The first ten days of the legislative session is the only time when new bills can be introduced in the Nebraska Legislature. During this time, I introduced seven bills, but two of them will probably be of the greatest interest to the people of the 41st District, and will probably create the most controversy, as well. They are LB 312 and LB 313. These two bills together work to provide real property tax relief to hard-working Nebraskans, in conjunction with proposals by other senators this year. I want the people of the 41st district to understand that LB 313 and LB 312 represent months of hard work by many people to ensure that property taxpayers all over Nebraska – on our farms, in our cities, and in our rural communities – receive the property tax relief they deserve. Both bills will create a new fund for property tax relief which will distribute property tax credit refunds back on a dollar-for-dollar basis to all property taxpayers. LB 312 does this by removing decades’ worth of exemptions carved into Nebraska sales taxes by special interests, and LB 313 does this by moving the sales tax rate up by one percent. Both bills then direct all new additional money raised from sales taxes first to raise the state earned income tax credit, thereby paying back the least fortunate among us who spend the greatest proportion of their money on purchased items, and then directing the entire remainder of the money to property tax credits.
In addition to those two bills, I have introduced a bill to ensure that parents with disabilities are not discriminated against in custody and adoption decisions; a bill to allow our local communities to enact vacant property registration ordinances; a bill to keep Nebraska’s roads in compliance with federal highway regulations; and a bill to help protect physical security and cyber security for our energy infrastructure. If you’d like to find out more about these or any bills, simply go to www.nebraskalegislature.com and click on “search bills.”
As always, you can reach my office at (402) 471-2631. I look forward to hearing from you!