At 6:35 p.m. last Thursday, the 108th Legislature adjourned Sine Die, bringing the session to an end. The last day of this 60-day session was anything but normal. We considered eight bills on Final Reading along with the appropriation bills (“A” bills) associated with the funding for those bills if required. Three of the eight bills were filibustered. Comparatively, most legislative sessions end with consideration of any gubernatorial vetoes, outgoing speeches from outgoing Senators, and a few ceremonial activities. 

We did not have any vetoes to consider on Thursday, but the Governor will likely veto at least one of the bills passed on Day 60. Because we have no more regular session days, the Legislature will not have any ability to consider overriding the veto.

Two of the more controversial bills were heard on Day 60: LB1402 and LB388.

LB1402 repealed the Opportunity Scholarship Act passed last year and replaced it with a bill to fund Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGO) through the State Treasurer’s Office. The SGOs provide scholarships for low-income students to attend private K-12 schools. Although the original bill proposed $25 million in annual funding with increases for future years, the ultimate proposal was reduced to a flat $10 million per year without any increases in future years. As a result, the bill brought a General Fund savings of $15 million per year during the next biennium. 

Like last year, I received many emails on this bill. In the end, my decision to support the bill was based on providing opportunities for all students, regardless of their parent’s ability to pay, to have access to a school that can best serve their needs. We have been doing this for several years now in the public school system by allowing “option enrollment.” With option enrollment, students can choose to attend the public school of their choice subject to acceptance by the receiving school. The state, in turn, pays the receiving public school approximately $12,000 for every “net” student transferring to the school at a cost of about $120 million annually to the State. In comparison, the $10 million in tax credits to fund scholarships for low-income kids seems very reasonable. 

Although many wanted to make this bill about public school performance, that was never the case in my mind. All the public schools in District 42 are quality schools that are graduating students who are well-prepared for the future. In the end, providing greater opportunities for all children has always been my goal. 

In addition, we debated LB388, the bill intended to reduce property taxes. This bill went through many changes along the way, but in the end failed to have sufficient votes to overcome the filibuster on Final Reading. The bill originally proposed to raise the state sales tax by 1%, raise the taxes on cigarettes, vaping products, hemp products, and games of skill, remove exemptions for taxes on small veterinary services, repair and cleaning of clothing, and “candy” and soda, and added a tax for digital advertisers who generate over $1 billion in annual advertising revenues. The final bill eliminated the 1% rate increase but retained the other sources of revenue. 

The use of the additional revenue also changed over the course of the bill’s consideration. Originally, the dollars were to be distributed through the public schools in order to reduce their property tax asking. Later, the proposal was to use the dollars to increase funding for income tax rebates authorized by LB1107 in 2020 to directly pay these funds to the counties to provide a direct property tax credit on your property tax statement. Given that a fairly large percentage of property taxpayers still do not claim this credit on their income tax returns, this credit would bring property tax savings to many more taxpayers. The bill also would have placed growth caps on the rate at which certain political subdivisions could increase their budgets without voter approval. 

As we have discussed in the past, property taxes are only assessed at the local level. The state does not assess a property tax. In 2023, the state collected approximately $2.3 billion in sales taxes and just over $4 billion in income taxes. Meanwhile, total property tax collections throughout the state exceeded $5.3 billion. Most importantly, however, the $5.3 billion is up from about $3.4 billion in 2013. 

In the end, it is imperative that any property tax relief be sustainable, which means annual growth caps and controlling spending at all levels of government. We also need to continue searching for ways to grow our taxpayer base by recruiting and retaining employers and increasing opportunities to draw out-of-state visitors through tourism. 

A balance between income, sales, and property taxes is the best way to ensure that no one group will sustain an unreasonable tax burden. However, I do not support removing local control over our property tax assessments. If all taxes are collected at the state level, it will be the state Legislature that determines how many dollars return to rural Nebraska. Since two-thirds of the State Senators represent the eastern third of the state, I don’t really like our odds. 

The Governor has strongly suggested calling a special session (or two) to address the property tax issue. If the special session is to be successful, it will be important to have at least 33 Senators willing to vote for a plan. So, there is a lot of work to be done between now and then.

I look forward to hearing 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.

