A review of legislative action last week

Last week the Legislature heard LB 809 on the floor. This is a Natural Resources Committee priority bill. LB 809 was introduced by Senator Mike Moser of Columbus. It amends the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Act and the Wastewater Treatment Facilities Construction Assistance Act. The changes will reflect the existing federal regulations and also the new provisions in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The committee also had an amendment to this bill, a compilation of 3 bills, which was ultimately adopted on a 35-0 vote. LB 924, by Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon, is a bill to include cities of the first class as grant recipients under the Waste Reduction and Recycling Incentive Act.

The other two bills included were bills that I introduced, LBs 803 and 978. I passed LB 126 in 2020 to allow for landowners and their children to receive up to 4 deer permits. This year was the first year landowners were allowed to use the special permits. Everyone I spoke to was very positive about their experiences using them. The one change that they asked for was to include grandchildren. So in response, I introduced LB 803. The committee added my bill but made one change from the original bill by reducing the overall number of permits. AM 2004 includes grandchildren and it also increased the number of potential youth permits from 2 to 6 if they met all the landowner requirements.

In 2019, I introduced LB 302 in partnership with the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy to allow the department to begin the process of investigating the possibility of assuming the Clean Water Act Section 404 Program. An assumed 404 Program allows the state to administer the federal dredge and fill permit program, for activities that impact Waters of the United States.

In plain words, allowing the state to assume this process could save valuable time and money for many construction projects occurring all over the state. To be clear, even though DEE would be allowed to administer the program they still have to meet the federal guidelines.

The Department took these last couple of years to investigate an assumption process, including what potential changes they would need to administer as a part of the application. LB 978 contains the statutory changes they need to make a full application.

Specifically, the bill lays out the ability to promulgate rules and regulations for the program, a hearing process, hire staff, establish a fee structure and establish a cash fund.

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.