In 2021 the Fufeng Group, a Chinese food manufacturer, bought 300 acres of farmland near Grand Forks, North Dakota in order to build a milling plant. They paid 2.6 million dollars for the land. That land is only twelve miles from the Grand Forks Air Base, which is home to some of America’s most sensitive military secrets. Last year both the BBC and NPR reported that the Chinese had already purchased 380,000 acres of farmland in the United States.

After the purchase of land was made near the Grand Forks Air Base, a memo circulated throughout the air base classifying the purchase as a national security threat to the United States and alleging that the purchase fits a pattern of Chinese subnational espionage campaigns seeking to use commercial economic development projects to get close to Department of Defense installations.

Nebraska is one of the states where China wants to purchase more farmland. Without going into too much detail, we have already seen nefarious Chinese characters disguised as Americans arrive in Western Nebraska with suitcases full of cash ready to purchase farmland on the spot, especially near our missile silos. One such character even tried to masquerade as the leader of a new Christian sect.

I share these things today in order to alert the public about this growing threat to our national security and to inform the good people of Western Nebraska that the Legislature is addressing the issue this year. Sen. Brian Hardin of Gering is leading the way. LB 1120 is Sen. Hardin’s personal priority bill and last week the bill was debated on the floor of the Legislature and it advanced to the next round of debate on Select File with strong support in the Legislature.

Once it becomes law, Sen. Hardin’s bill will require those seeking to purchase land within a ten-mile radius of a military installation to file an affidavit with the register of deeds in the county stating under penalty of perjury that the purchaser is not affiliated with any foreign government or a nongovernment person determined to be a foreign adversary. The sale of the land will get held until the affidavit has been filed.

Sen. Hardin attached an amendment to the bill making it the sole responsibility of the purchaser to determine whether or not the affidavit is required. The reason for the amendment is to protect innocent landowners in Nebraska, who should not be tasked with the burden of having to determine if the affidavit is required. That burden of responsibility will reside solely with the purchaser.

Sen. Hardin also amended the bill in order to require that a copy of the affidavit be sent to the Nebraska Attorney General. Dislodging nefarious Chinese agents from real estate can get expensive, especially for sparsely populated counties in rural Nebraska. These matters should be adjudicated by the State Attorney General, and Sen. Hardin’s amendment will make that point clear.

The time to act on matters of national security is before it ever becomes a problem. We know that our enemies want to infiltrate our country. We have seen spy balloons crossing our nation, foreign agents entering the country through our porous southern border, cybersecurity threats, and now purchasing our farmland. Once LB 1120 passes into law, Nebraska’s counties will have an important tool for deterring these kinds of threats to our national security, and for these reasons I co-sponsored the bill along with 18 other State Senators, who all see the need for this bill.

On Wednesday, February 28 a public hearing was held on LR281CA before the Executive Board of the State Legislature. This was the final public hearing of my legislative career. LR281CA is my resolution for a constitutional amendment to convert the State Legislature over to a biennial calendar. In other words, the State Legislature would meet every other year during odd numbered years beginning in the year 2027 and no legislative session would ever exceed 90 legislative days. Changing over to a biennial calendar would be a big change, so why am I doing this?

First, biennial legislative sessions were how the State Legislature used to operate. From 1875 until 1971 the Nebraska State Legislature only convened during odd numbered years. So, biennial legislative sessions were the norm for 96 consecutive years of Nebraska’s history. That system was quite efficient and effective.

The shorter 60-day session was never intended to be a regular session of the Legislature. According to what former Nebraska State Senator, Herbert J. Duis of Gothenburg, said during a public hearing on LB 151 on February 22, 1979, the original intention of the shorter 60-day session was supposed to “be confined to budgetary procedures.” However, that original purpose quickly deteriorated as Senators began introducing non-budgetary bills during the short session.

Because the Legislature has drifted away from the original purpose of the current annual legislative system, the time has come to take the decision back to the people. LR281CA would put a measure on the ballot for the voters to decide on November 5 of this year. The voters represent Nebraska’s first legislative house. The State Legislature is the second house. Article 3, Section 2 of the Nebraska State Constitution says, “The first power reserved by the people is the initiative whereby laws may be enacted and constitutional amendments adopted by the people independently of the Legislature.”

