This past 30 days has been a whirlwind of activity. The 105th Legislature convened on Wednesday, January 4th. A lot has happened. The Lincoln paper referred to the 4th of January as a “political earthquake.” I have been appointed to be the Vice-Chairman of the Government, Military and Veteran Affairs Committee. I am also serving on the Banking, Commerce, and Insurance Committee. I have also been appointed to serve as Chairman of the State-Tribal Relations Committee. The legislature is in session all morning and I’m in committees all afternoon every day of the week.

My office is in Room 1202, which is located in the hallway to the right of the South entrance of the Capitol. My email address is: tbrewer@leg.ne.gov and the office phone number is: (402) 471-2628 / 2606. My office staff consists of my Administrative Assistant, Julie Condon, and my Legislative Aide, Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Tony Baker. Please contact Julie for scheduling appointments and Tony for legislative issues. Their email addresses are: jcondon@leg.ne.gov and tbaker@leg.ne.gov. I have a Legislative page on the State of Nebraska Legislative’s website and will be posting regular updates. You may find my website by going to www.nebraskalegislature.gov. This website is a great place to follow the Legislature and find information on the bills you are interested in.

I’ve introduced twelve bills during this session. I’ve introduced three different bills related to Veterans. I’ve also introduced three bills related to gun rights, and four other bills concerning a variety of topics. Thus far I’ve also co-sponsored another eighteen bills. Let me know if there is something you would like to discuss.

I made sure I was able to introduce two very important bills that address serious problems I have heard from one end of the district to the other. LB 576 is a very simple bill that cap’s 2017 and 2018 property taxes at the 2016 level to give the people the promise their property taxes will not go up while the legislature works on finally solving this difficult problem. I also introduced LB 504 which puts a two-year moratorium on the construction of commercial wind energy projects in the Sand Hills while a Task Force studies the impact this has on this important region in our State.

If you follow the legislature, you’ll see that there is considerable gridlock going on right now. The last election brought significant change to the political ideology of the body. Though we are technically a non-partisan body, there are those who now find themselves in the minority of political opinion and they are not happy about it. Sadly, this results in not much else getting done. I’m confident the will of the Nebraska voters will ultimately break this gridlock and we will be able to move forward on the State’s business.

Thank you for all of your calls, emails and letters we’ve received from the 43rd District. I really appreciate how eager people in my district are to get involved in our State Government. Please stop by the office to say hi if you are in town. I am working on a couple of opportunities to have some Town Hall meetings in the 43rd District in the near future. Please watch for more information concerning this.

Senator Tom Brewer
District 43
State Capitol
P.O. Box 94604
Lincoln, NE 68509

402-471-2628