For several years running, Sen. Dorn has been voted Gage County’s Most Popular Politician in a contest held by the Beatrice Daily Sun newspaper.
Congrats, Sen. Dorn!

The Legislature adjourned just before Memorial Day but my duties as your representative continue at a fast pace. I am serving on three special committees and studying several issues of local importance before we reconvene in September to take up redistricting.

I was appointed to the Legislature’s LR 141 School Finance Review Committee with ten of my colleagues, under the direction of Education Committee chair Lynne Walz of Fremont. I consider this to be one of the most essential studies to be completed this interim.The first public hearing of the LR 141 study will be held July 7th in Lincoln, the second in Kearney on the 28th. Both begin at 2 pm. More information can be found at www.nebraskalegislature.gov

Another committee appointment was to the Building and Maintenance Committee. Chaired by Sen. Erdman,   this group of senators will examine four different sites, with an emphasis on the condition of these state owned facilities, potential costs and future needs. We began our work at the Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha, where we looked at several projects that have been completed in the past year and some of the other needs that they still have. Later this summer we will be in Lincoln, Hastings and North Platte.

As a member of the Appropriations Committee, I was chosen to sit on the Nebraska Children’s Commission. A half day meeting was held in Lincoln this past week, taking up foster care, how to strengthen families, juvenile services and the Bridge to Independence program. We also listened to public testimony and reviewed the annual report. 

The Beatrice State Developmental Center (BSDC) is always on the list of key topics. Earlier this month, I met with Sen. John Arch of Omaha, who chairs the Health and Human Services Committee, and a parent advocate who has a child residing at BSDC. We are working together to acquaint new members of the HHS committee with our intermediate care facilities in District 30. My staff and I have also monitored the hearings held by the committee, and have been in touch with directors at the state Department of Health and Human Services.

My work with county and district court officials continues this summer. The goal is to formulate legislation which makes the courts fully accessible while cutting costs at the county level. I introduced LB 102 last January, which we are fine tuning for the coming session. 

I have had meetings with the League of Municipalities to explore ways to aid cities and smaller towns in our district. I am keeping up my regular conversations with area school superintendents. A few” zoom” meetings have continued, allowing me to get some quick updates from home as well. Public Health Solutions reports that they have been able to turn their attention to reaching underserved communities and develop programs for opioid addiction – both greatly needed – with the easing of the pandemic.

Also this month, I was able to meet with Governor Ricketts; and had a conversation with state Department of Agriculture director, Steve Wellman. Director Wellman and I talked about issues facing agriculture in Nebraska and what the challenges might be in the future. We also discussed legislation passed in neighboring states and what measures other states are working on for agriculture.

It was my pleasure to speak to the Beatrice Noon Kiwanis Club, and join other senators representing Lancaster county for an OLLI (Ochsner Lifelong Learning Institute) presentation. I participated with other senators in discussions about property tax in Fremont. I also spoke at the Governor’s town hall near Pickrell, and at a board meeting of the Lower Big Blue NRD. And of course, parade season is in full swing all over District 30 where I always enjoy talking with friends and neighbors, as well as the occasional barbecue. 

My staff and I are monitoring the activities in our federal government surrounding meat packers and the President’s conservation plans as well as contributing to various interim studies and public hearings at the state level. You can contact my office at any time  with your input and concerns via phone, email or mail. 402-471-2620.  mdorn@leg.ne.gov  PO Box 94064, Lincoln NE 68509-4604.  Wishing you all a happy and safe 4th of July!

It is a real pleasure to report that LB 103 has been signed into law by the Governor. This was my priority bill, and it appropriates $2M in each of the next two years to counties that meet certain criteria in paying off a federal judgement.  This statute will allow Gage county to receive funds from the state’s general fund and apply the entire amount to the “Beatrice Six” case payment. 

I want to thank the senators, the Board of Supervisors, organizations and constituents who supported LB 103. Your letters and phone calls explaining the burden on the county and the need for this legislation were vital and much appreciated. 