Another reason for switching back to a biennial calendar is that it would save the State a lot of money. According to the Legislature’s Fiscal Office, even if the legislative staff remained employed on a full-time basis, the State of Nebraska would stand to save approximately $500,000 by switching over to a biennial system. So, the burden of proof falls upon those who believe the State should spend this much money for legislative purposes.

Switching back to a biennial system would significantly reduce the number of bills which get introduced in the State Legislature. Currently, more than 600 bills get introduced in the State Legislature every year. Making matters worse is the fact that each one of those bills is required to have a public hearing. State Senators cannot adequately read, study and understand so many bills in a single session of the Legislature. Therefore, something needs to be done to limit the number of bills that Senators introduce and switching to a biennial system is one way to accomplish that goal.

Annual sessions of the Legislature grow the state government by encouraging the redundancy of bills. Under the current annual system, State Senators are inclined to introduce the same stale bills over and over again until they finally pass and become law. As Sen. Duis said again in that 1979 hearing, “…we have the problem of increasing government to the people because we have a lot of the same bills over and over again.” Sen. Duis also said about reducing the size of government that “The less of it we have, the better off we are…” So, LR281CA represents an opportunity for Nebraskans to reduce the size of their state government for the betterment of the State.

LR281CA has a hard uphill road to climb. Unfortunately, LR281CA likely won’t pass in the Legislature this year. Because the public hearing was scheduled so late in the session and the bill lacks a priority status, the chances of this constitutional amendment ever getting onto the ballot for the election on November 5 aren’t very good. Nevertheless, I believe this is a conversation that the people of Nebraska need to have. Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, and Texas all use biennial sessions, and Nebraska needs to be next.

Last week the State of Wyoming advanced a bill by Rep. Steve Harshman to eliminate most property taxes in Wyoming along with a two percent hike in the State’s sales tax. Shifting the tax burden away from property taxes and onto sales taxes or consumption taxes is an idea which is now gaining a lot of steam all across the country. Besides Nebraska, states which have seen these kinds of bills in recent years include Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, North Dakota, South Carolina, and Texas. In 2020 Rep. Jason Monks of the Idaho State House of Representatives introduced a similar bill and remarked that the property tax is “an evil tax.” So, today I would like to explain why the property tax is so vile.

The property tax is the most regressive kind of tax. The property tax is a tax on a family’s overall cost of living. Landlords include property taxes in the rent they charge to their tenants, so property taxes effect renters as well as property owners alike. Whether a family pays a mortgage or a rent, housing costs always take the biggest chunk out of a family’s monthly budget. Once the mortgage or the rent gets paid, many families find themselves counting down the days until their next payday. This means that property taxes have a much greater adverse effect on poor families than they do on wealthy families and that makes it inherently regressive. Because of their ever-growing nature, property taxes affect poor families more adversely than any other kind of tax.

Property taxes leave local residents in a perpetual state of uncertainty. Whenever land gets taken off the tax rolls, other landowners have to make up the difference. So, when the Central Public Power and Irrigation District purchased 1,050 acres of land on the south shore or Lake McConaughy, it left a revenue hole that others had to fill. That land will now go off the tax rolls and local residents will have to make up the difference in higher property taxes.

The property tax is a Marxist tax that never ends. Like the song that never ends, property taxes go on and on, my friends. Because of the never-ending nature of the property tax, landowners never actually own their property; instead, they merely rent it from the government. If you believe you own your real estate, try going three years without paying your property taxes. Then you will find out who really owns your property. Ownership of private property is a fundamental right which comes from God. The eighth commandment of Exodus 20:15, “Thou shalt not steal,” implies that God believes in private ownership of property. Private property is foundational to our American form of Government. Thomas Jefferson said, “The true foundation of republican government is the equal right of every citizen in his person and property and in their management.” The abolition of private property, on the other hand, is a central tenet of Marxism. The first principle of the Communist Manifesto states: “The abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.”