The Legislature will be in session three days this week, beginning on Tuesday, April 9, and running through Thursday, April 12. We will then be in recess until Thursday, April 18, which will be Day 60. The gap between day 59 and day 60 is to allow the Governor time to consider any vetoes. Day 60 is generally used to consider any veto overrides. However, given the number of bills still on Select File and Final Reading, it is anticipated that we will likely be voting on several bills still on Final Reading on Day 60. This is risky since the Legislature would have no opportunity to override a veto of any bills passed on Day 60.

I have received many emails regarding LB764, the “winner take all” election bill. Nebraska and Maine are the only two states that award electoral votes for Presidential elections based on the popular vote for President in each Congressional District. Each state has two U.S. Senators, so the statewide vote for President determines the electoral votes for the two U.S. Senators. Then, the winner of each congressional district earns the electoral vote for that district. In the last Presidential election, President Biden won the second congressional district (Omaha), and President Trump won the other two districts and the statewide vote. As a result, the Nebraska electoral votes were split by allocating four electoral votes to Trump and one to Biden.

On January 18, 2023, during the ten days of bill introduction last year, Senator Lippencott introduced LB764, which was referenced to the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee chaired by Senator Brewer. The bill subsequently had a public hearing on March 15, 2023. The committee did not take action last year to advance the bill, and it automatically carried over to this legislative session. The bill was also not advanced out of committee this year, and neither the committee nor Senator Lippencott prioritized the bill.

Last Thursday, on Day 54, this bill suddenly got the attention of the national media and we abruptly began receiving emails and phone calls to pass this bill. As a result, Senator Slama introduced AM3339 to amend LB764 into LB1300, a bill introduced by Senator Bostar that included several other bills, including LB869, a bill I helped introduce to allow for counties to allow Veterans Service Funds to be used for those who served in the National Guard and Veterans who served at a time when the U.S. was not in a conflict. AM3339 was ruled not to be germane to LB1300. The motion by Senator Slama to overrule the President’s germaneness ruling was defeated.

It is important the public understand the dynamics at play before criticizing Senators for the votes on AM3339. First, Senator Bostar introduced LB1300 on behalf of the Governor, and both the underlying bill and the bills amended into LB1300 are important priorities of the state. Second, Senator Bostar opposed adding LB764 to LB1300 – in part because it could sink the whole package – and threatened to pull the bill in the event LB764 was added. LB1300 and other bills amended onto it went through the full legislative process, and it would have been unfair to jeopardize their passage to add a bill at the last second that had not even been voted out of committee.

Unfortunately, it looks like “winner take all” will probably have to wait for next year. Even if the Committee met immediately to vote the bill out of committee, it does not have a priority designation, and there are several other priority bills still waiting for General File debate. Additionally, the bill would surely be filibustered if it got scheduled. Given the time needed to get all the bills already on Select File and Final Reading passed this year with our four remaining working days, it would be impossible to move LB764 this year. The only avenue to move it prior to this fall would be to hold a special session of the Legislature, but unless there are 33 Senators prepared to vote for this bill, it would be a waste of time to call a special session.

I have continually asked why the supporters of this bill waited for over a year to bring attention to it and then became obsessed with its passage when it was all but impossible to succeed. I would fully support a special session and would commit to voting for the bill, but we need to do it the right way.

It has been a grueling session, and the remaining days will be full of drama, but we will get there one way or another. I am looking forward to getting back home.

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.

The Legislature will be in session three days this week, beginning on Tuesday, April 9, and running through Thursday, April 12. We will then be in recess until Thursday, April 18, which will be Day 60. The gap between day 59 and day 60 is to allow the Governor time to consider any vetoes. Day 60 is generally used to consider any veto overrides. However, given the number of bills still on Select File and Final Reading, it is anticipated that we will likely be voting on several bills still on Final Reading on Day 60. This is risky since the Legislature would have no opportunity to override a veto of any bills passed on Day 60.

I have received many emails regarding LB764, the “winner take all” election bill. Nebraska and Maine are the only two states that award electoral votes for Presidential elections based on the popular vote for President in each Congressional District. Each state has two U.S. Senators, so the statewide vote for President determines the electoral votes for the two U.S. Senators. Then, the winner of each congressional district earns the electoral vote for that district. In the last Presidential election, President Biden won the second congressional district (Omaha), and President Trump won the other two districts and the statewide vote. As a result, the Nebraska electoral votes were split by allocating four electoral votes to Trump and one to Biden.