I was appointed to a special committee, outlined in LR 141, to look at school financing. Senators Bostar, Brandt, DeBoer, Flood, Friesen, Groene, McKinney, Pahls, Wishart and Education Committee Chair Walz are the other members charged with reviewing how revenue is collected and distributed to our K-12 public schools. I look forward to diving into the nuts and bolts of school finance and hope we can develop some sorely needed recommendations for reform, no small task.

With final action on a large number of bills, the Legislature has adjourned “sine die” for this session. On Wednesday morning, the body debated LR 134, the resolution which outlines the way we will take up redistricting later this year. The complete list of guidelines can be found on the website at www.nebraskalegislature.gov. Watch for a schedule of public hearings on the calendar tab of the website.

Veto overrides were taken up in the afternoon. Three bills were returned with a veto by the Governor, LB 108, 147 and 306. I supported LBs 108 and 306 which would provide assistance to some of the lowest income earners in our state. Food, shelter and heat are not luxuries but are essential to the health and well being of every person. I supported both of these bills and voted to override the vetoes.

LB 147 would transfer duties and responsibilities for management of the Class V retirement system (Omaha Public Schools) to the Public Employees Retirement Board effective September 1, 2024. The bill specifies accounting and audits that must be completed to accomplish the transition, and identifies the Omaha school district as the party responsible to pay all related costs related to the transfer of management. The bill clarifies that the school district remains solely financially responsible and liable during the transition and after the transfer of management to the Public Employees Retirement Board occurs; and specifies that the State of Nebraska, the Public Employees Retirement Board and the Nebraska Public Employees Retirement System are not liable for any of the funding obligations of the Class V retirement system. I also supported this override motion.

Thursday was largely centered around clean up and bookkeeping procedures that allow the official records of the session to be completed. Governor Ricketts addressed the Legislature, and then the motion to adjourn was approved.  Now the focus will turn to interim studies and special committee work for the next few months. 

The past year has reminded us we can never know the future with any certainty, but conditions definitely look brighter than a year ago. During the interim months when we are not in session, my staff will still be in the office to handle your communications. I will be in the office as needed, and attending events in District 30.  Contact me at mdorn@leg.ne.gov, 402-471-2620, or send your mail to PO Box 94604, Lincoln, NE 68509-4604. Wishing you a safe and productive summer.

Priority Bill

On Thursday, my priority bill, LB 103, was passed on final reading by a vote of 44 to 3. Now we wait to see if the bill is signed into law.  It is my fervent hope that the bill will help the Beatrice 6 receive their funds a little faster and ease the tax burden on the citizens of Gage County. LB 103  would allow the state to appropriate $2 million to Gage County in July of this year and again in 2022, to be used towards paying off the federal judgment.

The session is winding down, but the pace of work has been anything but slower. Around 50 bills have been on the agenda each of the last two days on final reading, interspersed with several hours of filibusters. We will recess for the next four days, necessary for the Governor to sign or veto the bills. Then we will come back next week to take up motions to override, if any, and adjourn “sine die” on Thursday, which becomes the last day of the session. 

Redistricting

Since we already know we will be back in late September to work on redistricting, we will be adjourning just a few days earlier than the allotted time for this session. The pandemic delayed the census numbers, which are required before we draw district maps, so redistricting could not be accomplished inside our sessions’ 90 day time frame. There will be maps for the 49 legislative districts, our three congressional districts, the Supreme Court, Public Service Commission, Board of Regents and State Board of Education. Each of these will have a separate bill with a hearing and debate during the special session this fall. Before we convene, there will also be public hearings in each congressional district during the summer. The dates will be publicized on the legislative website at www.nebraskalegislature.gov. We will be debating LR 134 on Wednesday, the 26th, the resolution that outlines the substantive criteria to be used during the 2021 redistricting process. Note, this is an LR, legislative resolution, not a bill (LB), which can affect your search on the webpage. As with all sessions and hearings, you can watch live on Nebraska Public Media, by clicking on the link on the right side of the webpage noted above. 