The property tax is logically absurd. The property tax is logically absurd because it is worse than a tax on unrealized gains. An unrealized gain (or loss) occurs when the value of an asset has increased (or decreased), but has not yet been sold. So, a tax on an unrealized gain is a tax on the potential earnings of an asset, such as a stock or a bond. Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings called taxing unrealized gains “a stupid idea” when he rhetorically testified on his own bill, LB 1279, last week. LB 1279 is a bill that would tax unrealized gains. LB 1279 was never intended to be a serious bill. Sen. Halloran introduced it in order to make a political statement. In his own words, Sen. Halloran commented about his bill that, “Sometimes you have to illustrate the absurd by being absurd.” Nevertheless, what makes the property tax even worse than a tax on unrealized gains is the fact that the property tax not only taxes the potential earnings of a property but taxes the value of the property itself. To draw an equivalent analogy, it would be like adding the unrealized gain of a bond plus the original principle of the bond to a person’s income for income tax purposes, and that’s exactly what property taxes do!

Rep. Monks of Idaho was absolutely correct when he said that taxing property is evil. Nebraskans deserve a tax system which respects their largest monthly expense, a tax system which does not tax them into oblivion, at tax system which does not adhere to Marxist principles, and a tax system which is not logically absurd. In short, Nebraskans deserve a tax system that is not evil. I introduced the EPIC Option Consumption Tax last year to correct these problems and to restore a sense of sanity and common sense back to Nebraska’s broken tax system.

One of the bills that I co-signed this year is LB 1064, a bill to eliminate tenure at the University of Nebraska, the Nebraska State College system, and Nebraska’s community colleges. This is a movement which is picking up steam around the country. Several other states have introduced similar legislation including, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas.

While LB 1064 does not strip current faculty members of their tenured status, the bill would prevent future hires from obtaining tenure and it directs the governing boards over our state’s colleges and universities to write and adopt new employment policies which would ultimately promote education and the free expression of ideas. The new employment policies would establish acceptable grounds for the termination of faculty, minimum standards of good practice, standards for discipline, and procedures for dismissal.

It is no secret how some of our nation’s most prestigious universities, such as Harvard University, have had to remove their presidents due the mishandling of antisemitic protests on their campuses and other reasons. Besides allowing unruly antisemitic protests, Harvard University President, Claudine Gay, was accused of 50 counts of plagiarism by the Washington Free Beacon and the New York Post. Most recently, Shirley Greene, an administrator for the Harvard Extension School, has been accused of committing 42 instances of plagiarism in her 2008 dissertation. Why do we allow substandard academic scholars to lead our colleges and universities?

College education in American has been deteriorating. Jonathan Turley, an attorney who teaches at George Washington University Law School, recently posted on X that “The mob has become the measure for righteous rage for many in higher education. Vandalism and attacking art have now become part of what is portrayed as a healthy and productive dialogue.” Unfortunately, this is exactly what higher education in America has so often devolved into, and this kind of behavior has reached Nebraska.

The University of Nebraska has had its own share of problems in recent years with bad behavior. On August 25, 2017 English graduate teaching assistant, Courtney Lawton, harassed Kaitlyn Mullen as she recruited for Turning Point USA near the Student Union at UNL. Then, UNL Sociology Professor, Patricia Wonch Hill, was arrested in Virginia for throwing fake blood on the home of Chris Cox, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association. Then, she was cited for painting googly eyes on a campaign sign for Rep. Jeff Fortenberry. Finally, the University of Nebraska system was successfully sued last year after the University’s Fee Allocation Committee denied a $1,500 request by Ratio Christi, a Christian organization, to bring back the former UNL philosophy professor, Robert Audi, as a speaker for their group.

Many American colleges and universities have been shutting down dissenting opinions by conservative students. The American Bar Association has recognized this problem, so this month they issued new rules for their associated law schools. The new rules for the law schools will include policies which “protect academic freedom” and “encourage and support the free expression of ideas.”

Besides the looney behavior of activist professors, it is no secret how classes often get taught by student teaching assistants and research assistants. Sen. Loren Lippincott of Central City, the primary sponsor of the bill, stated in his opening remarks during the public hearing on February 13 saying, “…I hear stories of professors who have tenure, brag about how little work they put in or how few hours they show up to teach classes.” No other job in the real world would ever pay an employee to not show up for work or to do no work at all.

