Senator Tom Brewer
43rd District
05-11-2018

Over the course of the two sessions of the 105th Legislature, I introduced 20 bills, prioritized two others, and co-sponsored many others, especially property tax bills. Along the way, the people (The 2nd House) play a vitally important role in this process. Many of my colleagues comment how much they admire how involved and dedicated the people of my district are. No other Senator enjoys the incredible devotion my constituents bring to an issue. I am so blessed in that regard.

Here is a brief summary of my 22 bills;

LB 121 would have un-taxed military retired pay so military retiree veterans would choose to live in Nebraska when they leave the service. Every state we share a border with either doesn’t tax military retirement or does so at a rate much lower than we do. This died in the Revenue Committee.

LB 165 would have implemented the eVerify system to keep illegal aliens from working in Nebraska. Like every other bill of mine that went before the Judiciary Committee, this died.

LB 340 was a bill I prioritized to put the Veteran Homes in Nebraska under the Veterans Department and take it out of the Health and Human Services department. This passed into law.

LB 497 was a bill to keep up with technology. It makes an important record for veterans (DD Form 214) available in electronic form. We’re one of the first States to do this. It passed into law.

LB 498 would have made a small change to the Homestead Exemption Act for veterans, assigning the benefit to a person instead of a physical address. This died in the Revenue Committee.

LB 499 was a very simple bill designed to protect Nebraska bee keepers. Though very popular with the Agriculture Committee, we just couldn’t find language that the Department of Agriculture could live with and it died in committee.

LB 500 would have exempted law enforcement professionals from the requirement of going through concealed carry classes to privately carry a handgun. This died in the Judiciary Committee.

LB 501 would have made a law that required businesses to post a sign if they didn’t want customers carrying concealed weapons. This died in the Judiciary Committee.

LB 502 would have implemented “Constitutional Carry” in Nebraska. Kansas and many other States have this. The idea is the 2nd Amendment is the only “concealed carry permit” you need. The opposition by the hoplophobes to this idea in the Judiciary Committee was expected. This bill died in committee.

LB 503 would have done away with the State collecting union dues on the behalf of a government employees union. This didn’t have the votes to get out of the Business and Labor Committee.

LB 504 was my bill to put a moratorium on wind energy development in the Sandhills of Nebraska. This died in the Natural Resources Committee on a 4-4 vote.

LB 505 was a bill that would have required certain information about refugees being resettled in Nebraska to be made public. This died in the Judiciary Committee.

LB 576 would have put a 4-year cap on property taxes while we worked on solving that problem. Like a lot of good ideas to address the property tax problem, this died in the Revenue Committee.

LB 752 would have taken the right of eminent domain away from private wind energy developers. The Judiciary Committee killed this as well.

LB 753 would have made tuition assistance for National Guard members a little easier process. This didn’t make it out of the Government and Military Affairs Committee because we had some issues with some of the language.

LB 754 was a bill to cut the price of a Nebraska Park Permit in half when you register your vehicle. Kansas did this a few years ago. The Natural Resource committee loved the idea, but State computer systems between Game and Parks and DMV are not compatible so we have to sort this out.

LB 755 was a bill to let towns pass ordinances to allow licensed ATVs to drive at night if they were correctly equipped. We needed some adjustments before we could get this bill voted out of the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee. Because of the short session, there was no time left for it to be put on the agenda. I want to thank the town of Mullen for bringing me this idea.

LB 807 was the State Tribal Relations Committee priority bill that changes Nebraska’s statues in Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C. Willa Cather and Chief Standing Bear will be Nebraska’s new statues. This bill passed into law.

LB 825 was a simple bill I carried for the State Auditor to clean up and harmonize some language in the law. The State Auditor and the Counties are going to work together to perfect the wording in the bill. It will probably be re-introduced next session.

LB 929 codifies in the law certain rights for National Guard members. It was voted out of the Government Committee. Due the short session, there was no time left for floor debate.

LB 1054 was my priority bill to require counties have ordinances or planning resolutions in place before wind energy could be developed. This bill tried to make good neighbors out of wind energy. It died on a 4-4 vote in the Natural Resources Committee.

LB 1070 saves small school districts the cost of a yearly special election to keep their school open. Now the question only has to go on the ballot once every five years. This came to me from the Loup County Schools. This bill was passed into law.

Immorally high property taxes, stopping wind energy from hurting their neighbors, and holding public power accountable to the people remain my top priorities for next session.

Please contact my office with any comments, questions or concerns. Email me at; tbrewer@leg.ne.gov. Mail a letter to; Sen. Tom Brewer, Room #1202, P.O. Box 94604, Lincoln, NE 68509 or call us at (402) 471-2628.