Key Legislation

Many important bills were acted on this week, including LB 2 as introduced by Sen. Briese of Albion. Right now, agricultural land is valued at 75% of its actual value for purposes of property taxation. This bill would reduce that further, to 50% of valuation, only when a school district levies taxes to pay for bonds passed by the school district. The bill applies only to new bonds going forward and none already in progress. Some school districts in Nebraska have 90% farm land; the Lincoln and Omaha districts are at less than ½ of 1%. This bill will have a very minimal impact on the two large cities, but will help schools like Beatrice, where you are closer to 30-50% in farms. Ag land has been paying off a greater share of bonds than what they represent as voters. This bill puts the paying of the bond financing on a more even playing field.

A concealed carry bill introduced by Sen. Brewer was scaled back after the State Attorney General advised that it could be unconstitutional in its current form. LB 236 would have allowed counties to authorize residents to carry without a state issued permit. Sen. Brewer offered an amendment on his bill to remove that section and include three other provisions. The bill now allows transportation of firearms in vehicles for lawful purposes  when unloaded, stored in a case. and kept separate from ammunition; permit holders would be notified four months before a permit expires; and given a 30 day grace period to renew after expiration. 

LB 542, a bill introduced by Sen. Walz to allow the state highway commission to issue bonds was discussed on the floor, but is being held over until next session. Working with the Governor and the Nebraska Department of Transportation,  Sen. Walz will come back with the issue in January. In present form, it would allow for $450M in bonds to be paid over 10 years for road construction; 75% of it for an expressway system and federally designated high priority corridors. With talk at the federal level about infrastructure, it is probably best to wait and see how that plays out, especially since road projects for this year are already all bid out, and there are not enough crews available to add much more work this year. 

Sen.Vargas had introduced a bill concerning employee conditions in the meatpacking industry after holding hearings last summer. With improvements in the pandemic, some of the restrictions in the bill were loosened up, and remaining provisions would help ensure sick leave, testing and so on. But senators who opposed the bill did not think it would be necessary in light of increased vaccination rates and lower covid hospitalization cases. The bill was bracketed, which means it will not be taken up again during the session.

It is great to hear about events like the upcoming College World Series expecting to be at full capacity.  We constantly think about those who have lost loved ones and the economic challenges of the past 18 months. But finally we are going in a good direction. Hopefully vaccines continue to be effective and allow people to return to normal. 

Please remember you can contact me at any time at mdorn@leg.ne.gov, call 402-471-2620, or send mail to PO Box 94604, Lincoln NE 68509-4604. Thank you.

My priority bill, LB 103e, to help pay off the federal judgment against Gage County, has passed and just awaits the Governor’s signature to become law.

Sen. Dorn introduced a legislative resolution to honor Larry Dix, who retired as the executive director of the Nebraska Association of County Officials (NACO) after 30 years of service to Nebraska’s county governments.  

Over the past three weeks, the Legislature has frequently met well into the evening to take up as many priority bills as possible. One of those was my bill, LB 103, to help pay off federal judgements against a county. It advanced on a voice vote, and should be on final reading next week sometime. 

The long hours have been used to discuss several higher profile bills. Sen. Lindstrom of Omaha had introduced LB 64 to phase out the income tax on social security. This bill got first round approval, and was amended in the second round by Sen. Stinner, adding intent language to continue phasing out the tax, but not automatically. The idea behind the amendment is the uncertainty of the financial strength of the state that many years out. I would feel more at ease and comfortable with taking it five years at a time. If you had asked people 18 months ago what would be happening in the economy today, no one would believe you. The pandemic caught all of us off guard, and it makes you realize things can change over time, and that it is not a smart business decision to extend yourself out too far.