Nebraska’s colleges and universities need to be held accountable. The University of Nebraska, for example, is a land grant university. This means that the University of Nebraska System is owned and operated by the citizens of Nebraska. All too often, professors and administrators who are embroiled in university strife believe they are free to do whatever they want. Removing tenure is the first step towards changing the culture of our colleges and universities so that education and the free expression of ideas can once again be restored as the norm at our colleges and universities.

This year three important agricultural bills were introduced in the Nebraska Legislature that the public needs to know about. These are three good agricultural bills which I have either introduced myself or co-signed along with the bill’s author. Each of these bills affects the agriculture industry in our state in a different way.

The first bill is LB 1396, and was introduced by Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil. The bill would change the requirements for food manufacturers when labeling food products for sale for human consumption when that food product contains insect, worm, or any other bug ingredients. The bill would require the manufacturer to clearly label the food product in at least twelve-point font on the front label whenever the food product contains more than five percent of insect, worm, or bug ingredients. This is a good bill for the simple reason that people need to know what they are putting into their own bodies.

The second bill is LB 1301, and was introduced by Sen. Barry DeKay of Niobrara. This bill is known as the Foreign-owned Real Estate National Security Act. The bill would prohibit nonresident aliens who have engaged in a pattern of behavior adverse to the national security of the United States from acquiring or holding title to agricultural lands in the State of Nebraska. The bill would require the Department of Agriculture to investigate potential violations and report them to the Nebraska State Attorney General.

The third bill that I would like to mention is one of my own. LB 844 is a bill designed to protect Nebraska’s small businesses which hire local laborers for doing the work of roguing and detasseling for the purposes of growing seed corn. Over the years, we have seen all local detasseling companies go out-of-business in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. Nebraska is now the last state where teenagers have the opportunity to perform roguing and detasseling work as a summer job.

The problem has been the overuse of H2A migrant workers for doing the work. Federal law already requires seed corn companies to consider first the bids of those Nebraska companies who hire local workers, especially teenagers, but the federal government has lacked the manpower and the resources to enforce the law. Since 2019 nine Nebraska businesses who hire teenagers for doing roguing and detasseling work have already fallen by the wayside.

LB 844 is a bill for transparency. The bill requires the Director of Agriculture to create a directory of Nebraska companies who hire local workers and post the directory to the Department’s website. An amendment that I put on the bill further requires the Director of Agriculture to send the directory each year to every seed corn company operating within the State by way of registered mail. This will ensure that the seed corn companies know who these Nebraska companies are and how to reach them.

At the end of the growing season each seed corn company would then be required to report to the Director of Agriculture which companies they hired and how many acres they contracted with those companies. The Director of Agriculture would then make a report and post it to the Department’s website by the end of September of each year. By disclosing which companies were hired and how many acres they were contracted for, Nebraskans would be able to hold these seed corn companies accountable for contracting with Nebraska companies first before outsourcing these jobs to companies that hire mostly H2A migrant workers.

Although roguing and detasseling work is done mostly in the central and eastern parts of the State, it is important for teaching our youth the meaning of hard work and the value of a dollar. Roguing and detasseling is an important tool for introducing urban teenagers to Nebraska’s agricultural industry. Those who do the work often learn character values that help them succeed later in life. Nebraska needs these jobs, and that is why 136 people from across the state submitted online testimonies in favor of the bill compared to only one lobbyist who opposed it.

February 1, 2024 was a good day for promoting the EPIC Option Consumption Tax. What happened on that day affected the consumption tax movement in a very odd way when the Revenue Committee held public hearings on ten of the Governor’s tax bills. I would like to thank Gov. Pillen for convincing several State Senators to introduce tax bills on his behalf which were all designed to shift the tax burden of Nebraskans onto sales taxes without reducing their overall tax burden. The Governor’s new tax plan has caused many people to start paying attention.

The Governor’s tax bills shift more of the overall tax burden onto the state sales tax without solving the problem of higher taxes. The Governor’s plan adds a full percentage point to the state sales tax, resulting in a higher rate of 6.5 percent. Then, the Governor’s tax plan removes sales tax exemptions for farmers, accountants, lawyers, veterinarians, amusement game distributors, and owners of self-storage facilities, just to name a few. The elimination of these sales tax exemptions would bring in millions of new dollars for the State of Nebraska.