On January 18, 2023, during the ten days of bill introduction last year, Senator Lippencott introduced LB764, which was referenced to the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee chaired by Senator Brewer. The bill subsequently had a public hearing on March 15, 2023. The committee did not take action last year to advance the bill, and it automatically carried over to this legislative session. The bill was also not advanced out of committee this year, and neither the committee nor Senator Lippencott prioritized the bill.

Last Thursday, on Day 54, this bill suddenly got the attention of the national media and we abruptly began receiving emails and phone calls to pass this bill. As a result, Senator Slama introduced AM3339 to amend LB764 into LB1300, a bill introduced by Senator Bostar that included several other bills, including LB869, a bill I helped introduce to allow for counties to allow Veterans Service Funds to be used for those who served in the National Guard and Veterans who served at a time when the U.S. was not in a conflict. AM3339 was ruled not to be germane to LB1300. The motion by Senator Slama to overrule the President’s germaneness ruling was defeated.

It is important the public understand the dynamics at play before criticizing Senators for the votes on AM3339. First, Senator Bostar introduced LB1300 on behalf of the Governor, and both the underlying bill and the bills amended into LB1300 are important priorities of the state. Second, Senator Bostar opposed adding LB764 to LB1300 – in part because it could sink the whole package – and threatened to pull the bill in the event LB764 was added. LB1300 and other bills amended onto it went through the full legislative process, and it would have been unfair to jeopardize their passage to add a bill at the last second that had not even been voted out of committee.

Unfortunately, it looks like “winner take all” will probably have to wait for next year. Even if the Committee met immediately to vote the bill out of committee, it does not have a priority designation, and there are several other priority bills still waiting for General File debate. Additionally, the bill would surely be filibustered if it got scheduled. Given the time needed to get all the bills already on Select File and Final Reading passed this year with our four remaining working days, it would be impossible to move LB764 this year. The only avenue to move it prior to this fall would be to hold a special session of the Legislature, but unless there are 33 Senators prepared to vote for this bill, it would be a waste of time to call a special session.

I have continually asked why the supporters of this bill waited for over a year to bring attention to it and then became obsessed with its passage when it was all but impossible to succeed. I would fully support a special session and would commit to voting for the bill, but we need to do it the right way.

It has been a grueling session, and the remaining days will be full of drama, but we will get there one way or another. I am looking forward to getting back home.

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.

I want to begin my article by reflecting on this past week. Not in the Legislature, but Holy Week. Holy Week is a time for us all to reflect on what is important in life and a true testament of sacrifice. It is a great reminder for all of us as we begin the final stretch in this legislative session.

I am happy to report that LB1087 was officially signed by the Governor on Wednesday with the ceremonial signing taking place in Fremont on Friday morning. I was happy to introduce the legislation on behalf of the Nebraska Hospital Association, but I want to acknowledge that any legislation that passes the Nebraska Legislature takes at least 24 other Senators to support the bill. I want to again thank Senator Armendariz for making LB1087 her personal priority bill and for the 44 State Senators who voted with me to pass this valuable legislation.

LB1087 will bring over $1 billion in additional federal Medicaid funding to Nebraska to be used by hospitals throughout the state based on the percentage of Medicaid patients they treat. At this point, Nebraska will be the 45^th state to adopt this program. In addition to providing a much-needed lifeline to rural hospitals, several of the larger hospitals in the state will provide $50 million in nursing scholarships to help encourage more students to enter the profession and reduce the chronic nursing shortage. It is fitting that the beam signing ceremony was held on Monday for the new Health and Science Building at the UNK campus to bring medical training closer to the western end of the state. It is also important to note that our own Mid-Plains Community College has a great nursing program that is right in our back yard.

With the budget adjustments approved and signed by the Governor, we are now going to continue to debate how to provide true property tax relief. LB388 (as amended by AM3203) was discussed last week, and LB1331 (as amended by AM3264) was voted out of the Education Committee shortly before we adjourned. These two bills are intended to move together this week to be the outline to increase foundation aid to all schools and reduce the number of schools ultimately receiving TEEOSA funding.

