I have often said that Thanksgiving is the forgotten holiday. At one time, the day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday) marked the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. However, over the years, national retailers have begun promoting Christmas shopping the day after Halloween. This not only makes it difficult to find Thanksgiving-themed decorations but also makes the holiday itself secondary to other holidays. Don’t get me wrong, Christmas will always be the most important holiday, but taking time to be thankful for all our blessings is important. Far too many people are looking for more as opposed to being thankful for what they have. There is a difference between needs and wants. But you will get different opinions from different people.

Our family celebrated Thanksgiving in Lincoln, where we had nearly 15 for Thanksgiving dinner. Julie is a tremendous cook, and the food was great, but I now have a new appreciation for all the work that goes into preparing a feast for a large group. We have been enjoying leftovers since. Of course, we enjoyed most of the Iowa/Nebraska football game Friday night. The last minute of the game was not fun to watch, but somehow, I felt like I had seen that game last year (and the year before). I will always be a Husker fan and always look to the next season as the one that takes us back to where we need to be. Watching our amazing volleyball team fall to Penn State was also hard, but that loss may serve them well as they move through the playoffs.

This past week, the North Platte Planning Commission discussed possible regulations to limit the expansion of cryptocurrency miners in North Platte. This is a subject that caught my attention during the last legislative session. There was a bill introduced that, if approved, would have limited any steps that cities and counties might take to make zoning requirements more restrictive for crypto miners versus any other commercial business wishing to locate inside their jurisdiction. The bill was referenced to the Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee where I currently serve as the vice-chair.

The more I studied the issues, it became clear that in addition to the noise they create and the lack of any real economic benefits (jobs, property taxes, income taxes, etc.), these facilities are huge users of power. The largest facility currently operating in the state of Nebraska is on the east edge of Kearney. That facility is housed in steel storage containers and uses more electricity than all other Kearney users combined. Yes, more than the entire city of Kearney. As these facilities continue to grow, the demand on our power grid limits efforts to attract manufacturing and other traditional firms that would locate in Nebraska. These firms hire workers, build buildings that grow our property tax base, and attract support businesses. In my mind, there is no question which industry would be preferred. The Kearney facility does pay sales taxes on the energy consumed, but the net cost to communities is out of balance.

What compounds this issue is the rapid increase in the price of Bitcoin ($100,000/coin high water mark), the growing adoption of Artificial Intelligence, and the need for computer storage for this technology. Today, most of these firms are headquartered out of state and bring no real economic benefit to Nebraska compared to the need for our electricity resource. I have been working with the Governor’s office to craft a bill to be introduced in the 109th Legislature to bring more tools to the cities and counties to control the expansion of these businesses. Since there are federal restrictions on discrimination against these businesses, we have to look at creative solutions. One option is to create a new tax that would ensure they are making the same financial contribution to communities as other businesses or, in the alternative, deter too many from entering the state. Many new facilities are growing in rural Nebraska where the owners believe no one will notice. I noticed. I will keep you posted on this issue as we move forward.

I look forward to continuing to hear from you about 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.