The new legislative session started last week and senators are already back into the swing of things. There is no time to waste in this short, 60-day session and bill debate will pick up again this week and committee hearings start on January 18th. We will return to floor debate in the morning and committee hearings in the afternoon until the beginning of March when we will revert to all-day debate.

I am still in the process of introducing bills before the deadline of January 20th. I am looking at close to ten new bills to go along with a few bills that were introduced last session that I will continue to work on this session. If you have questions or concerns about my bills or others, you can contact my office at (402) 471-2711 or tbrandt@leg.ne.gov. You can also stay up to speed on the Legislature by subscribing to the free Unicameral Update by sending an email to uio@leg.ne.gov or calling 402-471-2788.

In other legislative news, the Legislature will once again be inviting volunteer pastors for Chaplain of the Day for the morning prayer during session, which was put on hold the last two years due to covid-19. Each district can have a couple of chaplain requests. The guidelines are: 

• issues that are pending before the Legislature may not be reviewed or discussed
• refrain from expressing political views
• the prayer should be non-denominational and no longer than two minutes  
• no remarks prior to or following the prayer are allowed

If anyone from my district would like to be Chaplain of the Day, please contact my office for more information and availability of dates.

In district news, the Village of Exeter Volunteer Fire Department was one of eight fire departments from across the country to be chosen and featured in an hour-long national documentary filmed to inspire people to serve in their communities. Exeter was the only rural fire department to be included in the documentary. The documentary will likely be ready next spring and will be available to every fire department in the country. I extend my hearty congratulations to Exeter and their fire department.

I also wanted to make you aware that Exeter had three in-town railroad crossings repaired in the last month: the main street crossing, the block west crossing, and the two blocks east of main crossing. It is now smooth driving over these tracks which is great news for our vehicles. I would like to thank BNSF for working with me and my office on this project.

Thank you for choosing me to represent you in your Nebraska State Legislature.