LB388 includes an increase in the cigarette tax to $1.00/pack (currently 64 cents), raises the state sales tax rate from 5.5% to 6.5%, and removes certain sales tax exemptions to fund the additional tax relief. The proposal would also eliminate the current state sales tax on electricity and gas used for residential purposes as a way to further reduce the tax burden on low-income residents. Keep in mind that these bills are the introduced versions and will likely have several amendments prior to any passage. Like most legislation, it is far from perfect, but we need to always remember not to let perfection get in the way of success. I will support a final bill that achieves property tax reductions for rural Nebraska. This is a clear priority of my constituents and will continue to be my goal.

With eight legislative days left in the session, we have much to do in the remaining days. We will be having some late nights as we move closer to Day 60. It will be important for everyone to keep me apprised of any issues you may see in the remaining days since bills will be amended along the way, which could change the initial intent of the legislation. I will be doing lots of reading in the next couple of weeks.

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.

I want to begin my article this week by thanking the Lincoln County Farm Bureau for sponsoring a Town Hall Meeting a week ago Saturday to allow me to meet directly with interested constituents in an informal setting. I cannot begin to tell you how important it is for me to understand the issues that are important to you and to have the opportunity to share on a firsthand basis what is happening “behind the scenes” for many of the issues in the Nebraska Legislature. I hope to have the opportunity to hold more of these meetings throughout District 42 once the session ends.

Last week, the Appropriations Committee continued to move the budget bills forward. One of the items in LB1413 was a proposed cash transfer of $25 million to the “Rural Workforce Housing” fund. However, Senator Vargas from Omaha (who serves on the Appropriations Committee) worked with the committee to move $5 million of those funds to the “Middle Income Housing Fund.” The two funds are essentially the same, but the Middle-Income program is limited to the metro areas around Lincoln and Omaha, while the Rural Workforce program is available to all other areas of the state. However, Senator McKinney brought an amendment to equally split the funds between the two programs, which, in effect, reduced the Rural Workforce Fund by an additional $7.5 million. I pushed back hard on the amendment, but in the end, the vote was 24 in favor of the split and 23 opposed. The vote was a classic rural-urban divide. As I have warned in the past, when it comes to distributing funding, the urban areas have a voting advantage. That will only get stronger in the future if we cannot stop the outmigration of rural residents to urban areas.

I have continued to review LB126, which was introduced by Senator Jen Day. As introduced, The bill would provide a homestead exemption to Veterans and surviving spouses who are honorably discharged and disabled to receive a property tax credit based on their percentage of disability. Although I brought my own bill that provides for a more aggressive exemption (LB853) I did add my name to LB126 to help ensure that we get something done on this issue during this legislative session. Since Senator Day prioritized LB126, the Revenue Committee used her bill to carry the changes they are proposing to the Homestead exemption. Unfortunately, the Committee took portions of four bills that ended up making major changes to the entire Homestead Exemption Act and I believe that the changes proposed (outside of those proposed for Veterans) are taking us backwards. I am pushing to pass LB126 in its original form and do an interim study to fix the rest of the program. We will see where this goes.

The Revenue Committee moved their committee priority bill LB388 to General File last Thursday, just prior to adjournment for the long weekend. It will be formally introduced on Monday and debate will begin on Tuesday. I will be in North Platte on Monday for bank annual meetings but will return to the Legislature on Tuesday to be involved in the debate.

Although the details of the bill will not be fully available until the bill read across on Monday, I did get a private briefing from Senator Linehan. The proposal to remove the tax exemption for ag repair parts is not part of the bill, but the Committee did include sales tax on advertising for companies with annual gross advertising revenue greater than $1 billion (originally LB1354). Senator Albrecht has stated that the bill will target companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon. I have many concerns with this provision from a constitutional standpoint based on the ongoing litigation to Maryland’s law, and I also believe that it would impact smaller businesses and advertising companies who advertise with or resell advertising through larger companies.

LB388 bill also would increase the cigarette tax to $1/pack and increase the state sales tax rate by 1%. These changes are estimated to raise $650 million to be used to offset property taxes. This plan, as I understand it, would increase foundation aid to schools to $3,000/student and increase the TEEOSA formula aid to larger school districts. It would also put “hard” caps on any property tax increases for schools, cities, and counties. It goes without saying that this bill will see a lot of debate, and could have some major changes prior to passage, so don’t read too much into the initial bill as introduced.

I look forward to continuing to hear from you regarding issues that are important to you. It is a privilege to serve as your 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.

