Monday marked the seventieth legislative day.   We have just twenty days left to this session.   Monday morning we voted on and passed 52 bills. These bills now go to the Governor to be signed into law or be vetoed.   If the Governor vetoes a bill, the Legislature then has the right to decide to accept the veto or override the Governor’s veto.   As a reminder, it takes 30 votes in the affirmative to override a Governor’s veto.

The entirety of the afternoon session on Monday dealt with LB595, which would provide for the use of physical force or physical restraint or removal from a class as a response to adverse student behavior.  My office received quite a bit of correspondence from constituents both for and against LB595.  Through rigorous debate, several amendments were proposed.  Clearly this bill raised emotions. LB595 is addressing a real concern – safety and control in the classroom.  I believe that something needs to be done for the safety of all children in the classroom.   My hope is that through further conversations off the floor, changes can be proposed to LB595 to make it an effective bill that will protect the rights of all involved within the classroom environment.

Tuesday marked the start of debate on the biennium budget bills.   Speaker Jim Scheer made it clear that if any Senator would want to add money to the budget for programs or services, “they” would also have to come up with monies (typically from some other program or agency) to pay for this increase.   Hence making their changes budget neutral.

The debate focused on the Appropriation Committee’s proposal to take 15 million dollars each year of the biennium budget from the Highway Cash Fund and redirect those funds to the General Fund.  This Committee recommendation represents an historic departure from the belief that gas tax receipts are for infrastructure spending and instead redirects gas tax revenues for General Fund spending.  This is an unwarranted use and improper use for financing increased General Fund Spending.  Raiding the Highway Cash Fund to subsidize increased state spending is wrong.    Our transportation infrastructure, in my estimation, is a priority for the state of Nebraska. Funds should not be raided to balance a shortfall in General Funds revenues.

Wednesday marked the first late night session.  The prioritization of who in the state of Nebraska will receive Title X federal grant program funds. Title X provides individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventative health services.  None of the Title X funds can be used for abortion services.  After eight hours of debate, at 9:00pm, a cloture vote passed and we moved LB327, the primary budget bill, to Select File.

On the home front, I would like to congratulate Longfellow Elementary on being recognized by Solution Tree as a Model Professional Learning Community at Work.  Longfellow was one of only 118 schools and districts in the United States to receive this honor.  Solution Tree delivers comprehensive professional development to schools and districts around the world. Solution Tree has empowered K–12 educators to raise student achievement through a wide range of services and products. They have offices in North America and Australia.   This is truly a prestigious award for Longfellow Elementary.   They joined Alcott, Lincoln, Hawthorne and Morton Elementary schools along with Hastings Middle Schools as the only schools in the state to receive this national recognition for improving student performance.