I have often discussed the amount of money “on the floor” for spending measures. We started with around $210 million and that was increased when the forecasting board met at the end of April to around $248 million. Appropriations Chairman Stinner said this week there is enough left to fit in remaining proposals. We need to make sure we don’t go over that amount, Nebraska’s constitution requires a balanced budget.

Considerable time was spent debating LB496. As introduced by Sen. Hilkeman, the bill would require a DNA sample from a person arrested for certain “crimes of violence” including arson, assault, kidnapping, homicide, sexual assault, robbery, and burglary. If convicted of a felony crime, that sample would be uploaded to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) national database, where it could be compared to other samples. This procedure has solved some crimes in the past. If the person was found not guilty, the sample would be destroyed.  

This generated a lot of conversation about going too far too quickly with DNA technology.  The amended version of LB 496 would not allow the sample to be tested or submitted to the database until after a judicial finding of probable cause; and provides that a DNA record be expunged if the charge is dismissed.

Sen. Wishart’s LB 474 was another discussion that took a full eight hours. Titled as the Medicinal Cannabis Act, Sen. Wishart said it was the most restrictive measure to be introduced in the country among states that have already approved medical cannabis.  Some of the changes she made did make me more comfortable with it, such as who could prescribe and who could dispense medical cannabis. An amendment I liked was filed by Sen. Ben Hansen, which would have tightened it even more, designating just one location in each US House district for growing, dispensing and so on; but the amendment did not come up for a vote.

One part of our discussion focused on the idea that if we didn’t do something this year on medical cannabis,it would be on the ballot in 2022. If the Legislature would have passed it ahead of time, it might have lessened that possibility, but most people think a petition drive will succeed and the issue will be approved by a vote of the people. If that happens, it would become part of our constitution; and the Legislature would be directed to come up with the details of enacting it, just as gambling was on the ballot and passed by a wide margin. Nebraska is one of just two or three states left without cannabis laws. Many other states have passed some form of recreational or medical use statutes.

Those senators who fought against LB 474 pointed out that marijuana is still listed as a Class 1 drug. Also, there is no federal approval, program or guidelines for medical cannabis and states don’t all have the same rules. The debate lasted until a cloture vote could be taken, which needed 33 votes. Thirty-one votes were cast in favor, and the measure was effectively killed for this session in the Legislature.

The Speaker has set a date, with some flexibility built in, to adjourn the session on May 27th. This would be four working days early but would still allow the body to consider any veto overrides that may be filed.  Things have been moving pretty well, we have moved a lot of bills and got some things done. We still have a lot of work to do in the next two weeks and anticipate more late nights on the floor. 

During the interim months, a lot more hard work needs to be done, and one of the biggest issues will be tax restructuring and school funding. The bills we have considered so far have made some improvements but have not sufficiently resolved the concerns we all have. As soon as we adjourn, studies will begin, leaving more time to write new bills to consider in the second half of this biennium next January.

Then of course, we will be back in special session the last two weeks or so of September to work on redistricting, as required in the state constitution. We have been told to expect census numbers to be certified in the August/September time frame. By then we also expect to have fewer restrictions from the pandemic, which will allow us to work more normally and efficiently.

In these last few days of session, please contact me at any time with your concerns or questions. mdorn@leg.ne.gov or call 402-471-2620. 

Last week, the Legislature voted to advance my priority bill, LB 103. This legislation would appropriate $2 million from the General Fund in FY 2021-22 and FY 2022-23 to any county which has a judgment against it from a federal court in excess of $25 million, if the total cost of the judgment exceeds 20% of the county’s annual budget. An amendment specified the method for the State Treasurer to disperse aid to counties and added the requirement that a county has to set its property tax levy at the maximum for each year it receives aid, fifty cents. Aid can be used only for payment of the judgment.