Gov. Pillen has the noble goal of reducing property taxes by 40 percent. However, I don’t believe his plan will work. Nebraskans should not except such a statement from me alone. Instead, listen to the people. Hundreds of Nebraskans turned out to voice their opposition to the Governor’s tax plan last Thursday. For example, one of the Governor’s tax bills received 115 online opponents while only three people testified online in favor of the bill, and when Sen. Lou Ann Linehan, chair of the Revenue Committee, called for proponents to come forward to testify in person for another one of the Governor’s tax bills, no one even bothered to show up. The bottom line is that Nebraskans do not like the Governor’s new tax plan.

Nebraskans are opposed to the Governor’s new tax plan because it is an overall tax increase disguised as property tax relief. For example, Sen. Dungan, who is a member of the Revenue Committee, questioned a member of Gov. Pillen’s 35-member tax committee at the hearing only to discover that the 40 percent threshold for property tax relief was nothing more than an arbitrary number contrived by the committee members in order to better sell the Governor’s new tax plan.

The people are no longer falling for these kinds of government tricks. For example, Unicameral Watch is a popular Facebook group which prides itself on monitoring the activities of the state government for purposes of transparency and accountability. Here is their assessment of what transpired in the Revenue Committee that day: “What happened today is a 1 billion dollar tax increase on Nebraska taxpayers…” They further described the Governor’s tax plan as “MASSIVE tax increases” that would “pulverize the poor and Middle Class, young farmers, small business owners and other Nebraskans.” Well, they are exactly right.

The Governor’s tax plan would result in massive border bleed. Border bleed occurs when people purchase products and services cheaper across the state lines. Unlike the EPIC Option Consumption Tax, which would remove hidden taxes from a product, making them cheaper in Nebraska than in other states, Gov. Pillen’s tax plan would have the opposite effect. Why would anyone buy products in Nebraska with a 6.5 percent sales tax rate when they can hop across the border and pay 4 percent in Wyoming? Gov. Pillen’s tax plan would hurt retails sales in border cities such as Omaha and Scottsbluff.

Personally, I am planning now to take full advantage of the border bleed problem that the Governor’s new tax plan will create. Because the Governor intends to remove the sales tax exemption on farm repair parts, I intend to create a new start-up company with a catchy name like “Farm Dash” whereby the company would transport non-taxed farm repair products from Wyoming to farmers living in Nebraska. Farm Dash would pick up and deliver farm repair parts to folks living in Nebraska.

The Governor has betrayed the good citizens of Nebraska. Nebraskans are now in a heap of trouble as far as our tax system goes. Unicameral Watch hit the nail on the head in their article when they said, “Nebraskans better start noticing the signs of a state under severe distress.” They concluded their article by stating that Nebraskans now have “no choice but to pass EPIC…” I heartily agree.

History Nebraska is out of control. So, one of the bills I introduced this year, LB 1169, is a bill to make History Nebraska a code agency, bringing the Society under the control of the Governor. This bill has become necessary due to the way state revenues have been misused by the agency in the past and how History Nebraska has been organized …or should I say, disorganized.

Last year a Nebraska State Auditor’s report alleged that History Nebraska misused and misappropriated state funds. Trevor Jones, the former director of History Nebraska, was accused of embezzlement, theft, and official misconduct after he deposited a check for $270,000 into a bank account for the History Nebraska Foundation, a competing foundation that he helped create. Because the money had been appropriated as part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the check should have been deposited with the State Treasurer.

If any of this sounds confusing – well, it should. The Nebraska State Historical Society is chaotically organized. The Nebraska State Historical Society members changed the name of the agency to History Nebraska in 2019. Although the Society became a state agency back in 1994, the Society’s organization has lacked accountability to the State. The Society is run by a board of trustees consisting of twelve members appointed by History Nebraska members and only three members appointed by the Governor. The members also appoint their own director. Making matters even more convoluted is the fact that each member can accept gifts on behalf of the agency and the History Nebraska Foundation operates independently from the State. So, when monies were deposited into an account for the History Nebraska Foundation, a red flag automatically went up at the State Auditor’s office.

I introduced LB 1169 to fix these many problems with History Nebraska. First, the bill makes History Nebraska a code agency, instead of merely being a state agency with loose ties to the State. This is accomplished by having the Governor appoint the director, at the approval of the Legislature. The director would run the agency’s operations and finances and serve at the pleasure of the Governor. The director would be forbidden to serve on the board of any other organization which makes contributions to History Nebraska. Consequently, the director would be held accountable to the Governor for all of the operations and actions taken by the Society.

