A public hearing was recently held on my bill, LB482. LB482 is a bill to prorate property taxes for those who have had their homes destroyed by a fire or some other natural disaster, such as a tornado or a flood. The bill would exempt a property owner from paying property taxes on the real estate for as long as the home or living unit remains unlivable. This is a common sense bill, which I believe should slide easily through the legislative process. However, this is the second year I have introduced this bill. Even with bills which ought to be considered a slam dunk in the Legislature, unreasonable opposition often lurks in the hallways of the Capitol Building, waiting to pounce on a good bill during a public hearing.

So, this week I would like to take you inside the Revenue Committee’s hearing room and show how this bill was opposed by lobbyists in the evening hours of February 27th. Due to the lateness of the hour most of the testifiers who had filled the hearing room to testify on other bills had already decided to go home. LB482 was the last bill on the Revenue Committee’s agenda for the day, and the hearing started shortly after 6:30 p.m. while most Nebraskans were finishing up their supper or settling down for the evening.

Mr. Tom Placzek, who works as the assessor for Platte County, was the first one to testify against LB482. Mr. Placzek said he spoke on behalf of all county assessors in the state, and he indicated that he could not find a single county assessor who liked LB482. Placzek’s primary complaint was that the bill requires county assessors to report all destroyed properties to the County Board of Equalization. Placzek insisted that county assessors do not always know when properties get destroyed, and that county assessors do not want this responsibility being transferred onto them.

Mr. Placzek’s main reason for opposing my bill made no sense at all. So, during my closing remarks I reminded the members of the Revenue Committee that it is the job of every county assessor to accurately valuate every property in their county. Furthermore, every homeowner instinctively knows that if they so much as build a doghouse on their property, the county assessor knows all about it. So, if assessors know when you improve your home, then they also know when your home is destroyed. So, in the final analysis Placzek’s opposition to my bill amounted to nothing more than a bad excuse for him not to do his job.

The second person who testified against LB482 was Mr. John Cannon, who represented the Nebraska Association of County Officials (NACO). Mr. Cannon’s primary complaint with LB482 was that the bill could potentially put counties into a precarious situation in the event of a widespread disaster, such as the tornado which devastated the entire village of Pilger on June 16, 2014. The Pilger tornado, for example, wiped out so many homes that recovery would have been extremely difficult for the village without access to all of the property taxes.

Again, Mr. Cannon’s primary reason for opposing my bill made no sense at all. So, during my closing remarks I reminded the members of the Revenue Committee that those who have had their homes destroyed have no money either. In the final analysis, NACO would rather put the public finances of counties, metropolitan areas, cities, towns and villages over the personal finances of those who’ve had their homes completely destroyed. To me, their argument represents the inverted value system that is routinely imposed upon legislators by paid lobbyists. Government should exist for the betterment of the people, not for the betterment of the government.

As long as I serve in the State Legislature, I will represent the people of Nebraska, not the Lobbyists.

Pilger, NE 2014