Tuesday, February 27, marks Day 34 of the 60-day session, and this will be the last week of committee hearings. Since all personal, committee, and Speaker priority bills have been named, bills heard this late in committee will need to either be included in one of the committee priority bills or qualify for “consent calendar” if they want to get passed this year. Any bills that fail to pass all three rounds of debate this year will die at the end of the session.

The procedures for consent calendar are outlined in Rule 5, Section 6 of the Legislative Rules. As stipulated in this rule, only bills advanced out of committee with no dissenting votes (nay votes) are eligible for consent calendar. The consent calendar procedures, as outlined in the rules, provide that bills on consent calendar may be removed from the agenda by the written request of five or more Senators. Additionally, the rule provides that bills remaining on consent calendar will be voted on at the expiration of 15 minutes, or when debate ends if less than 15 minutes.

The Speaker has also added his own additional criteria for bills to qualify this session, which has been a common practice amongst prior Speakers. Speaker Arch will consider bills for consent calendar only if the substance and topic of the bill are non-controversial, the bill does not add many changes, the bill does not have General Fund impact or transfer funds to or from the Cash Reserve Fund, and the bill is reported out of committee to General File before a letter of request has been deliver to the Speaker’s office.

Speaker Arch intends to have two rounds of consent calendar bills and requests for bills to be included on the consent calendar are due by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 27 or Thursday, March 7. That means Senators will have to push committees to move quickly if they have bills they want included.

In other news, I was pleased to hear from Senator Clements on Friday that the Appropriations Committee voted unanimously to support LB850. LB850 is a bill I introduced to allow several rural communities to get access to federal American Rescue Plan Act (“ARPA”) funding that was allocated to them last year. After the funds were allocated, it was found that the funding mechanism was in conflict with the ARPA rules. LB850 fixes this flaw. I had intended to request LB850 be included on the consent calendar, but Senator Clements agreed to include the language in LB850 in the budget bill. This ensures a more speedy and less risky path forward.

I also was pleased to learn that Speaker Arch selected LB852 as one of his 25 Speaker Priority bills. LB852 was my durable medical equipment bill and will also include LB32, my Medigap bill, if the committee amendment is adopted. I am very hopeful we can keep this bill package moving and finally get this legislation passed. It is long overdue.

Last week, I also had the opportunity to introduce LB853 (Homestead Exemption bill) to the Revenue Committee. If passed, this bill would allow veterans to receive a Homestead Exemption equal to their percentage of disability, regardless of their age and home value. It would also raise the income limits for those over age 65 to $75,000 per household, or $60,000 for single individuals. It also raises the maximum home value to 350% of the county average or $300,000, whichever is greater. This will solve a problem experienced by those who have older homes in high-priced areas, who could be forced out of their home due to property value increases. This is especially true for homes on the water at Lake Maloney.

So far, the session continues to roll along. I fully anticipate that we will begin to see the process slow as more controversial bills are introduced to the floor. In addition to the budget and tax bills, we will also see at least one social bill. Although we will have all-day floor debate beginning in March, we all know how filibusters can burn through session days. Meanwhile, it is one day at a time.

I look forward to continuing to hear from you regarding issues that are important to you. It is a privilege to serve as your State Senator, and I will continue to give my full effort to make a positive difference for the District and the State. You can reach me at mjacobson@leg.ne.gov or 402-471-2729.