The bill diminishes the role of the members of the board of trustees. The director would no longer take orders or directions from the board of trustees. Instead, the board of trustees would merely take on an advisory role with the director.

The bill puts strict limitations on how History Nebraska can accept gifts. The bill strips the members of the board of trustees of their authority to accept any gifts on behalf of the agency. Only the director would be allowed to accept gifts, provided that the gift is under $10,000. Gifts of money and real estate valued over $10,000 would require the approval of the Governor.

The bill creates financial transparency for the Society. All deposits would be made through the State Treasurer. Each year the director would hold an annual meeting and prepare an annual report. The director would prepare a financial report of all of the agency’s transactions for the year. The report would include the dissemination of any materials sold or disposed of by the Society.

Finally, the bill reestablishes the Nebraska State Historical Society Collections Trust Fund. However, the fund would be administered by the director and the proceeds from any materials sold by the agency would be deposited by the State Treasurer into the fund. Furthermore, revenues in the fund would be invested as per the Nebraska Capital Expansion Act and the Nebraska State Funds Investment Act.

I share these things with you today because Nebraskans need to know how their hard-earned money is being spent by the State of Nebraska. The State of Nebraska can no longer afford to spend money frivolously. Corrupt and reckless financial practices by state agencies must be reined in. LB 1169 seeks to accomplish that objective. A public hearing will be held on LB 1169 at the State Capitol on February 1; however; members of the public can write online comments about the bill through the Legislature’s website at: www.nebraskalegislature.gov.

Last Thursday Gov. Jim Pillen delivered his State of the State address to the Unicameral Legislature. The primary focus of the speech was devoted to tax relief, especially property tax relief. So, I listened closely to hear his plans for tax relief. Although he vows to reduce property taxes by 40 percent, he never offered any kind of substantive plan for doing so. Gov. Pillen’s plan continues several of the same stale practices which have never worked in the past, such as creating more property tax credits for businesses and transferring more revenues into the state’s property tax cash-credit fund. Gov. Pillen is even pinning his hopes for income tax relief on a 3.9 percent income tax rate…coming in the year 2027! The Governor’s tax plan amounts to nothing more than slight of hand tactics to fool the public into believing that meaningful and significant tax relief is on its way.

January 17 was the last day for State Senators to introduce new bills. Sadly, none of the new bills offer meaningful and significant tax relief for Nebraskans. The best legislative proposal was offered by Sen. Brad von Gillern of Elkhorn. His bill, LB 1241, would require political subdivisions to reduce their property tax levies by the same percentage of increase in property valuations. The result would be no increases in property taxes, but no reduction in property taxes, either.

Sen. Lou Anne Linehan also of Elkhorn is chair of the Legislature’s revenue committee. Sen. Linehan introduced LB 1315, a bill for an increase in the state sales tax rate. Sen. Linehan’s legislative plan is to raise the state sales tax from 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent with 2.75 percent of the revenues being earmarked for Nebraska’s Good Life districts. Her hope is that by appropriating some $500 million to economic development efforts, we can eventually reduce property taxes.

Several new bills were introduced to raise more sales tax revenues for the State. Several State Senators introduced bills to eliminate various sales tax exemptions. Sen. Fred Meyer of St. Paul introduced LB 1311, which would remove the sales tax exemption for pet, storage, and moving services. Sen. Linehan introduced LB 1319 to eliminate the sales tax exemption for data centers. Sen. Von Gillern introduced LB 1308 to repeal the sales tax exemption for accounting services and ag services, and Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha introduced LB 1345 to remove the sales tax exemption for legal services. What each of these bills have in common is generating more sales tax revenue for the State.

What all of these new tax plans have in common is that none of them cut taxes. The fact of the matter is that the Governor, the chair of the Legislature’s revenue committee, and the other members of the Unicameral Legislature have no viable plans to reduce the overall tax burden of Nebraskans this year. All that has been offered up this year amounts to nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Much like the Wizard of Oz, those behind the curtain are unable to solve Nebraska’s tax problems. Nebraska’s tax system is broken, it cannot be repaired, and all of the new legislation proposed this year only further verifies this fact.

