Wrapping up the session

The 2014 Legislative Session is all but wrapped up, except for the 60th Day next Thursday April 17. Next Thursday the 17th the Legislature will finish up bills on Final Reading and deal with any potential overrides. This week in the letter, I would like to touch on the final version of LB1098 that addresses water issues in the state.

LB1098 passed the Legislature with a 48-0-1 vote on Final Reading. Before it was passed, the compromise on LB1074 was amended into the bill, including several other bills.

The compromise amendment, AM2783, ended up requiring a basin-wide plan for a river basin with three or more Natural Resources Districts (NRDs) with integrated management plans, which includes the Republican River Basin. The NRDs will have three years to develop a basin-wide plan and no more than 30 years to complete it and meet a sustainable balance between uses and sources. I believe this plan will be a good thing moving into the future. Requiring all parties to work together should have a positive impact for the Republican River Basin.

As always in compromises, not everything is what each party wanted. The compromise came late in the session and not all the technical issues got handled to everyone's satisfaction, but will most likely be addressed next session.

LB1098 original sections expand the membership on the Natural Resources Commission, creates the Water Sustainability Fund and guidelines for the eligibility and use of the funds. These guidelines will provide priorities and limits on certain types of projects like Omaha's combined sewer project.

Like I said earlier, other related water bills were amended to LB1098; three of those bills were mine. LB686 was added, which changed the irrigation certification date from March 1 to June 1 in order to opt out of the occupation tax due to non-irrigation for the calendar year. In addition, LB710 was added, which requires a public hearing prior to a NRD entering to a ground water augmentation.

Finally, LB723 was add that requires county assessors, when using the comparable sales approach for valuation of irrigated cropland, to consider the availability of water and its source, along with whether federal, state, or local government actions have affected the sale of the land. This will only be required when the information is available from a government source.

I believe these bills will provide additional information to taxpayers, and more flexibility for surface water irrigators who have had their water drastically lowered or taken in 2013 and 2014.

If you have any questions or comments, contact my office. Mark R. Christensen, PO Box 94604, Lincoln, NE 68509, 402-471-2805 or mchristensen@leg.ne.gov.