Eighty-nine bills named senator, committee priorities

Last week a total of 89 bills were named either a senator or a committee priority bill. If priority bills are advanced out of committee they will have a better chance of being heard on the legislative floor this year. The speaker also named 25 bills as speaker priority bills. This may sound like a lot of bills and although some of these bills are controversial, most are not.

Another route to get a bill on the floor for debate is to ask the Speaker for a bill to be put on the consent calendar. Consent calendar bills have to be noncontroversial, must not make many changes to statutes, must be advanced out of committee without any dissenting votes, and the bill must not have a general fund impact. Consent calendar bills are an avenue to get bills on the floor that are primarily cleanup legislation or bills that aren’t controversial.

The Appropriations Committee has been working hard to get their budget recommendation to the entire legislative body as soon as possible. On Thursday, March 25th they will release the recommendations to the body. Next week, we anticipate taking the budget up on the floor for debate.

I realized that I haven’t taken the time this year to introduce you to my current staff. As Chair of the Executive Board, my staff consists of an Administrative Assistant who also acts as the Committee’s Clerk (AA/CC), a Legislative Aide (LA) and a Committee Legal Counsel (LC). Mandy Mizerski is my AA/CC, and she has been with me for over 4 years now. She came on board when I became Chair of the Natural Resources office and I’m very pleased that she chose to follow along to the Executive Board office. Mandy and her husband, Rob, are Lincoln natives and they’re busy raising their two vivacious boys. Jeni Bohlmeyer has been with me since I started in the legislature. Jeni and Todd, her husband, live on a farm in Gage County and they raise American Aberdeen to keep themselves busy since becoming empty nesters. Janice Satra is the LC and we just started working together this January, her and her husband Steve, just became grandparents to a second handsome baby boy. I don’t know how mad Janice will be if I told you how long she’s been here but put it this way, Jeni’s 20 sessions is nothing compared to the years of knowledge that she brings. Between all three of them they have been through over 66 regular sessions. I am fortunate to have the three of them working with me.

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. My office is in room 2108 at the Capitol if you are in the Lincoln area. 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 the session, hearings, and other Capitol events.