To further show how broken our tax system is, consider Sen. Linehan’s bill LB 1317. The entire text of LB 1317 states succinctly that: “1) Property taxes are too high; and 2) Legislative changes to lower property taxes are needed and desired.” That’s it! LB 1317 is known as a shell bill. Sen. Linehan introduced the bill in this way so that she can hopefully amend it mid-session with some kind of meaningful property tax relief plan. However, if she already knew how to reduce property taxes, she would not need a shell bill to amend later in the session.

I share these things today to show readers how broken our tax system really is and how the Governor and the Unicameral Legislature are unable to fix it. The EPIC Option Consumption Tax bill that I introduced last year with my personal priority designation, continues to be ignored and continues to be the only viable option for meaningful and significant tax relief. The EPIC Option Consumption Tax is the only option currently on the table with a workable model and endorsements by some of our nation’s leading economists, such as Art Laffer, Stephen Moore and Nebraska’s own Ernie Goss.

Without the EPIC Option Consumption Tax, Nebraska will continue to flounder as one of our nation’s worst tax states. According to the Tax Foundation Nebraska is the 38th worst tax state in America for its overall tax burden and is the 40th worst state for property taxes. We are worse than all of our surrounding states, but the EPIC Option Consumption Tax would propel us to the front of the line and make us the most tax friendly state in America. When I ran for office eight years ago, I vowed to offer Nebraskans meaningful and significant tax relief, especially property tax relief. The EPIC Option Consumption Tax remains the best legislative option for accomplishing that goal. Please visit our website at www.epicoption.org.

When I first arrived in the Nebraska Legislature in 2017, Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha stood in front of me on the legislative floor. He turned around and gave me some good advice. He told me to learn the rules. I began to read the rules. Upon doing so, I quickly learned how confusing the Rule Book of the Nebraska Legislature was. So, immediately upon adjournment last year, I turned my attention to re-writing the Rule Book.

The project of re-writing the Rule Book of the Legislature focused primarily on two tasks. The first task was to rearrange the material in the Rule Book so that the rules for each stage of debate could be found in a single rule. The second task was to develop a separate rule for how the Legislature would go about debating and passing proposals for changes to the Rule Book. After working with a committee of eight staffers, what resulted was a much more user-friendly and more complete re-write of the Rule Book of nearly 100 pages. The most important rule change that the Legislature could pass this year is this complete re-write of the whole Rule Book.

I have served on the Rules Committee of the Nebraska Legislature ever since I first arrived back in 2017. I have never seen the rules become more convoluted than what they have been for the last couple of years. Last year we had 57 proposed rule changes presented to the Rules Committee. This year we toned it down to 34 proposed rule changes.

Last week the Legislature began the process of making rule changes. The Rules Committee held a very efficient public hearing on these 34 newly proposed rule changes, then the Rules Committee met in an executive session for five hours to deliberate over the proposed rule changes. The members of the Rules Committee engaged in a full, fair, and robust debate over the rules. We did not always agree, but the spirit in the room was always very congenial, cordial and to the point. I very much appreciated that the members of the Rules Committee could disagree without being disagreeable.

This year the Legislature will allow time up until the twelfth legislative day for deliberating over the rules. Back in 2017 the Legislature spent nearly 40 days debating rule changes, and that was inappropriate. This is why I wrote a separate rule for how to debate the rules. Nevertheless, the Rules Committee combined several rule changes and redacted others in order to present a package of rule changes that will make the legislative process more efficient.

The Legislature cannot duplicate what occurred in 2023. When I am out visiting with constituents, two subjects invariably come up. The first is usually taxes. The second is rule changes. It surprised me to learn how many people across our state watch the Legislature. The people of Nebraska sent their state senators to Lincoln to do the business of the state. That did not happen last year. While some may argue that the Legislature passed a lot of bills last year, that is not my concern. My goal is not to just pass legislation; my goal is to pass the kind of legislation that makes sense. Passing 31 bills through a Christmas tree bill with a single vote is not the right way to make laws.

