Hazing bill introduced in legislature

Last week I introduced, to the Judiciary Committee, a central piece of legislation for 2016 and my work for District 44. LB 710, as you may remember from my column a few weeks ago, would expand the criminal repercussions for hazing to beyond post-secondary students.

The intent of the bill is to offer schools and prosecutors another tool in their toolbox to prevent and respond to hazing in high schools. In writing the bill, I consulted with the University of Nebraska, the Nebraska School Administrators Association, the Nebraska Association of School Boards, the Nebraska State Education Association, and the Nebraska County Attorneys' Association, among others.

All of this was done in the hope of introducing a bill which would work the best for as many involved groups as possible.

We included feedback and concerns from all of the groups, and considered their views in drafting the legislation.

All of the hard work payed off, as the hearing for LB 710 heard only testimony in favor of the bill, and no one testified against it. The Judiciary Committee members have responded positively to the bill, and I am optimistic that it will make it into Nebraska law this year.

This past week the Revenue Committee heard two bills aimed at addressing this issue. The first bill was LB 958, introduced by Senator Gloor on behalf of the Governor. It would limit the increase in valuation of real estate to no more that 3 percent per year. This would have worked 10 years ago to help avoid the situation we are in now, but the damage has already been done, due to a flawed school aid funding formula.

Ag land values have peaked, and some believe they may even be declining or leveling off. Putting a limit on growth at the peak is not much of a solution, in my opinion. We need to have a better way to roll back some of the huge increases in the ag land values, which brings me to LB 717, introduced by Senator Groene.

This bill would freeze valuations at the 2015 levels, preventing the next double digit increase in ag land valuations coming in June of 2016.

Then, in 2017 and beyond, it would eliminate the top 20 percent of sales from the rolling average, in order to give what I believe is a more accurate sense of what the true value of ag real estate is in Nebraska.

I always enjoy hearing from the Nebraskans I represent. Please feel free to contact my office with any questions or concerns that you might have.

My email address is dhughes@leg.ne.gov and my phone number is (402) 471-2805.

You can read more about bills and other work of the Legislature at www.nebraskalegislature.gov, and you can click on the Live Video Streaming NET logo to watch sessions, hearings, and other Capitol events.