The first session of the one-hundred seventh Nebraska Legislature is drawing to a close. The Speaker has announced that we will adjourn “sine die” on Thursday the 27th of May. Sine die is a Latin phrase that means “without day.” To adjourn sine die indicates the final adjournment of a regular legislative session for the year. We are adjourning six legislative days early.

The Governor will need to call the Legislature into special session in September for the purpose of re-drawing all of the political boundaries following the census. The six days we saved by adjourning early will offset part of the cost of that special session. 

Nine of my bills have been passed by the Legislature and sent to the governor for his approval. LB 93 trimmed a little government red tape and removed a report county clerks have to file with the state. LB 94 cleaned up some pandemic-related issues with implementation of the new Online Notary Public law. LB 185 directs some of the federal COVID funding Nebraska has received to medical facilities in Nebraska operated by the Indian Health Service. 

LB 236 was a bill about local control. The idea behind it was leaving the enforcement of Nebraska’s concealed carry law up to the ninety-three counties to decide. Under that proposal, a county could become a “permitless concealed carry” county by ordinance. Unfortunately the Attorney General wrote an opinion that described the bill as likely being unconstitutional. I negotiated with the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and we reached an agreement to substitute language from three other gun rights-related bills instead of the original LB 236 proposal. I plan to introduce a statewide constitutional carry bill next year. 

LB 275 starts the process of planning for Nebraska’s participation in the 150th birthday of the United States called the “semiquincentennial” in 2026.  This bill will be funded by donations through History Nebraska. LB 285 and LB 514 were bills that helped Nebraska maintain an accurate voter file and made important changes to election law to account for the Federal Government’s gross violation of federal law delivering the census data four months late. 

LB 387 exempts military retired pay from state income taxes. Every state Nebraska shares a border with doesn’t tax this income the way we do in Nebraska. Veterans finishing a career in the military do not choose Nebraska as their post-military home because of it. Our state has been losing these new residents to our neighbors for decades. I have been part of efforts to change this law for nearly fifty years. With a lot of help from my colleagues on both sides of the political aisle, we finally got this done. Next spring will be the last time retired military taxpayers in Nebraska will pay income tax on their retirement benefits.

Every session has its successes and its disappointments. I am proud to say that we scored some important victories for Nebraskans. Now it is time to reset for the special session, prepare for interim study hearings, and begin to draft legislative proposals for next year.