Cigarette tax killed; Conservation funds, School and police epinephrine, Medical marijuana, PANDAS insurance coverage advance BY RITA BRHEL
Lawmakers are turning their full attention to debating legislative bills on the floor, now that all 578 new pieces of legislation have had their committee hearings.
Much of this week’s floor debate centered on legislative oversight and ideas for increasing State revenue, aside from individual bills. The lawmaking process may appear slower now that committees aren’t churning through hearings in their divide-to-conquer approach to ensure that every bill is considered.
Public comments continue to inform senators as they decide which measures should advance in the lawmaking process.
There is an easy online process to submit comments: Go online to https://nebraskalegislature. gov/bills/ and search for the bill of interest by number in the top righthand corner of the webpage. This search will bring up the specific bill’s informational page; click on the “Submit Comments Online” button positioned under the bill’s history.
While each piece of legislation introduced is given a committee hearing, only a few of the measures actually advance out of committee to General File: the first stage of floor debate but the entire Legislature. Following General File is Select File, when senators sharpen their focus on shaping bills that have the best chance at passing their vote-only Final Reading—after which the bill is delivered to Gov. Jim Pillen to be signed into law.
Clay County News is following certain legislation we feel have more potential to impact Clay County, providing updates as the bills move through the legislative process until the end of the session on April 17. In each section below, there are plenty more introduced bills that may interest readers. Let us know if you’d like us to add a bill to our list of weekly updates.
Notable happenings during the week of March 2-6:
AGRICULTURE & NATURAL RESOURCES SELECT FILE LB759 would raise private well registration and permit fees from $40 to $200 and raise livestock waste control facility permit fees to cover 30 percent of the previous year’s program costs.
LB823 would require burn permits to differentiate prescribed burning from controlled burning: Controlled burning is primarily for cleanup of debris in an area where the potential spread of fire is limited; prescribed burning is the systematic application of fire to manage weeds and pests, and manage vegetation mass to prevent future wildfires, in a rural area.
LB948 would incorporate biostimulants—such as seaweed extracts, humic/fulvic acids/beneficial microbes, animo acids, and chitosan— into agricultural fertilizer laws.
ADVANCING TO GENERAL FILE LR298CA which would allow voters to amend the state constitution to ensure that funds dedicated to conservation can only be used for that purpose, has moved out of the Natural Resources Committee.
ALSO ON GENERAL FILE LB815 which would eliminate the Ethanol Development Act and Ethanol Production Incentive Cash Fund and require tax on diesel fuel, moved out of the Agriculture Committee.
LB827 would fund Natural Resource Districts to create soil health and water quality programs.
LB977 would require vehicles to yield to a person herding livestock on or along a highway.
EDUCATION
SIGNED INTO LAW
Pillen has approved LB653, one of Glenvil Sen. Dave Murman’s bills, to require public school districts to accept siblings of currently enrolled option students and allow the suspension or expulsion of a preK-2 student due to physical violence that harms others.
AWAITING FINAL READING LB940 another Murman bill, would prohibit certain color additives in public school meals.
LB1022 also a Murman bill, would remove the requirement of human relations training for teachers.
ADVANCING TO GENERAL FILE LB1217 which would authorize public and private schools to keep epinephrine in their first aid kits to treat allergic reactions, has moved out of the Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee.
ALSO ON GENERAL FILE LB730 would public schools, public colleges, and state agencies to designate restrooms and locker rooms per male or female gender and prohibit use by the opposite gender.
LB966 would adopt the Hunger-Free Schools Act to provide reduced-price school meals to qualifying students at no cost.
LB1224 would prohibit parents from transferring their children to a homeschool or other non-accredited school during child abuse or neglect investigations and ban individuals convicted of sexual assault or domestic violence from homeschooling or teaching at un-accredited schools.
FAMILY & HOUSING GENERAL FILE LB938 which would adopt the First-Time Home Buyer Savings Account Act to provide income tax savings to prospective first-time home buyers who contribute to a specified savings account to be used in the purchase or construction of a first home in Nebraska, moved out of the Revenue Committee.
LB1041 which would allow the construction or addition of a smaller, accessory dwelling on the same property as an existing single-family home that can be used for housing of someone related to or employed by the property owner— moved out of the Urban Affairs Committee.
HEALTH & SAFETY
ADVANCING TO SELECT FILE LB727 which would authorize law enforcement to use an epinephrine auto injector to respond to an anaphylaxis event, advanced from General File at a vote of 32-0.
LB1235 which would establish regulation of medical cannabis use including a directory of patients and caregivers, advanced from General File at a vote of 40-0.
ADVANCING TO GENERAL FILE LB762 which would require insurance coverage of pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with a streptococcal infection (PANDAS), has moved out of the Business, Commerce, and Insurance Committee.
LB933 which would provide
immunity to health care providers recommending therapeutic cannabis use to a patient for treatment of a medical condition, has moved out of the HHS Committee.
GENERAL FILE LB732 would prohibit health care providers from providing cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers to youth.
LB914 would absolve medical physicians from negligence of physician assistants.
LB955 would allow a physician assistant to prescribe medication.
LB1185 would adopt the Conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety Act to require that AI systems disclose that interactions are not with a human, cannot take the place of professional counseling, and refer users to crisis services as needed while also allowing parents of youth younger than age 13 to manage their child’s account.
JUSTICE
GENERAL FILE LB1004 would specify that nonalcoholic beer cannot be sold to youth.
LB1005 would allow ATVs or other utility-type vehicles to operate with a community overnight as long as the vehicle uses head- and tail lights.
LB1138 would adopt the Nebraska Protection of Seniors from Insurance Exploitation Act to protect interventions in the case of suspected financial exploitation of senior adults.
TAXES
GENERAL FILE LB1219 would limit property taxes.
KILLED LB1124 which would increase cigarette taxes from the current 64 cents per package to $1.64 to fund state Medicaid expenses, failed to advance from General File to Select File. After eight hours of debate over two days, bill sponsor Sen. Tony Sorrentino, of Omaha, filed a motion to invoke cloture, which immediately ends debate and forces a vote on the bill. The cloture motion failed at a vote of 31-0; 33 votes were needed. The bill is unlikely to be considered again this legislative session.
