Busy week in the Legislature

This past week at the Legislature was busy one. On Tuesday, February 5th, Legislative Bill 16 was heard and advanced to final reading with a 49-0 vote. LB 16 is a bill I introduced to add contingency language between Chase County and the Game and Parks for Champion Mill State Historical Park and Champion Lake State Recreation Area.

There were three bills that were heard by the Judiciary Committee last week that I would like to address for this week's Letter Back Home. Two of the bills focus on the Parenting Act and one focuses on grandparent visitation rights. These are issues that are important and that constituents of District 44 and Nebraskans have contacted me in the past on.

Legislative Bill 22, introduced by Senator Galen Hadley of Kearney, changes conditions of the Parenting Act. LB 22 retains the original conditions involving the best interest of the child and provides the court the ability to adopt a parenting plan that provides for both parents to share legal decision making regarding their child. The goal is to maximize parenting time, as the best interest of the child, for both parents when child custody conflicts arise.

Legislative Bill 212, introduced by Senator Russ Karpisek of Wilbur, would create a presumption made by the court that, unless proven otherwise, that each parent is entitled to at least 45% of the parenting time in a court ordered parenting plan. If there is a disagreement on this then one parent would have to prove with a preponderance of the evidence that parenting time should favor one parent more than the other.

Shared parenting between two parents that cannot get along could cause an increase in parental conflict and create drawn out court battles, which would not be in the best interest of the child. For parents that do agree on joint custody, LB22 and LB212 would allow the courts to maximize parenting time and give them the control of the parenting path they feel is in the best interest of their children. Another issue that was a point of concern in the hearing, is the potential decrease in child support payments. There would be some reconfiguring of the child support payment plan and judges would have to base it on the time that is spent with each parent, but as testified in the hearing, there are many parents that would pay any amount of money just to spend more time with their children. Lastly, there are many groups feel that these bill's do not help protect domestic violence victims. As a member of the Judiciary Committee, that listened to the emotional testimony, I found that there are some potential benefits as well as several major conflicts.

Lastly, I would like to briefly discuss Legislative Bill 124, introduced by Senator Scott Lautenbaugh of Omaha. LB 124 allows for court ordered visitation rights for grandparents. A Grandparent(s) that has made prior reasonable efforts to have visitation with the minor child, but the child's parents have

refused such visitation, may seek visitation time with grandchild. It further includes provisions clarifying that in considering awarding visitation rights, the court is allowed to take into account the potential of a relationship between the grandparents and grandchildren. There were many good questions and comments mentioned at the hearing regarding the positive effects that this bill could provide for families and the growth of the kids. It also creates conflict between grandparents and parents, creating more court cases, conflict and fighting. It may be to the benefit of the grandparent to fix the relationship with parents in order to obtain visitation and relationships with grandchildren, although I know in certain instances that is not practical.

I look forward to the weeks ahead at the Nebraska Legislature and if you have any question or comments, contact my office. Mark R. Christensen, PO Box 94604, Lincoln, NE 68509. 402-471-2805 or mchristensen@leg.ne.gov.