As of Monday, March 18, we have 15 days remaining in the 2024 60-day legislative session. This past week primarily dealt with the budget and changes to the state Cash Reserve fund. Although these bills were filibustered, the filibusters were intended to spur good debate on the changes offered by the Appropriations Committee.

LB1412 is the budget bill that outlines the changes recommended by the Appropriations Committee after hearing testimony from all the state agencies and bills offered by Senators that contain spending measures. After hearing all the testimony, the committee is tasked with making changes to the budget while staying within the dollars available to the Legislature to spend as projected by the Nebraska Economic Forecasting Advisory Board. LB1412 results in $570,014,033 million remaining in the General Fund (state’s checking account) at the end of the fiscal year 2024-25. However, the budget also projects that the General Fund ending balance will drop to $63,711,376 by the end of the 2026-27 fiscal year. The decline is primarily due to the final phase, the end of the income tax reductions passed in 2022, which takes the top state income tax rate to 3.99%.

I am happy to report that my LB850 was included in LB1412. LB850 includes a program that will provide North Platte with $1 million in funding to help improve dilapidated lots that can be used for workforce housing.

LB1413 dealt with changes to the Cash Reserve Fund and the transfer of funds from agency cash funds. One change proposed by the Appropriations Committee was a recommendation to transfer $5 million from the Nebraska Tourism Fund to the Department of Economic Development. I introduced a floor amendment to stop the transfer, which was ultimately successful. These funds are very important to attract more in-state and out-of-state travelers to visit attractions throughout Nebraska. Many of these attractions are located in District 42: NEBRASKAland Days, the Highway 2 Scenic Byway, and the Nebraska Passport Program, to name a few.

It should be kept in mind that state revenue is expected to grow at a rate of 3.6% moving forward, which will cause the General Fund balance to grow as long as state spending grows at a slower pace. I also want to point out that the Cash Reserve Fund (state’s savings account) or rainy-day fund currently has a fund balance of $914,567,475. That balance is projected to be $804,053,413 at the end of the 2026-27 fiscal year. The balance declines are due to one-time transfers approved by the Legislature.

Remember, any excesses in the General Fund at the end of each fiscal year are automatically transferred to the Cash Reserve Fund. Additionally, the Cash Reserve Fund is once again at or near its statutory maximum. In the end, the State is in excellent fiscal shape.

This coming week, we will likely focus on the Revenue Committee bills, which deal with tax changes. To the extent the bills offered by the Revenue Committee involve “revenue reductions,” they will also impact the funds available to be spent before the next budget cycle. Spending will need to be limited to the $63,711,376 projected to remain in the General Fund. Any spending beyond that would impact the Cash Reserve Fund and likely attract a veto from the Governor. Although the Cash Reserve has sufficient funds to support some drawdowns, the state needs to prepare for reduced revenues due to changes in the national economy over the next few years.

I will be working this week to make improvements to LB126, the bill the Revenue Committee chose to use as the vehicle to carry the Homestead Exemption changes. This bill was introduced in 2023 by Senator Day. I introduced LB853 this year to make more comprehensive Homestead Exemption changes that help both Veterans and those over age 65 who are on lower fixed incomes. I have been working with Lincoln County Assessor Julie Stenger and Todd Von Kampen with the North Platte Telegraph to develop an amendment to LB126. This will likely be a very heavy lift, but these changes are important.

I also want to make certain that everyone knows that the LB894, introduced by Senator Ibach, requires a candidate running for County Sheriff to be a certified law enforcement officer when they file to run for office. Unfortunately, Senator Wayne offered an amendment to allow DACA residents to also qualify to be a County Sheriff. Although this amendment got added to the bill, it did not take long for several constituents, including David Huebner, to reach out to let me know that DACA residents (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) are able to be in this country because of an executive order issued by President Obama to allow deferred action from deportation and become eligible for employment in the U.S. if they have no felonies or serious misdemeanors on their records. It, however, does not provide for a path to citizenship. They also are not allowed to own or carry a firearm. As a result, this bill will not be moving forward unless or until this amendment is removed from the base bill during Select File. Thank you, David, for your input and to everyone who took the time to reach out to my office. This is how the process should work.

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.

