The second session of the 108^th Legislature began last Wednesday, January 3. The first three days of the 60-day session are in the books! Our first order of business was to elect Sen. Ray Aguilar to serve as Chair of the Executive Board following Tom Briese’s resignation to take the post of our State Treasurer. Sen. John Lowe was elected to replace Sen. Aguilar as Vice Chair, and I was honored to be selected by my caucus to serve as the additional Third Congressional District Representative. As promised, I also named LB31 (Two-Person Crew) as my personal priority bill on Day One. In fact, it was the first priority designation to be read into the record this session.

Although the session will go fast, I am very focused on getting my proposed legislation across the finish line this year. I have introduced seven new bills so far, and intend to introduce a few more bills before the end of bill introduction on January 17. I spent much of the interim working on new and pending legislation so that I could get to the bill drafters early. As you may have guessed, the bill drafters are very busy now and it is likely any new ideas may not get drafted into legislation before the deadline to file passes. I continue to get ideas sent to me by constituents and, although it may be too late to draft a new bill, there may be opportunities to amend other bills to include issues raised depending upon the subject matter. So please continue to keep me informed about your concerns, but understand that getting an additional standalone bill introduced this year is unlikely.

In addition to passing LB31, I will focus on getting LB32, the Medigap bill, passed. After several meetings with the health insurance industry and the supporters of the bill, I have drafted an amendment that I believe is the best compromise to ensure that the bill can pass while keeping Medicare supplement premiums affordable for those already enrolled in these plans. There will certainly be those who disagree with the compromise, but I believe that several hundred Nebraskans will now have coverage that will likely keep many of them out of bankruptcy and allow them to have the care they need. This is one of the best parts of serving as your State Senator.

The other major bill I introduced this session is LB853, which affects the Homestead Exemption. After meeting with Lincoln County Assessor Julie Stenger this summer, I decided to make this legislation a priority to help both our elderly and our Veterans stay in their homes. Julie, like many county assessors across Nebraska, take their jobs seriously and in some cases find existing rules inconsistent with the objectives of the law. Julie shared with me an anonymous situation where a widow living in a modest home on Lake Maloney has lost her homestead exemption because the value of the land has risen so much over the past two years (due to market demand for lake lots) that she no longer meets the home value limitation. Meanwhile, she lives on social security, and her home is valued well under $100,000 when the lot is not included. I also have heard of far too many Veterans who are less than 100% disabled and unable to qualify for this exemption. After working with the Governor’s property tax working group this past summer, I have concluded that a change needs to be made in this exemption to better carry out the original intent of the law.

Today, you can qualify for a homestead exemption if you are over the age of 65, fall below a certain income level, and have a home that does not exceed a certain maximum value. You also qualify if you are a Veteran who is 100% disabled. LB853 raised the maximum income level and the maximum home value for those over the age of 65. It also makes provisions for Veterans who are disabled at something less than 100%. The bill, if adopted would allow Veterans to qualify for a homestead exemption equal to their percentage of disability (i.e., a 50% disabled Veteran would have their property taxes cut in half). It is important to keep in mind that a homestead exemption allows for a qualified homeowner to avoid paying local property taxes, but the local political subdivisions are fully reimbursed by the State. Therefore, other property taxpayers are unaffected.

Although property taxes are only assessed by local political subdivisions, the State can play a role in reducing the net cost of your taxes in four ways. First, the State can provide direct credits to each taxpayer through a property tax credit, allow for a homestead exemption, increase funding to local public schools to offset their property tax ask, or cap the amount a political subdivision can tax. At this point in time, the State is using each of these methods to help reduce local property taxes. I can assure you that the Governor and the Legislature is working to adjust each of these methods to find the right balance to reduce the property tax burden. I will discuss this further in future articles.

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 by calling my legislative office at 402-471-2729.

This week marks the beginning of the second half of the 108^th Legislative session, which officially begins on Wednesday, January 3. The first few days are reserved for bill introduction, as well as the Rules Committee’s consideration of proposed rule changes. We will begin all-day rules debate on January 10, continuing through the following Friday if necessary.

I plan to introduce most of my bills on Day One and immediately begin working the committee chairs to secure early hearings, with the goal of getting them to the floor quickly. As promised, my staff delivered my priority designation of LB31 (Two-Person Crew bill) to the Speaker last week. I have gotten back from the health insurance industry the final draft of the amendments to LB32 Medi-gap so I can get the amendment approved by the Banking, Commerce, and Insurance Committee and sent to the floor.

As many of you may recall, after the ballot initiative passed allowing gambling in the state, the Legislature passed language regulating casino operations. State law allowed the Gaming and Racing Commission to approve casino operations at the existing race track facilities but did not allow them to approve any new race track construction until a study was completed examining the new sites’ impact on racing and gaming in the state. The study was to be completed no later than January 1, 2025.

As of this time last year, the study had not yet been started and several in the Legislature wanted to pressure the Commission to keep moving forward. As a result, I introduced a bill to allow the Commission to approve additional sites west of the 100^th Meridian without the need to wait for the study to be completed. Since all the existing racetrack facilities were in the eastern third of the state, I saw no reason that western Nebraska should continue to be deprived of the economic benefit of a racing and gaming facility.

Although I have made it clear in the past that I am not a gambler (unless you include farming and banking as gambling), since gambling is here in the state, our part of the state should be allowed to enjoy the economic benefits of the tax revenue if we were going to be saddled with the negative effects of gambling in our communities. At that time, both North Platte and Ogallala had operators interested in locating a racetrack and casino in their respective communities. Ogallala still has an operator ready to move forward, but the interest in a North Platte site has cooled. They purchased land, but have not moved forward at this time with a proposal to apply for a license.

Meanwhile, the Racing and Gaming Commission has completed their study, and the results of that study were released last week. I must say that the results were confusing, to say the least. According to the results, the number one location identified to be granted a license was Bellevue, and the primary sites out west that were identified were Kimball, Gering, and McCook. North Platte and Ogallala were lower on the list.

The Racing and Gaming Commission only needed to have the study completed to move forward but had no requirements to follow the recommendations of the study. I can assure you that there will be a major pushback by the legacy tracks against Bellevue adding a facility. I can also assure you that North Platte and Ogallala would be seen as more attractive than the other towns mentioned. In the end, however, the next steps will come from the Racing and Gaming Commission and not the Legislature.

I am looking forward to the beginning of the session and will plan to keep you updated each week regarding legislative activities. I also plan to reinstate my weekly call in with the North Platte Chamber and Development Corporation. This call is open to anyone in District 42, and you can join in person or on the phone; the day and time are still to be determined.

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 by calling my legislative office at 402-471-2729.