Lawmakers gear up for floor debates

McCOOK, Neb. — With committee hearings winding down, final hearings on many bills are now being considered by the Nebraska legislature.

Some bills, however, are still being debated in committee, said Dist. 44 State Sen. Dan Hughes at the McCook Chamber of Commerce conference call Thursday morning. One of those is his own LB367, in the Natural Resource committee, that would extend the sunset of the Nebraska Litter Reduction and Recycling Fund to Sept. 30, 2025 and eliminate fund transfer language. It would remove language that allows transfers from the Litter Reduction and Recycling Fund to the General Fund, something that happened last year, Hughes said.

Although Sen. Hughes has not declared a priority bill yet, the Agricultural committee did prioritize one of his bills, LB 227. That bill protects farm operations and public grain warehouses from nuisance laws if they existed before a change in the land use or occupancy of land on and about the locality of the operation. Committees can select two bills, but that won’t guarantee those bills get out of committee, Hughes said. Rather, senators' priority bills and committee priority bills will be considered ahead of other bills in debate.

The nuts-and-bolts of lawmaking, the all-day floor debates, Hughes said he anticipated to begin in April. Some of the more provocative bills could be those concerning property tax relief and the budget. He and other senators are waiting for the Revenue Committee to “kick something out” soon on property tax relief, Hughes said, a bill that would most likely be several bills rolled together.

He’s expecting the budget to come out within the next month, when “everything will be put on hold to get it hammered out.”

Other pending bills Hughes weighed in on Thursday morning included:

-- A proposed constitutional amendment to raise state senator salaries from $12,000 to half of Nebraska’s median household income ($28,000 if in effect now) would need at least 30 votes from the Legislature to submit it to the vote of the people. The ballot measure would also include that senator’s salaries be adjusted every two years according to U.S. Bureau of the Census income data. Proponents say it would attract a more diverse range of people who could afford to serve in the legislature. Hughes has said in the past he agrees with the proposed amendment but added Thursday that he doesn’t see Nebraskans being in favor of it at this time.

-- Nearly three hours of debate was spent on LB 627, a bill that would make it unlawful for employers, labor unions and employment agencies to discriminate against an individual on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The Legislature adjourned for the day on Tuesday before voting on LB627. Hughes said he did not see enough support for additional debate on the bill and is not in favor of it as it creates a protected class “that is not good legislation.” He elaborated that no although one should ever be discrimination against, a law like this would open up a “Pandora’s Box” of litigation from employees or potential employees, who felt discriminated against by employers.

“If someone feels slighted…it would open up another avenue for employers to be sued,” he said. A protected class as defined by federal law are groups of people that employers cannot discriminate against because of their sex, race, religion, color, natural origins, age or because of physical or mental handicaps.

-- Hughes said he does not see LB 58 going anywhere. It would adopt the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act that would allow a court to intervene in extreme cases where a person has demonstrated that they are a danger to themselves or others, have access to a firearm and have made threats of violence. If the court finds that a person poses a significant risk of injuring themselves or others with a firearm, that person could be temporarily prohibited from purchasing and possessing guns and required to turn over their guns while the order is in effect.

-- Another proposed gun law, LB343 would provide school governing bodies the authority to create a concealed carry program for employees on school grounds and school-sanctioned events and activities. Again, Hughes does not see this bill proceeding, although he himself is in favor of it. He said school boards should have the authority to allow staff to be armed, such as in high crime areas, if staff is willing to attend training.

-- He also said he was in favor of LB 670, that adopts the Opportunity Scholarships Act, that would create a non-refundable tax credit for qualifying taxpayers who make contributions to charitable organizations for education scholarships. It allows parents who chose to place their children in private or parochial schools to receive tax credit. Parents are the ones who make the best decision about their children’s education, Hughes said, and they should be able to take their children to non-public schools if they want. “It’s unfair to me… they can’t use their tax dollars to send (their children) to other schools.” As detailed in the bill, parents pay property taxes that fund public schools in their district and it can be a financial burden for these parents to pay tuition to a private school.