This week featured a big change in tempo at the Nebraska Legislature. Since January, we have had debate on the floor of the body every morning until around noon, and then committees have met in the afternoon (sometimes late into the evening). By the end of last week, every bill introduced this year had received a public hearing, a requirement of our one-house legislature to ensure that the people of the state have had the opportunity to voice their thoughts on every bill. That requirement being satisfied, the body moved into all-day debate, with only a break around noon for lunch. This will be our format until the last day of session, which is June 2nd.

The previous week, a bill by Senator Williams of Gothenburg easily advanced through the first of three rounds of debate. LB 518 would adopt the Rural Workforce Housing Investment Act, and use existing funds from the largely under-utilized Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and create grants to encourage the building of new workforce housing in rural areas. The issue of available housing in Nebraska is well-known to any rural senator. Without homes to move into, new people cannot move into a community; without new people, businesses cannot expand; without expanding businesses, a community cannot grow. It is a cycle which is holding back the massive potential which exists in Nebraska. I believe that this bill will help to break that cycle.

I introduced LB 256 this session as my own proposal to address workforce housing issues in rural areas. However, as that bill was not prioritized, and there are so many bills for the body still to address this session, it is unlikely to be heard in full debate until 2018. Because of this, and because I believe that addressing the workforce housing shortage is one of the most important things we can do to unleash the great potential of the great state of Nebraska, I signed on to Senator Williams’ bill as a co-sponsor. Fixing this issue is something everything can agree on, regardless of their political ideology, and the fact that the bill was advanced on a vote of 41 to 0 on its first vote attests to that.