The Legislature needs to learn how to work more efficiently. Introducing 850 bills in a single year and holding hearings on each bill is not the most efficient way of doing business. So, the day may be coming when state senators will be limited in the number of bills they introduce and not every bill necessarily deserves a public hearing. The bottom line, though, is that unless the Legislature can figure out how to become more efficient, we will continue to get what we have been getting.

Some people wonder why I am so interested in changing the rules during my final year in the Nebraska Legislature. The reason is the same as when I planted a tree at the age of 70. I may never get the chance to enjoy the shade from that tree, but my grandchildren will. Therefore, my intention is to leave the State Legislature in a better place than how I found it when I first arrived. That means that the rules should be changed such that state senators can disagree without becoming disagreeable, and that the majority can continue to rule while respecting the will of the minority.

The 2024 Legislative session has begun. Because the Unicameral Legislature operates in a two-year cycle, this will be the second session of the 108th Legislature. The session began on January 3 and will end on April 18. Since this is only a 60-day session, there will be less time for State Senators to get the business of the State done this year. Today I will share my priorities and goals for making this year’s legislative session a productive one.

I am the chair of the Legislature’s Rules Committee. Because of the chaos of last year’s session, some necessary rule changes need to be made at the beginning of this year’s session. I intend to leave the Legislature better off than the way I found it seven years ago. Because the Legislature’s Rule Book is not very user-friendly, first-year Senators often have a difficult time learning the rules. Therefore, one of the rule changes I have proposed constitutes a complete re-write and re-organization of the Rule Book; otherwise, I have proposed 11 other rules changes which are needed. Altogether State Senators have proposed a total of 34 rule changes.

While rule changes will have to represent my most immediate priority in the Legislature, my highest concern will continue to be for tax relief. The EPIC Option Consumption Tax bill that I introduced last year will carryover for 2024 and will continue to offer the best solution for our State’s broken tax system.

The time has come for Nebraska’s politicians to admit that we need the EPIC Option Consumption Tax. Last week Gov. Jim Pillen contradicted himself when he criticized the EPIC Option Consumption Tax, claiming that it would somehow hurt low-income families. Soon thereafter he announced his desire to raise the state sales tax by two percent, matching the EPIC Option Consumption Tax Rate of 7.5 percent. So, Gov. Pillen’s tax plan would retain the state income tax, the property tax, and the inheritance tax, whereas my plan would eliminate those taxes. Furthermore, Gov. Pillen’s plan would continue to tax used goods, which are important to low-income families, whereas the EPIC Option Consumption Tax would not. So, the EPIC Option Consumption Tax is far more friendly to low-income families than the Governor’s tax plan.

This year I will introduce several new bills. The first one is a detasseling bill. Nebraska is now the only state remaining which utilizes local teenagers for doing rogueing and detasseling work. Those jobs are being threatened by companies that only hire migrant workers. Because these jobs are important for introducing the youth of our state to agriculture, my bill will create transparency for holding seed companies accountable, who are already required by law to hire local workers first.

Another bill that I will introduce is a new school choice bill. This bill is an update to the My Student, My Choice Act that I introduced last year. This bill offers real school choice. The bill would fully fund public school students while providing about $8,000 for each student enrolled in a private school.

I may also introduce a bill to end C02 sequestration in our state. I was the only Senator who voted against LB 650 in 2021. Since that bill passed two years ago, State Senators have been learning about the dangers of pumping carbon dioxide through pipelines and storing it underground. It appears that CO2 travels most efficiently through pipelines with pressure set at 2,600 pounds per square inch (psi), but the pipelines which are designed for natural gas pump it with pressures that never exceed 1,200 psi. Pumping C02 through these pipelines could be very dangerous. Therefore, the Legislature needs to repeal the Nebraska Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide Act.

Finally, I plan to Introduce a bill to make the Nebraska State Historical Society a state agency. This is necessary due to the conflicts of interests that some of the board members have who oversee the organization as well as their need to be able to account for the state monies they receive.

State Senators have until January 17 to introduce new bills. Many of the concerns I have for our state are being addressed by other State Senators, so there is no need to duplicate their efforts. Issues such as election integrity, preventing the sale of Nebraska’s lands to foreign enemies, and enabling capital punishment are all issues that will get addressed this year. Overall, it is my sincere hope, plan, and desire to make this year’s session a very productive one.