Despite the short week a lot happened in the Legislature last week. Two important bills and one resolution came up on the floor of the Legislature for debate last week.

On Monday LR 6 came up for debate on the floor. LR 6 is a Legislative Resolution introduced by Sen. Laura Ebke, which calls for an Article V, Convention of the States. I receive more e-mails from constituents living in district 47 in support of LR 6 than on any other piece of legislation. I expressed strong support for LR 6 during the debate. However, the resolution was filibustered without a vote ever being taken. Consequently, the resolution likely won’t come up again for a vote this year. The resolution will most likely be carried over to next year’s session.

On Tuesday LB 44 advanced to Select File. LB 44 is a bill which would enforce a sales tax on Internet sales. While the state of Nebraska needs the extra income an Internet sales tax would generate, my primary interest is to divert the revenue from an Internet sales tax to the Property Tax Credit/Cash Fund in order to give our citizens some much needed property tax relief. This was why I voted for this bill and this is also why I introduced LB 601. If passed into law, LB 601 would divert these funds to the Property Tax Credit/Cash Fund.

On Wednesday Sen. Mike Hilger’s firearms bill, LB 68, overcame a filibuster attempt to advance to Enrollment and Review for Select File. This bill would prevent counties and other local municipalities from adopting gun laws more strict than our state laws. The purpose of the law is to prevent a patchwork of differing gun laws across the state. Nebraskans need consistency in their gun laws across the state so that law-abiding citizens can remain law-abiding citizens. The bill gives the Nebraska Legislature the exclusive authority to regulate the ownership, possession, transportation, carrying, registration, transfer, and storage of firearms, ammunition, and firearms accessories. The bill allows local authorities to regulate the discharge of firearms, and to provide zoning designations, and to enforce policies relating to the use of firearms by law enforcement agencies and other city employees.