Monday, March 23, marks Day 48 of the 60-day session. The Legislature will meet for four days each of the next three weeks, and then could return on April 17 for Day 60 to discuss any remaining veto overrides. This schedule leaves little time to debate all the remaining priority bills, especially those being considered for the first time.

The Speaker has scheduled five bills to start Monday’s session that are “consent calendar” bills. To qualify for the consent calendar, a bill must have had no opposition testimony, been unanimously voted out of committee, and not create a new program. These bills generally have strong support and garner very little debate. Debate on consent calendar bills is also limited to no more than 15 minutes before a vote is taken. Only one committee amendment is allowed for the bill to move forward.

My LB525 is also scheduled for Monday. LB525 is my personal priority bill that creates the first-of-its-kind Ag data privacy protection for agricultural producers. The bill has strong support from the ag community and should pass with limited debate. I did allow Senator Bostar to add his AI bill to help him get it across the finish line. Getting this bill scheduled is huge, given the limited time remaining in the session.

The Agriculture Committee held a hearing this past week on AM2503, which changes fees and surcharges under the Brand Law. This amendment would be added to and replace the introduced version of LB1187. AM1187 was prioritized by Senator Dorn and will be the only viable brand bill this year. The committee is expected to meet on Monday in executive session to consider approval of AM2503 or any additional changes. This amendment is very controversial and, unless there is a compromise that all parties can agree to, the bill will remain controversial and have a hard time getting scheduled by the Speaker since it would likely be filibustered through all stages of debate. However, if a compromise can be reached, the bill would certainly be scheduled since it could get approved with little debate, and we could dispose of an issue that has taken multiple years to resolve. It will be up to the Agriculture Committee to make the right decision.

Last week was dominated by debate over the budget. After all the debate over many issues, the one issue that stands in the way of a final budget vote is the issue of stopgap funding for opportunity scholarships for low-income students. The question is whether the Legislature should fund one year, approximately $3.5 million, of these scholarships to fill the gap between now and when the federal tax credits take effect. This was included in the original budget proposal but was pulled at the last minute by the Appropriations Committee chair because the votes were not there to get cloture on the budget if it was included. In the end, several conservative Senators pushed back by not voting for cloture because it was not included, and the cloture vote failed with only 19 “yes” votes.

There were various reasons for senators voting the way they did on the budget, but opportunity scholarships played the biggest role. The Speaker and I have visited, and he will bring the budget bill (LB1071) back this week once a path forward is negotiated. In the end, I will vote in favor of the budget regardless of how these negotiations turn out. The Legislature has one responsibility: to pass a balanced budget.

Finally, I want to express my ongoing gratitude to all of the firefighters and first responders, paid and volunteer, who are working on the wildfires in Nebraska. It is also so heartwarming to see the outpouring of donations to those affected by the fires, especially for our ag producers. Our resiliency and sense of community are what make us Nebraskans, and we will be dealing with the impacts of these fires for months and years to come.

It continues to be a privilege to represent you in the Nebraska Legislature, and I look forward to hearing from you regarding issues that are important to you. I can be reached at 402-471-2729 or by emailing me at mjacobson@leg.ne.gov.