As the residents of District 30 who live in Gage county are well aware, six people were exonerated of committing a crime through DNA testing in 2009. Collectively the group had served more than 70 years in prison. After their release, the group sued Gage County. In 2018, a federal judgement was rendered against Gage County for violation of civil rights. The six were awarded $28.1 million dollars. When you add in attorney fees, interest and other costs to the county, the total is closer to $31 million. 

This judgement is more than three times the yearly property tax collection of Gage County which has a population of a little over 22,000 people.  After the 8th Circuit Court handed down its judgement in 2019, the Gage County Supervisors raised the levy in the county to the maximum .50 cents allowed under law, an increase of 11.76 cents. This tax increase was expected to raise about $3.8 million a year. At that pace, the county taxpayers would expect to pay for at least the next seven and a half years.

In 2019, I brought LB 472 to the Legislature for a ½ cent countywide sales tax to help pay for federal judgements, with the idea of easing the burden on property tax alone, and to get the added revenue from any visitor making a taxable purchase in Gage county. This additional tax which went into effect on January 1, 2020, has brought in around $1.9 million as of April, 2021. These additional funds and future sales tax funds have reduced the payment period down to about six years.

Finally, in August of 2020, the county reached a settlement with the insurance carriers and received $5.96 million. This money has also been applied to the judgement. 

Gage County has exhausted every financial resource available to the county and the taxpayers; by maxing out the property tax levy as required by the judgment, adding that additional ½ cent sales tax, and receiving a settlement from the insurance carriers. The county and its residents have done everything fiscally possible to pay this federal judgement; as well as exhausting every legal option available, every appeal, and even exploring bankruptcy, which was without precedent for a county. 

LB 103 advanced to the second round of debate on a vote of 35 to 3. I will continue to answer any concerns my fellow senators might have about the bill, and hope to see it successfully through passage and the Governor’s signature.

A note about some of the “hot button” bills before us: my office gets a great number of phone calls and emails on these topics. These communications always represent both sides of the issue; relating the impact it may have on them personally, and the strong opinions they have about a certain bill. In general, we all assume that “everyone else” feels like we do on an issue, and that’s fine.

LB 474 is one of those high profile bills generating a lot of calls and emails. The use of medical marijuana in Nebraska has generated earnest feelings and expensive information campaigns on both sides, for and against. Several tax bills, legislative resolutions and constitutional amendments have also resulted in those types of conversations in recent weeks. 

I want you to know I read every message, I talk to experts whenever I can; I study the bill language and examine the financial and societal impacts; and then I listen to the debate between the senators before I decide how to vote. When my vote does not go the way you wanted it to, I do want to assure you, it was cast with a lot of thought and deliberation, with the idea of benefiting the people in greatest need, in the best way possible.

I welcome your calls and emails on every issue before us. You can talk to my staff or leave a message at 402-471-2620, or send your emails to mdorn@leg.ne.gov. My mailing address is PO Box 94604, Lincoln, NE 68509-4604. Thank you for your continued communication.

Sen. Myron Dorn invites students to youth legislature

High school students are invited to take on the role of state senators at the Unicameral Youth Legislature June 13-16. At the State Capitol, student senators will sponsor bills, conduct committee hearings, debate legislation and discover the unique process of the nation’s only unicameral.

The Unicameral Youth Legislature gives behind-the-scenes access to students who have an interest in public office, government, politics, law, public policy, debate or public speaking. Students will learn about the inner workings of the Legislature directly from senators and staff.

“Unicameral Camp is a great way to get an in-depth look at our state’s one-house legislative system,” Dorn said. “As a voter, a citizen, a tax payer, or perhaps as a future office holder, it is so important to be as informed as possible about how our government works.”

The Office of the Clerk of the Nebraska Legislature coordinates the Unicameral Youth Legislature. The University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Extension 4-H Youth Development Office coordinates housing and recreational activities as part of the Big Red Summer Camps program.

To learn more about the program, go to www.NebraskaLegislature.gov/uyl or call (402) 471-2788. The deadline for registration is May 28.