again; this bill would require Legislative approval before the Department of Health and Human Services could close the Beatrice State Development Center (BSDC), was put on a hold status. The committee discussed Beatrice for over an hour but, at that time, we decided to neither advance nor kill it. Thursday was the last day to prioritize a bill and I chose LB 68. A priority bill is generally considered ahead of other bills in debate and each senator may select one. Also that morning the Health and Human Services met again and we took a vote to move LB 68 to General File for the entire body to discuss further. It did not pass but it is not indefinitely postponed either. Although I want the bill to go before the entire Legislature, it has served a purpose and that was for the Governor to make a public commitment to the Beatrice Center. The importance of LB 68 is to ensure that the Governor keeps Beatrice foremost in his mind to make strides forward. A second bill, LB 267 by Senator Lathrop, was heard before the Business and Labor Committee Monday, of which I am a member, which would prohibit the state from forcing employees to work overtime in all state institutions, including state’s veterans homes, regional centers, youth treatment and rehabilitation centers and prisons. This would include Beatrice. Presently, employees are required to work overtime or risk disciplinary measures. Federal inspectors cited mandatory overtime and staff shortages as contributing to the care problems at BSDC. We took no immediate action on the bill.

Last week we began debate whether people wrongly convicted of felonies in the state should be compensated monetarily and it didn’t take long before apprehension surfaced with LB 260, introduced by Senator Kent Rogert, in the wake of the exonerations of six people in the 1985 murder of Helen Wilson of Beatrice. The Beatrice 6 represents the most people exonerated through DNA evidence in one case in the nation’s history. The bill began with $50,000 but an amendment to the bill lowered the compensation to $25,000 for each year of imprisonment. The wrongly convicted could also receive compensation for lost wages, housing, health insurance, college tuition, and up to $75,000 in attorney fees. I spoke that morning and pointed out to my colleagues that several of the six pleaded guilty or no contest in the murder and believe this bill could become, as I stated “Pandora’s box, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.” The second day I introduced an amendment that would give former inmates $10,000 for each year of imprisonment. The great-granddaughter of Helen Wilson e-mailed all the senators and I read part of her message on the floor of how that day is etched in her memory forever. She was confused then; she is confused today, and she urged senators to fully evaluate every aspect of the bill before voting. After much debate and the last vote of the morning session, my amendment failed by five votes. The third day Senators backed off their list of pending amendments and we advanced the bill by agreeing to work out some of the issues before it returns for second-round debate. Those issues include a cap on compensation and what other compensations should be awarded to the person.

Several bills are being considered that addresses the safe haven issue. As you may recall, the Legislature was called back into special session last fall by the Governor and Nebraska passed a new safe haven bill that allowed mothers a secure way to surrender a newborn, up to 30 days instead of children up to 18 years, at a Nebraska hospital and are exempt from prosecution for child abandonment. I voted for the bill but was very aware that we have many problems that deal with our youth, too. There are a lot of families out there that need help and the bills before us now address those concerns. Unfortunately, there is no practical way the Legislature can find the funds to pay for all of the great ideas. Our Speaker pulled the sponsoring senators together and told them they need to agree on a package of proposals and to keep it affordable. Eleven senators agreed to resolve the safe haven related legislation and I am pleased to be on this committee to help our “kids” of Nebraska.

Nebraska will get around $1 billion overall from the federal stimulus package for drinking water and wastewater systems. Nearly $40 million in federal stimulus money will get off the ground in two to four weeks. Sixteen cities will share $19.5 million for upgrades to public water systems and 16 cities will get $20 million for improvements to wastewater treatment facilities. The money will be combined with $34 million from the state’s existing loan fund. District 30 was awarded stimulus funds in Hickman to construct a new water treatment plant and replace mains to remedy iron, manganese and coli form bacteria issues, Wymore will construct new wells or a water treatment plant, and Bennet will replace existing water mains. Cities that didn’t get any money at this time will get moved up in the process, so that’s positive news.