As we moved into the three-day weekend, we completed the first eight days of the 60-day session. The first part of last week was devoted to bill introduction, with Thursday dedicated to rules debate. Friday was simply a check-in day due to the snowstorm in Lincoln, so we simply called the session to order and took an hour or so to introduce bills prior to adjourning until Tuesday morning, January 16, at 10:00 a.m. As of Friday morning, 354 new bills were introduced with two more days of bill introduction left, and 21 priority bills have been designated. Three of those priority bills were Speaker priorities. I also was notified that three of my bills have been scheduled for hearings the week of January 22. I also have confirmation that LB31 will get a committee vote. I am confident that I have the votes to get it out of committee and onto the floor. Given the early priority status, I expect to get it heard on the floor for the first round of General File debate early in the session.

The Speaker has made it clear that he wants to finish up the rules debate by the end of the day on Friday, January 19 (Day 12). Floor debate will begin the week of January 22, with morning debate followed by afternoon committee hearings. For those who have been watching the Legislature, you likely have noticed that we have what I can best describe as a “Friendly Filibuster” going on with the proposed rule changes. The minority in the body do not want the more controversial rules to pass, so they are slow-walking the rules that are simply technical in nature, so time will run out before we get to the more substantive rule changes. Since a rules debate cannot be stopped with a cloture vote, it is hard to change the rules unless there is nearly unanimous agreement. Any rule perceived to reduce minority rights will likely not get unanimous agreement.

When we speak of minority rights, we are not just speaking of the ratio of Democrats to Republicans. Speaker Arch made a very important floor speech last week when he mentioned that the protection of minority rights could also extend to rural vs. urban and other divisions of the body because of issues that create differences of opinion. We got a dose of that last week when many were vocal about opposing the Governor’s intent to support a sales tax rate increase to provide more property tax relief through direct property tax rebates. It was clear that many conservatives did not want to support the plan to shift taxes from one form, perceiving it as a tax increase. I support the Governor’s goal to either expand the sales tax base and/or increase the rate to create funding to increase the existing property tax credit. In this case, many living in larger cities believe that the cities collect a much higher percentage of sales taxes, yet rural Nebraska would benefit more from a direct property tax credit if it were distributed equally. The moral of this story is to remind yourself that if the state ever gets control of all funding sources, the distribution to rural Nebraska would be severely reduced. Being in the minority can be a problem if that happens.

I also want to address LR276, introduced this past week by Senator Ibach, which I agreed to co-sponsor along with Senator Brewer. The legislative resolution urges Congress to change the current boundary lines that divide the Central Standard Time Zone and Mountain Standard Time Zone by moving it west to the Colorado/Nebraska state lines and then north from there to line up with the western state boundaries of North and South Dakota. The intent of the change would be to help counties and school districts in southwest Nebraska be in the same time zone. However, it also would solve a problem that many residents in Hooker County have experienced with their television feed. Many residents in Mullen have asked me to find a way to allow those who live in Mullen to receive the TV news feed from North Platte’s KNOP as opposed to a Denver news affiliate. Residents in Mullen use services in North Platte and want to see news and advertising from North Platte, not Denver. News feeds are determined by the Nielsen ratings group, who use time zones to determine your TV station feed. Although this resolution is nonbinding, if passed, it would encourage Congress to consider this request if other states affected would do the same. Senator Ibach and I have both heard from constituents for and against this change. I would encourage you to reach out to us with your opinion on this bill. I should note that this bill is not a Daylight Savings Time bill. That is a separate issue that could also be taken up with this issue.

As we start to get into the substance of the session, I believe it would be a mistake to assume that it will be filled with filibusters. That does not mean that we will not see filibusters along the way, but there are far too many in the minority who want their bills passed this year. This is certainly the case for those who are term-limited. There is much we can agree on, and I think that we will see several bills passed this year with strong bipartisan support.

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.