What a difference a week makes! Last week we were dealing with fire damage caused by dry conditions, and now we are dealing with a record snowfall. But if I have learned anything over the years, it is to never complain about moisture when we need it, no matter what the form.

Julie and I stayed in Kearney last Thursday night to be there Friday morning to do a presentation at the Nebraska Planning Conference. Although we intended to be in North Platte that evening for the Town Hall sponsored by the Farm Bureau, we instead found ourselves driving back to Lincoln since the interstate was closed. Fortunately, the organizers of the Town Hall were able to reschedule it for Saturday, March 16, at the McKinley Education Center. If you can attend, I would love to hear from you and answer any questions you may have in person.

At this point in the legislative session, I have had two bills passed into law: LB628, which makes technical changes to the Professional Limited Liability Company and Professional Corporation statutes, and LB854, which makes technical changes to requirements for persons wanting to sit for the CPA exam. LB854 streamlines the process and helps get new CPAs into the workforce sooner while cutting red tape. This bill was passed this past week and sent on to the Governor’s desk for signature.

I was also able to get LB1087 (Hospital Quality Assurance and Access Assessment Act) moved to Final Reading. This bill, once passed, will bring nearly $1.5 billion in new federal funding to the Nebraska Medicaid Fund to help fund more of the Medicaid costs borne by Nebraska hospitals that care for Medicaid patients. Additional funding will also eliminate the need for the state to increase current Medicaid costs. This bill could be a real game changer for rural hospitals while holding the state’s costs at current levels.

The timing of these funds could not come at a better time. Many rural hospitals are losing money, and several are at risk of closure. There is a companion program for nursing homes that may also get passed this session. I cannot begin to stress how important rural health care is to attract and retain residents in rural Nebraska.

Each Senator also received a copy of the proposed budget on Thursday. Since we had a four-day weekend ahead, the Speaker wanted us to review the budget books over the weekend so that we could begin debating the budget bills this week.

At this point, the Speaker has scheduled two of my bills for debate on Tuesday morning. LB851 is on Select File and, if passed, would increase the size of companies in Nebraska eligible to participate in the Intern Nebraska Program. LB852 restricts certain unethical acts by some durable medical supply companies and is combined with my LB32 which requires Nebraska health insurance providers to include persons with disabilities under the age of 65 to have access to Medicare Supplement plans. If things go well, both will be heard before moving on to the budget bills debate. I expect the budget bill to dominate much of the floor time next week.

It should get interesting this week as there are many controversial bills to be debated that will shape the final budget and provide funding for the Governor’s property tax reduction goals. I should have much to discuss at the Town Hall meeting on Saturday.

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.

As I write this week’s article, I must begin by expressing my sympathy to those who lost livestock and property in the rash of wildfires over the past week. We are reminded once again of how destructive fires can be and how quickly they can spread when conditions are right. I also want to thank all our first responders for all their sacrifices to be there for those who need them to respond when disaster strikes. Thank you!

Over the past few weeks, I have heard from many constituents regarding several bills of interest. I thought it might be good to get you updated on where a couple of those bills stand.

I want to begin with LB1247 introduced by Senator Ben Hansen. This bill would open access to the public for hunting on land owned by the Board of Educational Land and Funds (BELF). This bill would NOT require permission from the tenant to obtain “walk-in” access to these lands for hunting.

Although I appreciate hunters want access to more hunting acres, it is hard for me to see how the benefits could outweigh the negative impact on tenants of BELF land, particularly those in the Sandhills that have had the same operator for decades. Many acres with long-term tenants are not fenced, so it would be nearly impossible for hunters to know the boundaries. Additionally, livestock and hunters generally don’t mix well. Those currently with school leases also know that they own all the improvements on these lands such as stock wells, tanks, solar panels, etc. It would be very difficult ever to determine who may have damaged these items either intentionally or unintentionally. In the end, this bill if passed would create far more problems than it would solve.

The bill was heard before the Natural Resources Committee, which I serve on. After robust testimony and discussion, it became clear to the introducer that the bill was not yet ready for primetime. Senator Hansen understood that the committee had no interest in moving the bill out of committee this session, which would cause the bill to die at the end of the 60-day session. He does intend to bring a form of the bill back next session but is willing to consider the input he received from the hearing as he considers another alternative. It would be hard for me to support a bill that did not require prior written approval to hunt on these lands.

We are also debating LB1067 (Inheritance Tax) introduced by Senator Rob Clements. This bill would phase out the Nebraska Inheritance tax over the next five years. The original version of the bill would also have authorized the use of the County Visitors Promotion Fund and the County Visitors Improvement Fund to offset any revenue shortfalls.

Nebraska is one of the last states to still have an inheritance tax. The proceeds from this tax go to fund the counties where the beneficiaries reside to help the counties fund capital projects. In Lincoln County, for example, the inheritance tax collected over the past ten years has averaged approximately $1.3 million per year. If the tax were entirely eliminated, this would be a very large loss of revenue that could only be replaced by increasing property taxes. If I heard one thing from the voters two years ago, it was REDUCE MY PROPERTY TAXES. For that reason, I have committed to work with Senator Clements to pass this bill, but only if we can find a revenue replacement for most of the lost revenue and protect the County Visitor’s Funds. An amendment has already been added to the bill to protect the Visitor’s Funds, and now we are working on finding the revenue replacements. I expect debate to resume this week on this bill.

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.

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.

Tuesday, February 20, marks Day 30 of the 60-day legislative session. So far, the session has been moving along at a good pace, and the demeanor on the legislative floor has been very positive. We have had some robust debate, but bills have been moving along quickly. It should be noted that most of the bills that have been scheduled thus far have been noncontroversial bills that advanced with a unanimous vote out of committee. I expect the second half of the session to be more challenging as more controversial bills are scheduled. Fortunately, every Senator has bills important to them that will need floor time, which is an incentive to keep moving. The Speaker will certainly be mindful of which bills to schedule and how to keep everyone focused on the bills to come.

This past week, I was able to introduce the full Legislature to LB1087 (Hospital Quality Assurance and Access Assessment Act). In my opening statement I said, “This may be the most impactful piece of Legislation that we have the opportunity to pass this session.” I say this because the passage of the bill will allow Nebraska to join 44 other states to tap into over $1 billion of new Medicaid dollars to be used by Nebraska hospitals that provide services to those who need Medicaid services.

From the middle of 2020 until now, the average cost to provide care at our hospitals is up 33.2% on average. Meanwhile, Medicaid rates have only increased an average of 2.25% per year. Due to inflation-forced expense growth and insufficient rate increases from public payers, a majority of Nebraska hospitals are now losing money from operations. This includes 59% of our small, rural critical access hospitals.

These financial dynamics have forced Nebraska hospitals to make difficult decisions. In the past 18 months, three rural hospitals have closed their labor and delivery units. Two hospitals closed their hospital-owned nursing homes. Hospitals have also eliminated behavioral health, hospice, and home health services. All of these were needed community services that could no longer be sustained by our non-profit hospitals with current reimbursement rates. Just this week, the first rural hospital in Nebraska made the transition to a Rural Emergency Hospital. This means this hospital will close its inpatient services and become a standalone Emergency Department with some outpatient services.

LB1087 allows Nebraska to leverage additional federal funds to support Medicaid rate increases for inpatient and outpatient hospital services. This is carried out through a partnership between the state and hospital providers. Under the proposal, hospitals would pay an assessment to the state – up to 6% of patient revenue that would be matched by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). For each $1.00 in the program, the current federal match would be about $2.19. These Medicaid Directed Payments, as they are called, would then be distributed by the state to hospitals based on their share of Medicaid inpatient and outpatient services.

For the state to continue to qualify for this federal subsidy, the hospitals will need to collectively outperform four performance metrics agreed to by the State, CMS, and the hospital association. These metrics include improvements in behavior health outcomes for children and adults, aging and chronic care, maternal safety, and patient safety.

The bill passed the first round of debate on a vote of 40-0, with four senators absent and four “present not voting.” On to round two soon!

Speaker Arch will announce the rest of his Speaker Priority bills on Tuesday. I am hopeful that LB32 (Medigap Bill) will be included on the list. It was voted out of committee last week on a vote of 8-0 and I think it’s time to pass this legislation.

Julie and I had the opportunity to spend this past weekend in North Platte. On Saturday night, we had the opportunity to join former State Senator Dan Hughes at a fundraising gala in Grant to raise money for their new assisted-living facility. It was a wonderful evening and a great opportunity to connect with constituents in Perkins County. We look forward to attending similar events throughout the District in the coming weeks and months.

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.